Bringing Ramadan Alive: Faith, Family, and Fun Through Play

When the thin crescent moon of Ramadan is sighted, it begins a month of devotion, self-reflection, kindness, compassion, and gratitude. To practice self-control, Muslims abstain from food and drink from dawn to sunset. Individuals strive to recite more Qur'an, to gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of the religion, and to perform good deeds such as feeding the hungry, donating money to charities, and helping those in need.

Families, friends, and communities often come together to share a meal and pray during sehri (the predawn meal) and iftar (the breaking of fast meal). I have fond memories of time spent around the table with my parents and siblings during my childhood. For my 5-year-old, his favourite thing about Ramadan are 'the activities and yummy food!'

When the thin crescent moon of Ramadan is sighted, it begins a month of devotion, self-reflection, kindness, compassion, and gratitude. To practice self-control, Muslims abstain from food and drink from dawn to sunset. Individuals strive to recite more Qur'an, to gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of the religion, and to perform good deeds such as feeding the hungry, donating money to charities, and helping those in need.

Families, friends, and communities often come together to share a meal and pray during sehri (the predawn meal) and iftar (the breaking of fast meal). I have fond memories of time spent around the table with my parents and siblings during my childhood. For my 5-year-old, his favourite thing about Ramadan are

When the thin crescent moon of Ramadan is sighted, it begins a month of devotion, self-reflection, kindness, compassion, and gratitude. To practice self-control, Muslims abstain from food and drink from dawn to sunset. Individuals strive to recite more Qur'an, to gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of the religion, and to perform good deeds such as feeding the hungry, donating money to charities, and helping those in need.

Families, friends, and communities often come together to share a meal and pray during sehri (the predawn meal) and iftar (the breaking of fast meal). I have fond memories of time spent around the table with my parents and siblings during my childhood. For my 5-year-old, his favourite thing about Ramadan are

"the activities and yummy food."

To instil core memories of Ramadan being a time full of love, kindness, and compassion, we decorate our homes, read Muslim children’s books, and engage in plenty of sensory play and crafting to gain a deeper knowledge of stories from the Qur'an. KCS Early Years has a wonderful range of resources that have made our Ramadan play invitations so much more fun and engaging. We've learnt about the lunar cycle, the five pillars of Islam, the prophet's stories, and animals in the Qur'an.

Last year, we crafted Ramadan suncatchers to hang in the windows. This year, we've crafted lanterns and foil art to hang around the house. We used the lanterns alongside our rainbow glitter numbers to work on number recognition in a lantern tuff tray invitation.

Our 'Homes around the world' set has been brilliant for learning about how Ramadan is celebrated by children around the world. The large wooden houses are full of colour and detail. We've loved using them for stacking, building neighbourhoods, and even creating a celebratory fireworks display.

To learn more about space and the lunar calendar, we've used our space book pack as well as wooden letter formation pieces. These large, chunky wipe clean pieces have been the perfect addition to encourage some writing practice through play.

With spring arriving, we've been learning about bees in the Qur'an. Using our minibeasts book pack, flower sensory play stones, and let’s roll garden bug resources, we learnt about bees foraging flowers, building beehives, producing honey, and so much more. The sensory stones and rollers have been such a well-loved resource in our household - did you know they make wonderful imprints in smooshy sand or elasti-sand as well as in playdough?

In the last ten nights of Ramadan, there is one night, known as Laylatul Qadr (The Night of Power), which is better than a thousand months. We will be spending these last few days of Ramadan learning about charity and good deeds. You can craft a jar of good deeds with your little learners or some prompts to discuss what we can do to be kind and generous to our friends and neighbours.