Ramadan Prep part 1 – Kids

24 Jul

Asalam alaykum was rahmatulahi wa barakatu,

I can hardly believe it but Ramadan is just around the corner!  What do you do to prepare your kids?

Our family doesn’t really have any “rituals” but I’ve been trying really hard to set some up.  This year, I’m decorating my house with Christmas Tree lights but we’ll just call them “Ramadan Lights” lol!  While I was in Mexico, I bought these lovely metal stars, which I think are for holding incense…anyhow, they’re gorgeous, so I’m going to hang those off of my ceiling along my entry way with some fish line or something. (can you tell this is obviously a work in progress??)

Then, I’m going to pull out the usual things.  I have to say, thank God for the internet and the talented ladies who post things up there, because if it weren’t for them, I’d be running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off!

For the last 2 Ramadans, I’ve been using these awesome Ramadan Calendars - they are so lovely and well made…and I need to buy another one now that Adam is big enough to really participate in our evening activities.  Anyhow, the first few years, I just filled them up with candy and the kids got to put a star on each night and eat a little candy.  However, last year, Adam ate them all – yes, ALL of the candies by the first week.  Smart little dude put the wrappers back into the pockets of the calendar so we didn’t know it until we started pulling empty candy!  lol  This year, however, I’ve decided that I will fill the pockets with tasks for the children to do; things like “recite surat Al-Nass” or “tell me the story of Noah” etc.  Some days I plan on having them do things that they will have to learn and study, other days may just be a coloring page, or making a card.  I think that this will work better for our long days.  They can look into the pocket for their daily Ramadan activity and work on it all day long.

A lot of the activities that I have planned for the kids I took from TJ Ramadan - she has such a wonderful plethora of activities, information, downloads and more!  I just love it!  Please take the time to search through her whole site, she has such great stuff and links to other websites – such a valuable resource!

At the end of Ramadan, my husband comes home from the mosque to announce the Eid day…we put up the banner (it’s the last picture on that post) that I got from the lovely Handmade Beginnings – her blog is filled with all kids of activities too, and she has an Etsy shop that seems empty now, but perhaps that may change.

My next post will be about how I prepare and plan my home and meals for Ramadan, I’A!

So now share with me – what do you do with your children during Ramadan?

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2 Responses to “Ramadan Prep part 1 – Kids”

  1. Eva August 15, 2011 at 11:22 am #

    Assalamu Alaikum,

    Nice post, jazakAllahu khairun for linking to me :)

  2. Reyhan July 24, 2011 at 5:55 pm #

    Wa alaikum salam wa rahmetullah wa berakatuhu! I try every year to get my little guy into the spirit, so to speak, by reading books to him. This year he is 8, m’A, and has been going to the mosque for weekend classes and has started learning Qur’an. I am thinking of having recite to me what he has memorized so far and also trying to get him to particiapte with us (my besties and I start reading Qur’an on Monday to finish by the 27th of Ramadan i’A) to read a bit of Qur’an. I have always wanted to do the x-mas lights but never has. Maybe I will find some and get them put up in time. Also, I do a posterboard for Eid that my son helps with. We write Eid mubarek in arabic, turkish, english and german. We stick candy wrappers on it and draw pictures. (my huband is the artistic one so most of that is his work). I sooo want one of those Ramadan calendars! I’A I’ll get a hold of one.