Ramadan 2023 - Inspired by Qur'an Montessori Prompts
And the tradition continues. (Read about our journey HERE.)
Bismillah! Here are our Ramadan 2023 Prompts:
1 | "Say, (O Muhammad), "If you love Allah, then follow me, (so) Allah will love you and forgive you your sins..." (Ali 'Imran: 31)
Bismillah. We begin our Inspired by Quran Prompts by learning about some of the sunnah acts of Ramadan. Emulating the Prophet ﷺ is one way to seek Allah's love and forgiveness. We made this beautiful visual to learn about these beloved sunnah acts. I always like to explain the reason why we do certain things, so accompanying this visual is a little book which includes ahadith and a few questions for us to discuss and research. Ramadan Mubarak ♡
2 | "The month of Ramadan (is that) in which was revealed the Quran, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion..." (Baqarah: 185)
I've added another book to my children's collection. This one covers the importance of the Quran, facts about revelation, why we should memorise and study it, and some virtues and ahadith.
One new thing they learnt was that the Quran was brought down in 2 stages. Firstly from Al Lawh al Mahfooz (the Preserved Tablet) to the lowest heaven on the night of Qadr. Then in parts from the lowest heaven to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ over a span of 23 years.
3| "It is He who has made you successors upon the earth..." (Fatir: 39)
This ayah refers to humans inheriting the earth generations after generations. Allah has placed us as caretakers upon the Earth and we have the ability to choose how to act upon it. There are many ways to share the load of being caretakers to help maintain the natural balance of our ecosystem. The Prophet ﷺ taught us to live simple lives, to protect all living things and to be merciful to the creation.
I made these sunnah cards to remind my family and I to consciously live like the prophet ﷺ by being aware of our impact on Earth. My 4.5yo chose the 'Care for Animals" card where he went and placed a container filled with water for the birds that visit us each morning. I went on to read the hadith whereby a man saw a thirsty dog, so he reached into the well to collect some water with his shoe and gave it to the dog. Allah thanked him and forgave him. The prophet ﷺ went on to say that there is a reward for every living thing! Never belittle the small acts you do, even if it's adding a container filled with water by your front gate.
4| "Blessed is the name of your Lord..." (Ar Rahman: 78)
Whatever we do starting with the name of Allah will be blessed. It will produce goodness that will continuously grow. It's like when you say bismillah and cook dinner with the smallest amount of ingredients. There's so much barakah in that meal that you end up having enough left overs for the next day or two!
Saying Bismillah before anything was one of the first acts I taught my boys when they were young. In order to learn about the other sources of barakah we made a Barakah Tree. The boys collected bark and enjoyed making a mess with pva glue! We used our pressed leaves from the garden to list the sources of barakah. I've placed it in our prayer area so we can discuss more of it after salah.
Some sources of barakah from the Quran and sunnah that we included are:
Eating together, Saying bismillah, Keeping ties with family, Charity, Salah, Following the Sunnah, Having Taqwa, Early bird (using the hours after Fajr), Honesty, Saying Alhamdulillah, Having good intentions, Halal earnings, Reading Quran, Shukr, Istighfaar, Focus on pleasing Allah, Trusting and relying on Allah and Making du'aa!
5| "And the moon – We have determined for it phases, until it returns (appearing) like the old date stalk." (Yaseen: 39)
We've had cloudy nights since Wednesday, so we haven't seen the Ramadan moon! (Tonight looks promising though.) Here's a moon phase activity for my 4.8yo. We're also working through our moon phenology wheel to see how the moon changes and returns to its former state throughout the month.
What we learnt about the Moon:
- The Moon is a sign of Allah. Everything belongs to Allah and follows His commands.
- Allahs creations are beautiful!
- The Prophet ﷺ was more beautiful than the moon. (hadith)
- The Prophet ﷺ used to fast on the 13th, 14th and 15th of each hijri month (the white days). They're called the white days because the moon shines brightly lighting up the whole sky.
- The caravans relied upon the moon to help them identify what day of the month it was and to see while they made their journey at night.
Anyone else moon searching every night?
6l "And it is Allah Who sends the winds, so that they raise up the clouds, and We drive them to a dead land, and revive therewith the earth after its death. As such will be the resurrection." (Fatir: 10)
Rainfall revives the dead earth bringing forth plants from the ground. Similarly, on the Day of Resurrection, Allah shall raise us back to life from our graves.
We had a brief demonstration on how rain is formed using some props followed by a cloud classification lesson for my eldest. It shows 10 types of clouds and where they're situated in the sky.
7| "Say, "He is Allah, (who is) One..." (Al Ikhlas: 1)
We started off the lesson discussing the oneness of Allah. My 4.8yo went through his Tawheed and Shirk puzzle to understand the difference between them, while my eldest revisited his categories of Tawheed puzzle. He and I had a brief discussion about shirk in each of these categories, then we read through our Surah Al Ikhlas book. We finished off by making this poster which includes the story behind revelation, surah values, Allah's names and some action points.
P.s If you're still deciding whether or not to purchase these books from @adduha.institute , please make the investment for you and your children. It's an excellent resource with quality content. (This is not sponsored - I believe every Muslim home library should have a set! )
8| "...when (the adhan) is called for the prayer on the day of Jumu'ah, then proceed to the remembrance of Allah..." (Al Jumu'ah: 9)
I personally love helping my children prepare for Jumu'ah prayer as it brings back nostalgic memories of Eid morning when my father and brothers used to prepare for Eid prayer.
To help my little ones grow into God-conscious men, I've created a small Jumu'ah pack for them to learn about this special day. Alhamdulillah, they see Jumu'ah as an epic adventure and they absolutely love it! They get to wear their dad's special perfume, spend a few hours without me, explore different masajid and see their brothers in faith.
Anyway back to the Jumu'ah pack. This is for sale and all proceeds will be going towards Charity Right AU this month (feeding the poor children).
9| "There emerges from their bellies a drink, varying in colours, in which is a healing for people..." (An Nahl: 69)
You don't need to look far to be amazed by Allah's creation. Take the honey bee for example. Small but unique in design. My little one was astonished to find out it has 2 stomachs, one for nectar and one for food. We focused on the anatomy through play, then had a brief discussion about the journey from nectar to honey. I really can't wait to create a whole unit on this because one lesson is not enough!
From this ayah we understand that honey comes in a variety of colours. The colours depend on the flowers which the bee extracts its pollen. This contributes to the colour and flavour of the honey. I absolutely love macadamia honey! What's yours?
10| "And He is the Forgiving, the Affectionate." (Al Buruj: 14)
Allah has immense love for His creatures, but He grants a special type of love to His believers in this life and in the hereafter. So how do we know if we're worthy of Allah's love?
For this lesson we focused on the name Al Wadud, the Affectionate. We were inspired by the book, 'My Little Quran Verses' to make this poster. Each heart completes the statement of 'Allah loves it when...'.
We discussed character traits of people whom Allah loves, then we looked into the Quran and found that Allah loves those who repent, those who are conscious of Him, those who follow the Messenger ﷺ those who are patient, those who are just, those who have excellent character, those who fear Him and those who are patient.
Our love for Allah shouldn't be limited to the blessings he gives, rather we should love Allah for who He is. It's our duty to help our children love Allah the way He deserves.
I forgot to ask my boys why they love Allah. Tomorrow in sha Allah. I'm curious to hear their answers. Now reflect.. why do you love Allah?
11| "...I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me..." (Al Baqarah: 186)
Making du'aa more meaningful and impactful comes with knowledge and practice.
Through discussion, drawing and role modelling we covered:
What du'aa is
Du'aa etiquette
Best way to make du'aa
Best times to make du'aa
The 3 ways Allah answers us
Next, I briefly introduced one of Allah's names, Ar Razzaaq, so they can use in their du'aa. I think it's more beneficial if they understand His names and attributes rather than just memorise. The lesson ended shortly after. Alhamdulillah it was a productive day. Looking forward to continuing this topic in sha Allah.
12| "Not a leaf falls but that He knows it." (Al An'am: 59)
This lesson required the boys to go leaf hunting to learn about the different shapes and types of leaves. We first looked at the anatomy of the leaf, then discussed its types: simple and compound. The thing I absolutely love about home educating is that the older siblings can teach the little ones. It's wonderful to observe and a way to see what the older ones have retained and understood. After sorting the leaves, my youngest had a go at matching the shapes.
We spoke about Allah being Al Muhaymin, the Controller and Al 'Aleem, the All Knowing. He controls and knows about every single leaf. From the moment it begins to develop and grow, to when it turns a crispy yellow and then floats to the ground. He knows. Our backyard is literally a forest and just by looking at that the children were amazed!
13| "Remember Allah with much remembrance." (Al Ahzab: 41)
I asked my eldest what reminds him of Allah the most. His reply was nature. So we got brainstorming for an activity. We didn't have enough time to sew so we baked! We wanted to create a nature inspired area in our new lounge, so we made these beautiful clay plant holders and plaque to remind us about being grateful. Ideally they're meant to be used with dried florals, but they also work well as mini propagation pots!
14| "And He shows you His signs..." (Surah Ghafir: 81)
We found some caterpillars while pruning our citrus tree so we raised them! This was such an awesome learning experience! It took around 5-6 weeks for the tiny caterpillars to develop into gorgeous butterflies. Fortunately we managed to witness one crawling out of its case. We'll definitely do this again with some nature journalling. Click on the picture to watch the life cycle reel!
15| "And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me." (Adh Dhariyat: 56)
Pic 2: What is 'Ibadah? 'Ibadah is usually translated as 'worship', however, 'Ibadah is obedience to Allah alone. It's the spiritual awareness and acceptance of Allah in every part of our lives. The word 'Ibadah comes from the word 'abd' which means servant or slave. So being a servant of Allah means obeying His orders and following His Messenger ﷺ every time. We don't pick and choose.
Pic 3: Who should we worship? Allah alone. He has the right to be worshipped as He is the ultimate Provider and Sustainer. We discussed Tawheed al Uloohiya (Oneness in Worship).
Who or what are we warned against worshipping?
(Material possessions) We read about the arrogant man with the 2 gardens in Surah al Kahf. He attributed the success of his beautiful gardens to himself, thus Allah destroyed them. Real success is attaining the pleasure of Allah.
(Objects) We revisited Pre Islamic Arabia where idol worshipping was prevalent, then the story of Prophet Musa (AS) and the golden cow.
Pic 4: How do we worship? We discussed what worship looks like when we use our hands, eyes, ears, feet, and tongue. We learnt that worship takes the form of many things as long as one's intention is for Allah. The boys also learnt that our body will either testify for us or against us so we need to really think about our actions.
Pic 1: To illustrate their understanding the boys came up with a wide range of examples of 'Ibadah.
16| "...then He produces thereby crops of varying colours; then they dry and you see them turned yellow.." (Az Zumar: 21)
We covered the 4 main ingredients needed for plants to develop: Water, C02, Light Energy and Chlorophyll, then had a little demonstration on how things work together to help the plant grow and make food.
For my 7yo we spoke about colour changes in leaves during Autumn. He learnt that in each leaf there are chemicals which are responsible for colours. During Spring and Summer, most leaves are dominated with chlorophyll, a chemical which gives leaves their green colour. During Autumn, the tree breaks down chlorophyll and stores it away until spring. When this happens, the green colour is no longer dominate, therefore allowing other colours such as yellow, orange and red to show.
"So Mum, why don't all leaves change colour during Autumn?" .. I love that he asks questions. It's one way we both grow! If I know the answer we continue conversing.. if not we both find it together, Alhamdulillah.
17| "And He knows what is on the land and in the sea. (Al An'am: 59)
More than 80% of the ocean hasn't been explored or seen by any human. Just imagine what's down there, subhanAllah! Allah's knowledge encompasses everything, including the animals living in the sea.
We explored different layers of the ocean and the animals found in each one. Each layer is distinguished by the amount of sunlight it receives, temperature, depth, salinity and the amount of water pressure found there. After my son allocated his sea creatures to each layer, we imagined we dived into the ocean and conversed about our body temperature, what we saw and how we felt. The further we dived the colder we got and found it difficult to see! I love playing imagination with my boys. It's one way I help nurture their creativity.
18| "Never will you attain righteousness until you spend from that which you love." (Ali Imran: 92)
In previous years we've donated toys to the children's hospital and food to the Masjid. I suggested a few charitable deeds for this prompt, however the boys wanted to donate toys again. So bismillah! The boys have been collecting money for the less fortunate and they finally got to spend it! Before we left home, we made our intention to do a charitable act to earn Allah's love. Together we made du'aa to find the items we need and for Allah to accept this as 'ibadah.
This year the hospital had an Amazon wish list which made things a lot easier! Yaseen wasn't too happy though as legos weren't on the list! He bought a set anyway! Alhamdulillah he is learning to give gifts he'd love to receive.
They'll be heading off this week to gift these items to the hospital in sha Allah. Unfortunately the boys don't get to see the recipients, however they do receive a thank you letter and huge rewards from Allah in sha Allah.
19| "Recite in the name of your Lord who created." (Al 'Alaq: 1)
I recently discovered how to print on fabric using freezer paper so...a month before Ramadan I made 2 badges to help encourage and motivate my boys through their Quran journey. Alhamdulillah, they were well received and have been useful! I decided to expand their range with a few more. (Those little sabr and shukr ones for me.)
Will these help your children through their Quran journey too?
20| "And of all things We created two mates, perhaps you may remember." (Adh Dhariyat: 49)
The boys learnt how to blend colours with soft pastel. How to marble using shaving cream and acrylic paints (super messy but fun). They understood the concept of contrasting and they explored ripped paper collages.
Artwork:
Moon Contrast: Allah uses the word LIGHT and DARKNESS to represent guidance from Him and misguidance.
Arrow Marble Painting: Allah explains in Surah al Kahf that He turned the men of the cave to their RIGHT and LEFT side.
Soft Pastel landscape: Throughout the Quran, Allah speaks about the NIGHT and DAY as signs.
Ripped Paper Collage: Allah also speaks about the LAND and Sea many times.
And that's a wrap! May Allah allow us to continue sowing the seed of Tawheed and love for Him in our children, Ameen.
JazakumAllah Khair!
- Zayneb x
- Zayneb x
