Ramadan Circle Time: How to talk to your child’s classroom?

For most of my community in Napa, I am the first Muslim they’ve met. Therefore, I serve as an ambassador for Islam in a way. Similarly, my daughter is probably the first Muslim in the classroom. A lot of times, we get invited to our young kids’ classroom to talk about Ramadan or Eid.

But how do you explain such a complex concept in such a short time, and keep the attention of toddlers and young children?

Have no fear. I have compiled an easy to use “lesson plan” you can use. It has a book, an easy interactive activity and meaningful favor for them to take home.

Story Time

There are a lot of books out there about Ramadan. I wanted to chose a book that was colorful, simple and short. I find that when a book has too many words, I lose the kids attention.

The book I chose to take was Ramadan By Hannah Eliot, part of the celebrate the world series.

It explains Ramadan by going over physically what we do, spiritually what we do and finally how we carry the lessons through the year.

One of the things we do in Ramadan that is mentioned is help others. This easily transitions to the next portion of our little presentation!

Discussion

I actually use my FREE 30 good deeds printable to transition into the discussion. The last page in the book talks about helping others through out the year. I hand pick a few of the good deeds and ask the kids to point out who am I helping and how? This way we can talk about different ways of helping those in our community!

Some of the examples include, leaving water out for the birds, leaving a note for the mail man or setting the table for dinner!

Favor

Most times, there isn’t time for an activity. Instead I like to give the kids something they can take home to share with their parents. I am going to package the 30 good deeds card with a little note explaining what Ramadan is!  Since there are kids with different dietary restrictions, I try and avoid handing out food!

Are you planning to go into you children’s classroom this Ramadan? What will you be using