For the past couple of years, Lama and Kais have been putting their hearts and savings into creating the first Jolly Animal.
For the past couple of years, Lama and Kais have been putting their hearts and savings into creating the first Jolly Animal.
There is no doubt that Islam has a plethora of prophets, messengers, and companions that our children will most definitely love and associate with, but the prohibition of depicting them in image form means our babies and toddlers cannot ‘see’ or ‘play’ with those characters, making it almost impossible for them to build bonds at that young of an age.
In the Holy Quran, Allah uses animals to teach us valuable life lessons. With Jolly Animals, this couple has decided to do just that for children, through stories inspired by those very animals.
This not only ensures that children will have the most perfect of cartoon role models but also gives babies and toddlers a chance to bond with characters that could act as their entryway into the Quran when they are old enough to do so.
Check out their Launchgood page here!Â
How it all began
Lama’s dream has always been to write children’s books. Expecting her second baby, having a degree in graphic design, and working in childcare, it was no surprise that she took great interest in every children’s book under the sun.
Being a Muslim couple in Australia, Lama and her husband Kais foraged the internet for interesting baby and toddler books with an Islamic flavour. They found a very small number of storybooks for their child to build a bond with at such a ripe age.
Now that their daughter is two years old, her love for cartoon characters has reached new heights. She had a Minnie themed birthday, watches Peppa Pig every morning, listens to Dora songs on repeat and only wears dresses like Sophia. Given that her interaction with those characters came during night time reading and limited TV time, Lama and Kais realised the potential that carefully crafted characters have in shaping their little one’s mind.
That’s when things got serious. Kais, who has an MA in graphic branding and identity, and bright young illustrator Nicola joined Lama to make up the core of the tiny Jolly Animals team.
The Yellow Cow
For the past couple of years, Lama and Kais have been putting their hearts and savings into creating the first Jolly Animal.
The Yellow Cow’s story is inspired by the verses of Surat Al Baqara. With the advice of Imams and Scholars, they have studied the verses, translations, and tafsir (explanation) to create a fable that little kids can enjoy while grasping educational concepts and valuable moral lessons.
The Yellow Cow is ready for production. However, many other animals remain in sketchbooks and writing pads, and it is only through your support that they can breathe life into them.
Help this couple bring this project to life so they can create books, toys and other items that will act as beneficial knowledge for young children, through a brand that parents around the world can use as a stepping stone to bring up righteous offspring.
They have set up a LaunchGood page and your donation will go a long way in producing the Yellow Cow board book and plush, as well as creating and developing the rest of the Jolly Animals family.
You can pre-order the first Jolly Animals book and plush and support the project here on LaunchGood.
