There is so much to learn and so much to cover when it comes to the blessed month of Ramadan, mashallah. So what do you focus on?
Well, really, that’s up to you and what you think your group of students or children need. You may decided to focus on specific topics such as Allah’s names and attributes, or habits such as salah and Quran reading, or character building, or on beneficial past time activities like art & crafts, journaling etc. Whatever you choose, we all share the common goal of building a beautiful emotional connection and attachment to the blessed month of Ramadan.
In this blog post, I want to share some activities I have created and used with kids of different ages. I’m not a super crafty person (I wish I were), but I’m very creative when it comes to fun tasks that are educational and memorable.
In the following posts, I’ll share the lesson plans and resources I created so that you can do the same.
The Story of a Successful Ramadan Workshop
A couple of years ago I hosted a Pre-ramadan workshop for 4-10 year old children. My objective was not only to make the workshop fun but to set up activities, or stations, or centers, that will allow them to walk away with something physical and practical to use at for their age.
I’ll walk you through all the activities inshallah. And you can find a lesson plan for each activity on this blog. Although the children were young, every activity is suitable for literally any age (except maybe the good deed tree). So if you have teenage kids, or would like to do the same for a group of adults, I’m sure everyone will love it!
This year, we’re dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, and due to social distancing rules, we didn’t plan any group workshops. However, I did do the “Build a Calendar” activity with my group of 12-17yr old students over zoom and it was great, Allaahumma barik. We covered a ton of details regarding the month and they built and decorated their calendars at the same time, so that they’d have a visual representation of the different aspects they learned related to Ramadan.
Do Just One Activity at a Time
I have a problem when it comes to organizing events, I get a little carried away with my ideas and I over plan. I have these great tasks and I just feel it needs to be done. But if I were to repeat this workshop again, I would probably just do one or two of these activities (below) over time, instead of all 4 in one day. That way, more time could be spent on the content or topic of the activity.
The workshop was 2 hours long and I had 4 activities prepared. To keep everything organized, each student received a large gift bag with the individual supplies that they needed.
I had a parent volunteer for each one of the stations. They were each provided with a lesson plan, instructions, and the additional group supplies for their station. Other generous moms brought in snacks and refreshments, and I am forever grateful to all the parents!
In total there were 4 tasks/activities, and 5 stations.
Stations
- Build a Calendar station
- Design a Mushaf Cover station
- Make a Date Palm Good Deeds Tree station
- Gratitude Jar station
- General supplies table shared between stations 2 & 3
You can find the lesson plans and details for each station by clicking on the links above.
At the end, every child had a bag full of resources to use throughout the month of Ramadan, including their own personal juzz amma/juzz tabarik copy of the Quran, a gratitude jar/container, a large good deed tree, and a decorated calendar.
Why These Activities?
Usually Ramadan workshops for kids involve a lot of craft/decor making, and other fun games and activities. Those are all great, and I knew there were already other workshops in the area doing that. So, being the teacher that I am, I wanted to set up tasks that teach about Ramadan, motivate the child to increase in ibaadah, while providing them with materials to make it easier to do. I wanted them to create something that can be used the entire month, and beyond, alhamdulillah.
It was tons of work, but loads of fun. And if it wasn’t for the amazing moms who helped me run the stations, and support the facilators at each station, it would not have gone so well. May Allaah reward them generously with jannah! Ameen!
So now I’m sharing all the details of each activity for free. Check out each link below and grab the resources and make it work for you! *****
