productive muslim mom

Cheats Guide to setting up an Eid to Remember

If you’re thinking about how to make Eid special for your little ones, given the context of a semi or fully socially isolated Eid this year, here is my cheats guide! ⭐️🌙 

Many of us are already so busy just by running our homes, and with trying to do extra prayers in this last week. So like I suggested to my friend this week- Keep it simple and you’ll come up with a great day: think treats, gifts, activity and you’re done! 🌟

Kids (particularly smaller ones), appreciate the little things, and I’m sure with a sincere intention, you’ll make a lasting impression Insha Allah !

So here’s my simplified approach to make an impact :

1. Decor 🎀
Think about buntings, posters and table decor such as labels, serviettes and my favourite – toothpick flags. Use free online printables – @ayeina_official have a comprehensive list so just pick and print!
You could also make some simple decor with your kids as an activity together to build up anticipation for the big day.
Balloons are the cheapest and most exciting element to add!🎈 

2. Dress up
Time to bring out your little girls favourite twirly dress and anything sparkly !👗 putting them in smart or new clothes will immediately set this day apart from the rest.

3. Food 
As part of your Eid menu, make at least 1 special treat for the kids as something for them to look forward to eating on Eid day. Bonus: make it with them for a fun morning in the kitchen.

4. Presents 🎁
The highlight of the day for all kids I’m sure! Use wrapping paper, or make Eid gift bags or boxes of you want to take it up a notch. Have them wrap a gift for their doll or a poor person.
Sadly, we won’t be able to make Eid treat boxes for our neighbours this year given the caution around the pandemic. But we have a helper, so we’ll give her a treat and gift at least from the kids.


5. Activity
Being home all day for Eid, you may need to think about an activity to occupy the kids. Browse through my page for some inspo.
Have fun preparing for your Eid and please share with me your ideas!

Ps my Eid decor is up already only because I thought it was Eid on Saturday in Turkey, turns out it’s on Sunday! 🙈 this involves a bit of reorganisation in my mind , but at least the banner is up!

Welcoming Ramadan with delightful decor!

This is my first year doing real Ramadan decorations with my kids, as Ilhaam is finally old enough (aged 3) to participate and appreciate, so I’m super excited! My intention is to create a positive and loving environment at home to celebrate this special month as a family, and to teach Ilhaam the important practices we do as Muslims we are fasting in this period – such as showing extra kindness, sharing, prayers…

I decided to keep it simple, and age appropriate using mostly what I already have at home. So if you’re looking for beautiful and quick ideas that don’t break the bank,  here’s what I have being doing this year.

✨Elements:
1. Ramadan Corner – notice board with Good Deed Tree & 30 day gratitude challenge (see below), printed Ramadan book, and Iftaar display items.

Ramadan Notice Board
30 Day gratitude challenge


2. Ramadan sign in living room (will share pic when I put it up closer to the time so kids know Ramadan is near).

3. Ramadan art & crafts – paper plate moon & sun, colouring pages.

✨Links:
Everything I used were free printables from amazing sites- I just had to click “Print”.  And since I did all the research already, here are the quick links:

  • If you like browsing, and checking out many sites for resources Ayeina has the Ultimate Ramadan list.
  • If you just want ONE place for everything: try Qamar Designs.They have banners, duas, colouring, ramadan book. The Good Deed Tree idea is from here. Just brilliant stuff. 
  • Ramadan 30 day gratitude challenge. I plan for us every day to talk through this as a family while the kids have dinner. 

It’s easy to get caught up in the Instagram rush of fancy Ramadan decorations, but let’s stay focused on our intention – and use our time and energy productively Insha Allah.

Please share your home decor and we’ll love to feature it in our Productive Muslim Mom Instagram stories!

Welcoming Ramadan soon, one activity at a time!
Productive Muslim Mom

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

Best of the Web : FREE Art, Crafts, Printables, Themes for Ages 2-4 (summarised so you can start here!)

Hello Moms!


There have been some amazing and plentiful online links being shared recently for free resources to keeping the kids busy at home during the recent self distancing we are all going through around the world. However, it can be overwhelming to go through the long list, and may even bring you to a halt before starting. 

So to help you save time, I have summarised here the best links I found specifically for arts, crafts, printables, themes and ideas. 

There are some incredible video and online resources like museum tours, e-books, online games and free movies but for now I prefer to do more hands on  (non- screen) activities with my kids (aged 19 months and 3 years). So these links are more for grown ups to use themselves directly (for ideas or to print to use with the little ones). 

Want a super quick start? Here are my favourite go-to links:

1. Play and create The Imagination Tree
Why I love it: Simple, easy to do ideas. Beautiful friendly layout.Real

2. Toddler and preschool age ideas: Preschool Inspirations
Why I love it: There are themes as a starting point for activities

FREE Art, Crafts, Printables, Themes for Ages 2-4
✅Quick &easy at home projects curated for kids 2 and up Kiwico.com
✅ Preschool Education Activity Resource Ideas Preschool express 
✅Free printables library with activities for children 0 -6  Little Sparks Company

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✅ Fun games, recipes, crafts, activities: Highlights Kids <!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Arial; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073711037 9 0 511 0;} @font-face {font-family:”Cambria Math”; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073786111 1 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:””; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}
✅ Crafts, activities, mazes, dot to dot, etc All Kids Network
✅ Support others in their parenting journey Busy Toddler

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✅ Crafts, activities, designs, and finger plays for teachers and parents to use with kids. Red Art <!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Arial; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073711037 9 0 511 0;} @font-face {font-family:”Cambria Math”; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073786111 1 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:”Apple Color Emoji”; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 402653184 335544320 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:””; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}
✅Free Printables for PreK-2nd Grade : Teachers pay Teachers <!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Arial; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073711037 9 0 511 0;} @font-face {font-family:”Cambria Math”; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073786111 1 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:””; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}
✅Illustrated recipes designed to help kids age 2-12 cook with their grown-ups. Recipes encourage culinary skills, literacy, math, and science. Nomster Chef
✅The ultimate parenting toolbox.We offer ideas you can use to inspire and entertain your kids offline. Funology
✅Resource section includes free flashcards, colouring pages, worksheets, and other resources for children, teachers, and parents:  Super Simple


Homeschooling Links:
– Hands on learning: 123 Homeschool4me 
– Every course you could possibly want to homeschool preschool – 8  All in One Homeschool
– Online homeschool platform & curriculum for Pre-K to 12th grade.  All main subjects are covered, plus extra curriculum courses.  Discovery K12
– A quick start resource to help families pull together a plan for surviving the next 1-2 months at home with their kids, Preschool through 8th grade L A better way to homeschool

– Designed for teaching. Twinkl  Limited time free offer for various resources. Split into Primary and Secondary

Other (non- screen)activities
✅Free at-home kids yoga lesson plans  Little Twisters Yoga
✅Novel Effect makes storytime a little more fun for kids (and grown-ups too!) As you read out loud from print books (or ebooks!) music, sound effects, and character voices play at just the right moment, adjusting and responding to your voice.  
✅Free Childrens stories online ages 3-12  
✅A large selection of fun songs to help teach preschool and kindergarten students 

I haven’t tried out all the links yet, so please do share your lovely creations with us on Instagram (@productive_muslim_mom)
Wishing you many happy learning moments

Productive Muslim Mom
(Taskeen)
Ilhaam, Aged 3

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