Top 50+ Hajj Activities For Kids

Today was the start of Dhul al-Hijjah, the twelfth and final month of the Islamic year. It is a special time of year for Muslims and is marked by the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. This pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam so every Muslim must aim to go on Hajj at least once in their lifetime, if they are able to. 

Celebrating Laylat al-Qadr

Laylat al-Qadr is a special night for Muslims around the world. It is the night of power when Allah revealed the first verses of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad pbuh. We do not know the exact date of Laylat al-Qadr, we only know that it is one of the last 10 days of the month of Ramadan and it is an odd numbered night (21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th or 29th). This night is very special because it is said to be worth as much as 1000 months, or 83 years. The angels come down from the heavens and are among us, although we cannot see them. Muslims carry out lots of acts of worship during the last 10 days of Ramadan in the hope of gaining the blessings of the night of power. They pray, read Quran, make dua and do other acts of worship.

Ramadan Calendar Tutorial

Here I will show you how I made a Ramadan calendar for my children. A Ramadan calendar works like an advent calendar but instead of counting down the days til Christmas, it counts down the days of Ramadan til Eid day.

During Ramadan Muslims must fast from dawn to dusk. This means that they must not eat or drink anything during daylight hours. The length of time of the fast varies each day as the days either lengthen or shorten throughout the month. At the end of the month, we celebrate Eid.

Mosque sponge painting

           

Recently I have not been blogging as much as I would like to. I guess having a newborn as well as two older children does not give me much time for blogging at the moment. However, I now have a bit of a backlog of things to post about so I'd better get started!

This is an activity we did months ago. A lovely craft activity we found on a wonderful blog called Karima's crafts. We used homemade stencils to sponge paint onto black card to create this scene of a mosque at night. The original post can be found here.

               

I drew a mosque outline onto some card and then cut it out to create a stencil. I did the same for the stars and moon. Then I stuck the stencils onto some black card as I knew R wouldn't be able to hold it still on the paper.

                 

Using grey paint, R painted the mosque onto the card using a sponge brush.

         

I found some glow-in-the-dark paint for him to use to paint the stars and moon so that they would glow at night like the stars outside.

Five pillars of Islam craft

        

A few days ago Ramadan began, the month of fasting for Muslims all over the world. During this month, Muslims must fast from sunrise to sunset. During daylight hours, no food or drink will enter their mouths. Once the sun begins to set, Muslims will break their fast, normally with dates and a glass of water, followed by a delicious meal. 

Why do we fast? Because it has been prescribed for us. It is one of the five pillars of Islam. The pillars are the fundamentals of the faith, the five things we must do as Muslims. The first is shahada or testimony of faith. It is the belief in Allah, one God, and belief that Muhammed pbuh was his messenger. The second is salat, or prayer. As Muslims we have to pray five times a day. The third pillar is zakat, or charity. Muslims should give a certain percentage of their income to charity each year. The fourth pillar is sawn, or fasting and the fifth pillar is hajj. Hajj is the pilgrimage that Muslims should complete once in their lifetime. 

Not only is Ramadan the month of fasting, it is also a time when Muslims spend more time in prayer and reflection, read the Quran and do as many good deeds as possible whilst trying not to do wrong. Of course, we should try to do these things all through the year but we are human, we forget and Ramadan acts as a reminder for us.

        

During Ramadan, I like to do as many religious-themed crafts and activities with the children as possible. Here is a simple craft activity to teach children about the five pillars of Islam. You will need cardboard tubes, paint and alphabet stickers or a pen to write on the tubes.

                 

First, paint the cardboard tubes. We painted each tube a different colour.

        

Next stick (or write) the five pillars of Islam on the tubes, one on each, and write 'Islam' along the longest tube at the top. When you are doing this you can explain to your children what each pillar means. I think this craft looks lovely displayed in the home.

Tissue paper sun catchers

These Islamic sun catchers look stunning stuck on the window which the sunlight streaming through. I got the idea for the mosque sun catcher from here. All you will need to make these is some black card, scissors, glue and tissue paper.



First I cut some shapes in a piece of black card to make a mosque shape.



I got another piece of card and cut a moon and star out. I have a star-shaped hole punch which I used to cut the stars round the outside.


 

Here is R showing off his handiwork.



D shows off her artwork half way through the process.

Prayer mat craft

                     

So today was the second day (or was it the first day?) of Ramadan. There was a bit of confusion over the start of Ramadan due to the moon sighting and calculations being different in different countries. As a Turkish family, we went with the Turkish calculations, making this the second day of Ramadan.

Ramadan is an exciting time of the year. I dread it and look forward to it at the same time! I worry I won't be able to fast, I worry about being tired and hungry but, on the other hand, the atmosphere is great, it's electric! There's a great feeling of excitement amongst the Muslim community as people become more aware of religious duties and expectations. They take time out to read Quran and spend time in religious reflection.

D has started to get into the Ramadan spirit since we read about the Ramadan Moon a few weeks ago. She has been eagerly awaiting it and wanting to look out the window and see it over the past few days. Unfortunately, due to the cloudy weather, she has not seen it yet but inshallah she will be able to see the moon at some point over the next few days.

This year I really want to make Ramadan special for the kids as D is now old enough to understand what it is about. I am planning to do lots of arts and crafts with a religious feel, read lots of stories and start to listen to the Quran.

Here is out first Ramadan craft - a prayer mat made of scrap pieces of fabric. First I cut a rectangular piece of fabric and the kids stuck it on some white card. Then a cut some pieces of fabric in a contrasting colour to decorate the mat. D helped to cut her pieces of fabric and also added a bit of extra sparkle with some sequins.

                         

This is R's prayer mat, he needed a lot of help from me to stick the pieces in the right places and insisted on it being blue!

                         

This is D's prayer mat which had to be pink of course!