With the blessed month just around the corner why not get your children involved with a Ramadan basket. This is a great way to pack lots of activities, books and toys to keep the little ones occupied and happy whilst mummy and daddy are fasting. You can also customise them for different ages and it’s something children can always look forward to. My son is still too young to understand the concept of Ramadan, but I wanted to start little traditions that he can grow up with.
There are so many exciting Islamic resources out there that you get for your children. Here are my tips and tricks of what you can include and some useful links at the bottom:
1) Pinterest is a great resource hub to start with as it includes lots of free ideas for crafty activities you can do with your children during Ramadan. These include templates of prayer mats and mosques that they can colour in. Pinterest also includes Ramadan activity booklets which you can download and print for your children to complete.
2) Use paper card to cut out stars and crescents which your children can decorate and use to display around the house. This will be a great way to get your home ready for Ramadan and keep them for the festive Eid days. I’ve also added a few extra crafty bits for him to decorate such as, cut out shapes I found in Wilko of hands and gingerbread men, blow markers from Tiger and a new pack of felt tips (because they always seem to disappear) but you can include anything your children may be interested in.
3) Include some Islamic books that your children can read during the month. There is a variety of books that you can purchase from Amazon, Ebay and the Mini Muslim Playground website. These include stories about Ramadan, stories about the Prophets and more general books about akhlaq, caring for others and charity. These books are geared for children and are full of colourful pictures and easy to read. My favourite two are ‘Goodnight Stories from the Quran’ by Khan Saniyasnain and ‘My First Ramadan‘ by Karen Katz.
4) The Mini Muslim Playground is a wonderful website to look into as they have lots of toys that you can include especially if you want to teach your children Arabic. These include puzzles, flash cards and alphabet frames.
5) You can also include other items that are not necessarily Islamic but can definitely be related to Ramadan. These can be an excellent way to discuss different concepts with your children and get them thinking. In my son’s basket, I’ve included a book about the solar system and we’ll be figuring out what happened to the hungry caterpillar, yes a childhood classic.
6) Also consider including a few activity books that may interest your children. These can be very inexpensive and found at your local Pound store or Wilko and keep children entertained for hours. I’ve included a few number linking, addition and handwriting ones for my son.
7) Finally, I also wanted him to have some fun so I’ve included a few toys that will keep him busy. These include a V-Tech Toot Toot bus, sea animal puzzle, a pack of different balls, a slinky and a few wind-up toys which always make him giggle. You can customise it and keep it as simple or interesting as you want.
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Ramadan is a great time for family, reflection and delicious food and our children not only want to be part of it all but are definitely excited by all the festivities. Make sure you keep that excitement in them for as long as possible with these little traditions.
I hope you all give it a go and enjoy putting them together. If you do make one why not share and hashtag #ramadanbasket so we can have a look at them and give each other some more ideas.
Ramadan Mubarak!
https://www.minimuslimplayground.com/
Goodnight Quran Stories:
My First Ramadan:
Akhlaaq Building for Kids
Islamic Activity Booklets
Pinterest Craft ideas:
https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/168251736056734441/
https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/526428643925088698/
https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/301811612511301877/
