Must-Read Ramadan Books for Children

Books are special in our home. So is Ramadan. Of course we fast and do what is expected of us by Allah (swt), but we also make it very special for our kids by decorating our home, prepping activities that will engage our children throughout the month, and reading lots of books before, during, and after.  It takes a little time and effort, but it’s worth it! Kids get into the Ramadan spirit very quickly!

Lots of wonderful, quality children’s books related to Ramadan and Eid are sweeping the book market now alhamdulilla’Allah. Thanks to all the wonderful children’s authors and illustrators who understand the value of pictures books!

The books I have starred make great read alouds for at home or in classrooms.  Most of the books below have been cherished in my house and some are brand new that I plan to add to my collection. Books below are geared for ages 3-12 years old.

1. *Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors by Hena Khan

2. *It’s Ramadan, Curious George by H.A. Rey

3. *Lailah’s Lunchbox: A Ramadan Story by Reem Faruqi

4. My First Ramadan by Karen Katz

5. *Ilyas & Duck and the Fantastic Festival  of Eid-al-Fitr by Oman S. Khawaja

6. Raihanna’s First Time Fasting by Qamar Hassan

7. Under the Ramadan Moon by Sylvia Whitman

8. *Ramadan Moon by Na’ima B. Robert and Shirin Adl

9. *Rashad’s Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr by Lisa Bullard

10. Owl & Cat Ramadan is… by Emma Apple

11. Night of the Moon by Hena Khan

12. A Party in Ramadan by Asma Mobin-Uddin

13. The White Nights of Ramadan by Maha Addasi

14. Moon Watchers by Raza Jalali

15. The Best Eid Ever by Asma Mobin-Uddin

16. Zaki’s Ramadan Fast by Ann P. El-Moslimany

 

Crescent & Star Hanging

Just like our mind, soul, and body need to be rejuvenated yearly, our homes can use a little more spicing up.  Prepping for Ramadhan is a great way to get the family into the spirit of this special month.  At Qur’an Camp this year, the kids made a crescent and star hanging to hang in their homes.

Materials:
10 craft sticks
Paint and brush
Tacky glue (optional: glue gun)
Glitter, gems, and stickers
Unfinished moon crescent (can be found at any arts &crafts store for very cheap, I got mine for less than 50 cents)
Ribbon or string

Paint the craft sticks  and unfinished moon crescent (both sides if possible).

Glue the sticks together in a star shape.  I told the kids to glue two at a time by making the letter “V” then glue all the “V’s” together to form a star.

Glue the ribbon to the crescent and star.

Decorate using glitter, gems, or whatever you have to make it look pretty.

 

The crescent and stars look great hanging freely from the ceiling.  Hope you got to welcome Ramadhan with your kids, if not you can certainly end with a bang by decorating for Eid!

Crayon & Watercolor Resist Painting for Eid Cards

We (as in the kids and I) love coloring and painting.  I try to have them use their imagination and draw pictures instead of using the coloring books all the time.  Like a writing block, sometimes we stumble upon a drawing block and we just don’t know what to draw.  This is why I try to find new ways to use the art materials and supplies we already have and find a use for the art work.

I found this really cool site called Create Art with ME.  It had a really neat idea to blend crayons and watercolors to create a Crayon & Watercolor Resist Painting.  For complete instructions on how we made these beautiful pieces, visit the site.

Materials:

Watercolor paper
Pencil
Crayons (in warm colors)
Watercolor paints (in cool colors) and brush
Stencils (optional)

Hearts Resist. To keep it simple for my daughter, I just had her trace hearts and either color them in or draw patterns inside.

The colors are a lot more bold in this painting since this type of paper (back side of inkjet photo paper) didn’t absorb much of the paint .

We didn’t have watercolor paper, so we used regular cardstock (first two paintings) and the back of photo paper (last painting).  Though watercolor paper would have absorbed the paints a little better, I’m still happy with the way my kids’ paintings turned out. Most of all, they enjoyed seeing what happens when they tried to paint over the crayons.  As a bonus, they learned the difference between warm and cool colors!  We’ll be turning our pieces into Eid cards insha’allah by just folding them over and writing a message inside of the paper. Can’t wait to mail these out!