My Salawat Pillow - 30 Day Craft Challenge

My Salawat Pillow - 30 Day Craft Challenge

Salam all, by the grace of Allah we have made it to Day 19 of the Craft Challenge. I am so blown away by all of your support! Thank you for continuing to follow the challenge and sharing your feedback and inspirational ideas. Today I talked to my kids about the importance of loving Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and those in his household (the Ahlul Bayt). We talked about the many verses in the Quran which emphasize loving and following the Ahlul Bayt. Specifically we went over verse number 56 in Surat al Ahzab (chapter 33), which states, "Surely Allah and His angels send blessings upon the Prophet; O you who believe! call for (Divine) blessings on him and salute him with a (becoming) salutation". After reviewing this verse of the Quran, we began preparing for our craft.

In today's craft we made our very own squishable, huggable, "Salawat Pillow". The idea is, every time they see it, or hug it, they should send one salawat (salutations and blessings upon the Prophet and his family). In Arabic, it appears as, ٱللَّٰهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَىٰ مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَىٰ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ. 

Again, this craft is a super simple and child friendly activity - no needles involved and no sewing involved! I hope you are able to do this with your children and please let me know how it goes!

Materials:

• Two square pieces of felt - we used 30cmx30cm 
• Pencil
• Fabric Scissors
• Ruler
• Permanent markers or Fabric Markers for Decoration
• Pillow Stuffing 

  

  Here's what we used to make the Salawat Pillow

Steps:

1. Fold one of your felt pieces in half and trace a "half-heart" shape with your pencil- try to make it as large as the fabric will allow 
2. Make a smaller half-heart inside this one - the distance between the two hearts should be at least 5 cm. The larger the distance the easier it is for smaller children to tie knots

   

   We free-handed the heart drawings

3. Cut out the larger heart and then use that as a template to cut the heart shape on your other felt piece

   

   We used the first heart shape to cut the second one

4. Now you should have two identical heart shapes and a smaller heart shape drawn inside with pencil

   

   This is what they looked like

5. Start cutting straight lines approximately 2-3cm apart, stopping where you've drawn your inner circle - some people measure exactly, but we did this free-hand
6. Do this for both hearts

   

   We used our fabric scissors to cute these straight lines, we did one heart at a time

7. Flip your hearts over to the side where the pencil is not visible. Use your pencil to right the word "SALAWAT" on the felt and allow your child to trace these letters with the fabric markers or permanent markers

   

   Tracing fun!

8. We did this on both pieces of the fabric - wait a few minutes to make sure this marker dries 

   

   We were lucky to have bright and vibrant colours

9. Match the two heart fabrics, one on top of the other - the writing should face outward
10. Now, start tying knots - one string from one fabric and one string from the other fabric

    

    Lots of practice with tying knots!

11. Make sure they are double knots. Do this all the way around and leave about 10cm of space of an opening

    

    This is the space we used to stuff the pillow

12. Stuff the pillow stuffing inside the pillow and spread around to make sure its equally stuffed through out the heart shape 

    

    Stuffing away!

13. When your satisfied with the appearance of the pillow, tie the remaining knots and close up the pillow 

    

    We knotted it all the way around!

14. Allow your child to hug and squeeze the pillow (and recite salawat each time)! 

    

    So squeezable!

I hope this craft was inspirational for you and your child! May the last 10 nights of Ramadan bring you peace and blessings. And finally, May Allah send peace and blessings upon Prophet Muhammad and his Family. See you all tomorrow!

Angel Jibreel Delivers a Message - 30 Day Craft Challenge

Angel Jibreel Delivers a Message - 30 Day Craft Challenge

Download Angel Jibreel Template Here

Salam crafters! Tonight I am sharing our craft for Day 18. It comes just in time for the Nights of Power (Laylat-al-Qadr). I talked to my children about the importance of these upcoming nights. They learned that the Holy Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) on one of these nights. The children asked how Allah communicated with our Prophet during these nights. I clarified that all communication was through Angel Jibreel. This lead us to our craft for the day. 

Today we are making a representation (based on our imagination) of Angel Jibreel. The neat thing about this craft is that it is able to wave its wings up and down. This was surely the highlight for them! I drew a template on paper and scanned it for all of you to use! It works very well with all kinds of paper. I am certain that your children will enjoy creating this craft with you!

Materials:

• Angel Jibreel Template (download here)
• Scissors
• Single Hole Punch - or anything sharp to poke a hole
• Glue - can be school glue or glue stick
• Brass plated paper fasteners - these are what I used
• Optional: decorations such as glitter or stickers 

  

  This is what we used for our craft today

Watch a YouTube video of this craft Here

Steps:

1. Print and cut out the shapes in the Angel Jibraeel Template (here) - You can print these directly on to card stock, or just use printer paper. We used our template to trace onto different coloured papers. 

   

   This is how the pieces will be arranged

2. Make holes where identified on the templates
3. Glue hair and face onto the body as shown and glue on the angel ring as well. Allow to dry for a few minutes

   

   This is how we glued the hair, face and angel ring on the body

4. Fasten back piece to the wings as shown - be sure that the round portion is at the back as shown

   

   First fasten the wings to the back peice

5. Fasten the body of the angel to the wings - be sure that the round portion is at the front as shown

   

   Then fasten the wings to the body

   
   
   
6. Hold on to the body of the angel and slide the back piece up and down to see if the wings are able to wave 

   

   This shows you the front and back of the craft

   

   Here's how it looks at the back

7. Decorate the angel if you wish
8. Allow your child to play with their craft and tell stories of the Night of Power!

   

   This craft added some inspiration during the Nights of Power

Please keep my family in your prayers during these special nights! I am praying for all of you. I hope that these crafts will provide useful lessons about these nights of Power. See you tomorrow, inshaAllah!

The Al-Kawthar River - Sensory Play Bag - 30 Day Craft Challenge

The Al-Kawthar River - Sensory Play Bag - 30 Day Craft Challenge

Download Worksheet Here

Salam and thank you for checking out our Day 17 craft. I'm so honoured to have had the viewership that you all have given me over the past several days. I hope that these crafts are living up to your expectations! Today I talked to my children about Surat al-Kawthar - Surah number 108 in the Holy Quran. It talks about one of the beautiful streams in Paradise that have been promised to our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). It has been described as being a marvelous, stunning and beautiful river in paradise. We recited this Surah together and talked a lot about what it means. I made a handy worksheet for the children to read and get some additional information. 

Once we were done talking, we decided to use our imagination to draw this river in the rectangle provided on the worksheet. There was a lot of excitement and chatter about how they were going to make it extra special. Once they were done with this drawing, we created our own sensory play bag and taped it on top of our river to make it even more unique. In the end, the craft looked absolutely majestic! I hope you can try this activity with your children - I am sure they will enjoy it! Follow the steps below to make your own "Al-Kawthar River Sensory Play Bag".

Materials:

• Al-Kawthar Worksheet that you can download here - I printed it on card stock for added strength and durability
• Markers
• Clear packing tape
• Beads
• Glitter
• Hair gel - dollar store brand that you don't mind using in a craft
• Snack size ziplock bag - our dimensions were 16.5cmx8.2cm
• Scissors

  

   Look at all the colourful and fun items you'll need!

   

  
  

Watch a YouTube Video of how we did this activity Here

Steps:

1. Hand out the worksheet to your child and allow them to draw their own version of al-Kawthar river - they can use markers for this. 
   
   
   
   
2. Once they are satisfied with their drawing they can fill their ziplock bag with the beads and glitter that they desire. 
   
3. Fill about half of the bag with the hair gel. 
   
4. Try to release as much air from the bag as possible.
5. Now seal it shut. 
6. Use your packing tape to tape over the entire sensory play bag - thus preventing cuts and leaks of the bag - you may use as many layers of tape as you need to feel safe. 
   
   
   
   
7. Allow your child to move the glitter and beads around with their fingers and feel the amazement of the al-Kawthar River! 
   
8. You may also indulge in the fun!
   
    

   

   The proud artist!

   
   

Thanks for visiting! I really enjoyed sharing this craft with you all. Please be sure to leave a comment below - I always appreciate feedback. See you all tomorrow!

Prayer Tower "Minaar" Craft - 30 Day Craft Challenge

Prayer Tower "Minaar" Craft - 30 Day Craft Challenge

Salam craft family! Thanks for joining me for Day 16 of our Craft Challenge. Today's craft was super easy with lots of room for creativity and customization. We talked about the origin of the prayer tower, known as "Minaar" منارة. It is used to notify everybody that it is time for prayers. It is an essential part of every masjid and it is also very beautiful to look at. We went over the Adhaan and Iqamah together and their meanings and then we were ready to make our own Minaar!

This is one of those crafts that can be done easily and swiftly with items you will be able to find around the house. Save your next empty paper tower roll and use it for this purpose. It was also a great way to talk about 3-D shapes - we used the cylinder and cone today! Scroll down to see how we made our very own prayer tower. 

Materials:

• Cardboard paper towel roll
• Two sheets of construction paper  (ideally, 2 colours - we used white and green)
• Tape
• School glue
• Sharpie
• Decoration/stickers - we used adhesive glitter paper
• Scissors 

  

  Here's most of what you'll need - I forgot to picture the school glue

Steps:

1. Use one of your sheets of construction paper to wrap around the roll, tape to secure it.

   

   We used white for this

2. On your other sheet, draw a large circle. We used a plastic plate to help us.
   
   
   

   

   A perfect circle to work with!

3. Cut the radius of this circle

   

   We folded the circle in half two ways to find the centre and then we cut the radius

4. Wrap it around to make a cone shape and make sure it fits nicely on top of the cylinder, tape it to secure the cone shape. 

   

   It can easily shape into a cone with some twisting - find the right size for your tower

5. Use your sharpie to draw the door of your prayer tower. 

   

   You can do this free-hand

6. Use your scissors to cut out the top part and then just push it inwards. 

   

   Don't cut the bottom portion, just push in.

7. Secure your cone to the top of the tower - we used school glue for this. You may also use tape. 

   

   Fits nicely!

8. Decorate your tower - we cut two moon shapes out of adhesive glitter paper and stuck them to the top of the tower - back to back! 

   

   We free-handed the shape of the moon two times on this sticky paper

   
   

   

   Then we just stuck it back-to-back at the top

9. Let the creative play being! My children started to teach their Lego toys how to recite the Adhaan. 
   
   
   
   

Thanks for taking a look at today's craft! It was an easy activity that was jam-packed with a lot of different lessons. Try it out and leave a comment below! See you next time. 

Pomegranate Painting Craft - 30 Day Craft Challenge

Pomegranate Painting Craft - 30 Day Craft Challenge

Download colouring page here

Salam and welcome to the halfway point of our challenge! We're at Day 15 now and I'm super excited to share what we did today. We focused on the pomegranate today. I talked to the kids about the fact that it has been mentioned several times in the Quran. We also talked about the nutritional benefits of it and that eating pomegranate seeds regularly will keep us healthy and strong!

I designed a colouring page for them and we looked at the word  رمان in the Quran. We also talked about how to pronounce pomegranate in Arabic as seen in the Quran. Once we had our discussion, we tried painting with actual pomegranate seeds and saw how the colour appears on paper. We talked about how this was the method artists used before man-made paints were invented - they were quite fascinated!

Edited to add: No pomegranate seeds were wasted in this experiment - mama volunteered to eat the used seeds!

Materials:

• Pomegranate colouring page (download here)
• Colouring Utensils
• Paintbrushes
• Pomegranate seeds, about 1 tablespoon
• Optional: smock - this activity can get a bit messy 
  

Steps:

1. Print out the colouring page - I have provided the link above
2. Have all the utensils available to your child and allow them to get creative! 
   
3. Let them use their paintbrushes to spread the pomegranate juice over the colouring page. 
   
4. Allow them to see how the pomegranate juice colour changes over time. 
   
5. Give them the option of using markers, crayons and pencil crayons to see how they compare. 
   
6. Enjoy and repeat as many times as you please! 
   
   
   

I hope you liked today's activity! It's super simple and they are able to learn so much. Please let me know what you think in the comments below!