Earlier today I posted on my personal Facebook page asking if anyone was interested in my annual Ramadan plan for the kids, the response was absolutely amazing! So I figured it is easier to post it on the blog for everyone to use and share it if you guys like it.

So for all of you beautiful people who commented, texted and emailed me asking for my Ramadan plan… Thank you:) Because of you I came back to my blog after unintentionally taking a break from it for a few months.

Ok…. Besm Allah…

I am not sure if my Ramadan planning started because of my love for crafts or for the constant fear that because I am living in the States my kids will not get the “Ramadan experience”… either way every year I try to take an extra step in decorating and planning and slowly but surely it became a tradition Alhamdlelah. Aside from the fact that my backyard looks like a mini wanna be khan el khalili – the old market in Egypt- lol, but adding a fun factor to Ramadan from a young age for my kids sure helped in tying the religious aspect to it and building few habits here and there over the years.

My kids are now 11 and 9, the youngest one is 2 so her job is going around pulling down and destroying everything that I am hanging, but that’s a story for a different blog post:) So check the plan below and adjust accordingly based on your kids age, and if you decide  it is an idea worth a business plan and started making profit out of it, you have my full blessings… just please pray for my son Zein’s complete healing from cancer, myself and my family… Oh and if you really really made some awesome profit out of it to a point that you are managing it from some awesome sandy beach with a beautiful view… I wouldn’t mind tickets and a vacation for my family and myself…. haha just kidding (not really!) 🙂

Ok here we go…

The plan:

There are 30 days in Ramadan, so for every day in Ramadan I want to teach them something new, remind them of a fact they know and reward them for  taking the extra step. For each kid I hang 30 small goodie bags numbered from 1-30, I get them from the local $ store but feel free to make your own, buy online or go all out and get fancy reusable ones. In each bag I put a gift and a little card that includes a lesson, this year the cards included (Hadith of the day, Sunna of the day, Muslim Etiquette or a question about Islam like for example why do we pray 5 times a day) I took it up a notch and decided to make Fridays more special so inside the 4 goodie bags falling on a Friday I added a (Jumaa Fact/A fact about Friday).

This is how our Ramadan nook/corner looked like after I was done locking my toddler in her crib so I can safely hang them on the wall 🙂

 

I created a little corner for them where they can sit read Quran, pray or just hang and reflect on their days. So everyday after Maghrib they go and open the goodie bag of that day, get the reward then save the little card with the lesson…etc… you get the idea:)

Now, what would the prizes be and what would they do with the lessons? I honestly HATE toys! I like full blown look at small toys as a waste of money and extra clutter in the house, so since they were young… My husband and I resorted to fun experiences rather than buying them toys. Their toy craving was fulfilled on their birthdays from family and friends, and thankfully they outgrew this phase anyway:) So the gifts vary between coupons that I make at home (no chores pass, extra TV time pass…etc), and brain teaser books, Maaaaaybeeee a small toy here and there that they can use in the car on a long ride in addition to sugar free treats. I constructed a spread sheet that makes filling the goodie bags easier with a bunch of ideas for prizes, you will be surprised how filling 30 bags can get daunting but hopefully with this plan your life gets a tad easier – feel free to adjust it per your kids’ interests and needs-

You will see that on Fridays I took it up a notch and got them slightly (more valuable) gifts, you know… Jumaa;) I made it even a tad more fun by creating a treasure hunt, so for these 4 Fridays of the month, they get to find a clue in their goodie bags to where they would find their gift of the day… and yes I had to save a memo on my laptop because I will MOST DEFINITELY forget where I hide things lol, but they were clues like (the first time you made Wudu, the place where we store our prayer mats…etc)

Ok, so now we covered the daily goodie bags, what to put in them, and their little Ramadan corner… finally the lessons inside each bag. In the spread sheet, you will see how I suggested to space out different lessons through out the month. The files below are all for you to download and share if you want, Aside from the (Duaa) file that was shared with me by a friend and the (Hadith) one which I found on Pinterest, I googled all the rest of the documents and created these files, so excuse any typos or spelling mistakes…

My last step was to prepare them to all this, so I prepared a little Ramadan Basket for each of them, which included a small zamzam water bottle, a Miswak – to try and see how the prophet used to brush his teeth-, a Fanoos/lantern – because ummm it is Ramdan and we are Egyptians so it is a given there has to be a fanoos :)-, some power food AKA dates and finally a small empty scrap book for them to stick all the daily lessons they collect inside their goodie bags, that way by the end of the month they will have a little notebook with all the Ramadan lessons and gems. This is how the basket looked like

 

 

So wherever you are, whatever your capacity is to plan things for your kids… feel free to pick from this plan, add to it, modify it and hopefully by the end of this Ramadan you will have a wonderful memory for you and your kids:)

Here are all the files I mentioned in this blog… enjoy

Duaa – 

Hadith of the day- 

Jummaa Facts 1-3- I googled a few facts and picked the easiest for my kids- Excuse any spelling mistakes or typos:)

Jummaa Facts 4-

Muslim Etiquette- 

Ramadan 2018- Radwa Moussa-Youssef- THE PLAN

Sunnah-

why do we ?- 

Next week inshallah I am hosting our annual kids only Iftar party, it is an opportunity to get the kids to feel independent, plus share their knowledge in Islam and Quran… Once the buzzing in my ears and the pain in my feet after the party is managed, I promise I will post about it also with attachments:)

 

Ramadan Kareem everyone:)