productive

Teaching Toddlers – Theme : Salaam

I was thinking about a structure for planning the content for our Muslim Mommy & Me Playgroup,  using the islamic toddler books I have at home for ideas. What I realised is that for kids under 3, the lessons have to be super simple. Instead of Aqaaidah (beliefs) or rituals, it’s easier and more effective to  focus on Akhlaaq (morals, behaviour as muslims).

My dear sister in law (a teacher and homeschooler) gave me a great idea to use the Arabic Alphabet as a prompt for a theme each week. So for (ا) alif, in week 1 you could do a theme around Allah. Maybe use play dough to write the letter ا etc. I may bank this one to use with my 3.5 year old, Insha Allah

For playgroup in Week 1, I chose the theme Salaam. 

Song: Salaam song( Omar Hannah) and we use this every week
Book : Nabil & Noura say salaam (I had it already at home)
Activity : Colouring in with colour pencils (I printed a colouring in page from here)
We always end with a snack and for sunnah snack I offered dates and cucumber. Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) combined cucumbers with ripe dates saying: “the heat of the latter is reduced by the
coolness of the former.” (Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawood and Ibn Majah)
We also had a yummy snack box this week from Aliyah (Delish_tanbul)
Hope this helps inspire some ideas for teaching your little ones. Let us know with a comment or find me on Instagram for more ideas and resources.

Getting ready for Ramadan….Beyond stockpiling the freezer!

With two weeks to go before the start of Ramadan, I began some planning for this special month of mercy and forgiveness. Planning involving taking actions to be in the best space for maximum gains. As given are already self isolating, being home and with no distractions about going out – I feel we already have a headstart!

For many years, I found that I would consider myself ready for Ramadan once I had containers of savouries in the freezer, and a pantry filled with ingredients to make traditional desserts and dishes we especially enjoy in this month (sometimes to the extent of mandating it!)

But if the purpose of this month is to develop Allah Consciousness (“taqwa” in Arabic) as Allah says in the Quran (2:183)
“O you who believe fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you so that you can learn Taqwa” 
Taqwa includes Allah fearing, piety, and self restraining. An opportunity to turn things around. To become closer to Allah and to learn more about ourselves by learning more about Him. It involves doing lots of good to please Allah. And to exit the month with more than we entered – physically, spiritually, emotionally and mentally.

Which is why I drew up this chart – to remind myself about adopting a “holistic approach” to welcoming the Holy Month of Ramadan. Looking at all ACTIONS necessary to make the month as productive as possible. Here it is:

Holistic Approach to preparing for Ramadan. Please SHARE

Physical and Practical
This is usually my starting point. I would look at the key dates such as when do we start fasting and when is Eid and jot them into my calendar and diary. This would give me an indication of what else is going on around Ramadan (for example any appointments, meetings etc). It also gives me a good jolt into how much time is left for preparations before the start of the month! 

Next step is to plan what food preparation is needed. Without the convenience of abundant home made savouries and delicious chutney dips like we get in South Africa, if I want anything like what I am used to back home (such as samoosas or pies!) here in Istanbul, I better make it all myself (or do without it as I have in some years. Borek will have to do!). So this year where I could I used two evenings to do some preparations and I’m calling it a day.

A tip I learnt from my dear mother was to also do any Eid shopping such as clothes and gifts before Ramadan. That way you are not using precious Ramadan minutes running around with these activities! Also you can avoid the crowds. This year given the lockdown situation, I really don’t know what Eid will be like so holding on with any gift planning till things are more clear.

Lastly in this area is setting up the environment at home – putting up some exciting decorations, involving the kids in some crafts- all with the intention of creating a positive spirit and love for this beautiful month for the whole family. We have already started talking about Ramadan parties, so my little one is amped!

Mental Readiness
Setting a real focused intention immediately puts me in the right space. Reading up on the benefits of fasting, and listening to a few great speakers on the blessings of this month are great reminders about why I need to maximise on stacking up reward. 

If there are any habits I want to change, I might start working on them now, weeks before we start fasting. This year, I aim to give up on junk shows (at least!) on Netflix. I actually enjoy documentary style shows so I have already started switching to that instead. In Ramadan, I would aim to watch nothing at all. It always amazes me how I am able to detox in this way so easily, and occupy my time with extra prayer -or just rest.

Closer to the start of Ramadan I would begin my “fasting focus”, and do my best to clear my mind of all other peripherals – binge chats, binge Instagram scrolling, anything else taking me away from the sole purpose of this month – worshipping Allah and gaining closeness to Him.

This mental focus is so important as it sets the tone for the last pillar. We cannot pray in the sincerest way we are meant to if our mind is still cluttered with other things. I mentally put on hold anything extra that can wait for after the four weeks- so my mind has clarity and space.

Spiritual
The focus of the month will be on my soul- to uplift myself in a deep spiritual way Insha Allah. Usually this involves goals for completing recitation of the Quran, listening to tafseer, revising previously memorised surahs. I really enjoy understanding what I read in Quran so for this I have begun at least listening to (and often making notes though I do need to revise more so its more entrenched), the tafseer from leading scholars on the verses of Quran we read most often – for example starting with Surah Yaseen, Surah Kahf, and the last 20 surahs in Quran which are the ones I would read in my Salaatul Taraweeh every night. 

Other great resources I have come to love has been the daily 20 minute lectures that some scholars give live after Taraweeh salaah. My favourite being Ramadan Gems  and Ramadan Nightly Reminders (Mufti Menk). These are all available on demand on YouTube if you miss it live. It is centred around a theme such as Stories from Quran, or Stories about the Messengers, making it compelling listening to complete the full picture. Great learning.

So as you can see, if we start to break down all the aspects to consider in preparing for this month Insha Allah, there’s so much more beyond hanging up decor or stock piling the freezer!

 How far are you with preparations for this beautiful month? And which aspects do you focus on?


Wishing you all a productive Ramadan, filled with barakah and blessings
Taskeen

List of museums, zoos and other attractions from around the world to visit online while we self isolate!

Since we cant’ travel or pop over to the nearest museum during these challenging times, it is so amazing to have them come home to us!
Here is a handy list of museums, zoos and other tourist attractions from around the world to visit from the comforts of our home while we self-isolate.
Something for the children to enjoy, away from cartoons for a change!
If I MUST use the screen, I would rather spend time with these interesting sites where we can learn in a more “natural” way.

Museums
• Anne Franke Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• British Museum, London
• Guggenheim, Bilbao, Spain
• Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia
• Louvre Museum Paris
• MASP, Sao Paolo, Brazil
• Met Museum, New York
• Musée d’Orsay, Paris
• Musei Vaticani, Vatican City
• Museum Of London Docklands
• National Gallery Of Arts, Washington DC
• National Gallery, London
• National Museum Of US Air Forces
• Natural History Museum, London
• Palestine Museum 🙂
• Picasso Museum, Barcelona
• Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Royal Academy Of Arts, London
• Salvatore Dali Museum, Figueres, Spain
• Tate Britain, London
• The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, United States
• The Museum of Flight
• The National Museum of Computing on Bletchley Park
• Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
• US Holocaust Museum
• Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Virginia Living Museum –
• Women’s History Museum, Virginia, USA
• Yale Centre For British Art

Tourist Destinations
• Buckingham Palace, London
• Colosseum, Rome
• Machu Picchu
• Northern Lights 
• Pyramids
• Stonehenge
• Street Art with Google
• Taj Mahal, Agra, India
• The Great Wall Of China
• Tour of Rome, Italy 

General Sites
• AirPano
• Berliner Philharominker
• ExoPlanets NASA 
• Legoland
• NASA, Langley Research Centre
• The Kennedy Centre
• Walt Disney Parks
• Wellcome Collection

Zoos


• African Animals
• Atlanta Zoo
• Cincinnati Zoo
• Dublin Zoo
• Edinburgh Zoo
• Explore.org Live Cams
• Flamingo Land
• Florida Aquarium
• Hirakawa Zoo, Japan
• International Wolf Centre
• Kansas City Zoo 
• Melbourne Zoo
• National Aquarium, USA
• National Zoo, Washington DC
• Osaka Zoo
• San Diego, California, Zoo
• Smithsonian, Washington DC  
• Yellowstone National Park 


Bonus!
Something different for the nature lovers & early risers.  During lock down, WildEarth are doing 2 game drives a day at Safari Parksa day, which you can watch live on You Tube. Morning drive is 5.30-8.30am and afternoon drive is 3.30-6.30pm. Interesting and informative, and questions pop up and are answered by the game rangers. They’ve discovered a  hyena who has 3/4 day old pups which they check on each drive.

Happy viewing, can’t wait to get through the list for some good family time.
Getting through lockdown, one virtual visit at a time!
Productive Muslim Mom

Introducing my new title: Productive Muslim Mom

I recently started an Instagram account will be posting here on this blog from time to time InshaAllah as Productive Muslim Mom

I became a mother Alhamdulillah in 2017. Moving from the boardroom to the crib,  I took with me everything I learnt from my days at the office around time management, multi tasking and organisation. Sure, raising two under two has been harder than any product or website launch project I faced in my ten years at Unilever. And I never knew that deadlines could get any shorter than when a crying baby means FOOD NOW! However, by keeping a clear mind, always having a plan in mind (even if sketchy at times), I have been able to manage some of the most difficult times whilst rearing my two kids (now aged 19 months and 3 years respectively).

I believe in that Lists Save Lives. Getting everything from your head to the paper is essential to managing a busy life with kids and Getting Things Done. So I will be sharing all my handy tips, shortcuts, recipe ideas, play, and enough motivation and inspiration to remind ourselves of who we are and that we can WIN at this busy mom game!

Stay tuned for more exciting ideas and posts coming your way soon Inshallah. Feel free to share any thoughts or requests for content either here or on Instagram.

Please do follow me on Instagram as well!

Productive Muslim Mom