despite being brought up in australia, in a nonmuslim family, and being in the religion for just 7 years, she understood and realized the importance of raising up her kids the islamic way.. and is soo motivated to do it herself.. the right way
not many of us, the born-muslim mothers can really appreciate and comprehend..
thats one of the things that i like about being with reverts,
soo iman-rejuvenating.. you know what i mean?!
her level of concern is up to the level of changing non-muslim names in childrens storybook to muslim names...like bill to bilal! mashaallah! may Allah reward her and give her the strength to have istiqamah! Ameen! it is said that, when you make doa for another person, the angels will make that same doa for you.. what is my doa compared to that of the angels! may Allah make all of us istiqamah in providing our children with the best islamic environment and make them the means of our entrance to jannah.. Ameen!
am not planning to make this post a long winded one, so to cut it short, this sister, decided to homeschool her son and conduct a playgroup of her own, inshaallah.. so here i wanna share some of the activities i did with the kids in my playgroup, not long ago..
In my 2012 playgroup, i decided to choose a theme for each session ie a prophet a session.
so in the first session i told a story about:
Prophet Adam A.S. and an art related to it.. the hand-foot print fruit tree:
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Prophet Yunus A.S. and the paper plate fish:
Prophet Musa A.S. and the snake staff (you can get the template for the paper snake on this link:
http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mspiralsnake.htm :
Prophet Sulaiman A.S and the egg carton butterfly (i know egg carton ants would be more related but since i have done that before, so i chose butterfly this time):
Surah Al-Fiil and the paper plate elephant mask (you can get the templates from this link: http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mplate-elephant.htm) :
in a special session, i invited a friend with her rabbits. she presented her rabbits and relate it to the greatness of Allah...:
the template for the wooly paper plate rabbit can be found at this link:
http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mhalfplate-rabbit.htm
I usually start of the playgroup with some games:
- floor puzzle
- passing parcel (in the prophet sulaiman AS session, the kids were asked to make different animal sounds based on the animal on the cards that theytook from the parcel)
- giant pictorial floor dominoes for kids by TINKERS
- guessing game (this is my favourite; try to get their mums to draw on the white board and the kids guess what it is)
- coloring
While waiting for the paints to dry, we have a snack-time.. the sunnah way..
everyone is required to bring their snacks, preferably fruits, put them all on a big tray and eat together. on the sufrah (mat) beginning and ending with doa...
Then finally, STORYTIME!
This was the most challenging part for me, but the most fun part too!
It was more challenging than the normal playgroup cause i was telling stories of the prophets..
and if you look through the range of books on the stories of the prophet, you would find that most of the time, the languange and pictures are not toddler-friendly at all...
so i decided to draw on the white board, as i tell the story myself..
make it more interactive for the kids..
let the kids hold the marker once in a while.. they just love it!
Dont forget the Quiz time at the end! You'd be amazed at how these kids can really absorb your story!
Thats it! just 2 hours a week.. really a great way to get together with the other muslim ladies, especially when you're living far away from relatives and in a place like Australia.
If you're thinking of starting one in your area, make intention to do it for the sake of Allah..
inshaallah Allah will make it easy and at the end of the day, you might lose your voice and energy but believe me its fulfilling, inshaallah!
