teaching

Teaching Toddlers : Kindness and Making Friends

For playgroup in Week 3, we focussed on the theme Kindness & Making Friends. 

Our playgroup ranges from kids between 18 months to 2.5 year olds. Around this age, children start to notice other kids and are curious to learn and interact together. So this week, since we had the kids meeting regularly now for 3 weeks, we focused on learning names. Here are the lessons for Week 1 and Week 2 which I posted previously on this blog. We have paused our playgroup for now due to coronavirus measures in Istanbul, so I’m sharing what we did before we closed to inspire and help Moms of little kids with ideas for teaching islamic concepts since I know there isn’t alot available online focussed on under 3 years olds and I had to make it up as I went along 🙂

We always begin our playgroup with Salaam song( Omar Hannah) and “Nabil & Noura say salaam” each week to build consistency.
Related to the topic this week of Kindness & Making Friends, we chose these concepts:
Song & Play: “I have a new friend” (throw a ball or pass an object to the friend and sing the song with that friends name) It’s super cute to see the little kids interact with each other! We also sang this song from Teaching Mamas:


Activity : Puppet Show – I did a small puppet show about a giraffe and a penguin (the hand puppets I had at home!) where the Penguin wants to play but the Giraffe says he needs to tidy up first. So the penguin helps him to tidy up (kindness) so they can play together. 





Tips for puppet shows:
– Keep the story very simple and short so kids can follow and stay till the end
– Don’t lecture in the show, rather weave the moral into the story so they learn through the fun 
– Use different voices for characters 
– Make it funny and silly – this is how they will remember!
We also did some fun colouring – a picture of friends.

This weeks snack was Pizza Muffins. I posted the recipe here – its  super simple and makes an ideal outdoor food snack.

Let us know if you try the activities with your little one and how you get on!
Taskeen
Productive Muslim Mom

Teaching Toddlers: Bismillah

Bismillah Activity 
For playgroup in Week 2, we focussed on the theme Bismillah: 
“In the Name of Allah”

For Moms: By saying this before we begin anything, it is a  way of remembering and thanking Allah. It is a practical way of making us more mindful of Allah. When we get into this routine, then we remember Allah and always try to do things that please Him. We get maximum benefits from whatever task we are doing by remembering to take Allah’s name before it.
Aishah [R] related that the Messenger of Allah (ď·ş) said: “When one of you eats food, then let him say: ‘Bismillah.’ If he forgets in the beginning, then let him say: ‘Bismillah Fi Awwalihi Wa Akhirih (In the Name of Allah in its beginning and its end.)” [Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1858] A simple act, such as eating becomes a source of blessing (by the permission of Allah) and an act of worship. 
Additionally, various Hadith and saying from Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) show us that saying this phrase enables us to gain Allah’s blessings.
So how do we teach this to kids:

We always begin our playgroup with Salaam song( Omar Hannah) and “Nabil & Noura say salaam” each week to build consistency.
Related to the topic this week, we chose these concepts:
Song: Bismillah song by Dawud Wharnsby Ali (lyrics here). It’s a really simple song so ideal for toddlers.
Book : “Don’t forget to say Bismillah” with sounds from Desi Doll Company. It’s interactive so kids enjoyed pressing the buttons to hear the sayings in English and Arabic. Highly recommend.
Activity : Create your own Bismillah placemat – sticking fruits and food for fine motor skills.
I cut out colourful fruits and these placemats from Karima Krafts.  (Ps we’re outdoors in the park hence the setting in the pics below!)
                                       
We always end with a snack and for sunnah snack I offered dates and cucumber. Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (May peace be upon him) 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 fresh fruit and crackers to keep the young ones going!
This is a great beginner activity but of course the main learning comes from daily practice – so remembering to say bismillah when beginning to eat, changing clothes, putting on shoes, leaving the house – and every little or big action.

How will you teach “Bismillah” to your little ones today?

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 Ř§ 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.