Ahlan Wa Sahlan Ya Ramadhan!

Ramadhan is coming soon, 

Coming soon, coming soon,

Ramadhan is coming soon,

Time to fast and pray...

When you see the thin new moon,

Thin new moon, thin new moon,

When you see the thin new moon,

We'll celebrate and play...

The joy of Ramadhan was already in the air since the beginning of last week. Even if majority of the kids will not be fasting, multiple activities were conducted to engage the kids in celebrating and learning more about the Holy month. 

Beside singing the above song (sung to the tune of "Mary had a little lamb"), we play, read, write, count, draw, colour everything about Ramadhan, MasyaAllah! It is no surprise when our parents were wondering why "Ramadhan" was on the lips of their children when they come home, Alhamdulillah. Here are what we did last week:

First, we made the Ramadhan card.

Parents will find this beautiful card (art work done by the kids, MasyaAllah) complete with fasting niat and du'a for Iftar, InsyaAllah. Alhamdulillah, we have practiced reciting and memorizing the niat and du'a at school together with the English translation and we hope that the card will come in handy to the other family members especially when our little khalifah insists in leading the recitation, InsyaAllah ;-)

We also learnt and did practical solat terawih, Alhamdulillah.

Next we have some kurma (dates) tasting session.

We started with the counting and later everyone was given a bite of kurma to taste. Some loved it and some made funny faces when tasting the date. But when it was mentioned that our idol, Rasulullah saw loved to eat kurma, the kids put all efforts to finish the date, Alhamdulillah! 

Then we decorated our Ramadhan Sadaqah Box.

Our intention is to educate our young khalifah on the concept of sadaqah, for Ramadhan is the month of giving, caring and sharing, and our idol, Prophet Muhammad saw was generous like a wind especially during Ramadhan. The box will be put out at the front door during drop-off and pick-up time, InsyaAllah. Parents are encouraged to talk about sadaqah with their children and may get them to drop a little contribution in the sadaqah box. All contributions will be donated to an orphanage fund, InsyaAllah.

We have also prepared tags for fasting kids.

It is to encourage the kids, especially the 6 years old, to practice fasting even if for a few hours. Kids wearing this tag will be given a "special treatment" during break and lunch time InsyaAllah ;-)

And finally on Friday, the last day of Sya'ban, the Ramadhan Chart were distributed to the kids.

For each day that they fast, they will receive a sticker to put on the chart ;-). Hours do not count but efforts do. They are also reminded that fasting is for Allah, and Allah will reward them more if they fast, InsyaAllah.

It was indeed a very heartwarming sight, watching the children doing all the activities and at the same time rejoicing the coming of Ramadhan. MasyaAllah, at a very young age, Ramadhan is already close at heart even though fasting is not yet an obligatory for them. It is in our prayer that these young children will benefit from all the activities and grow to be good Muslims, InsyaAllah.

Salam Ramadhan Kareem and Selamat Berpuasa from all of us at Tadika Alif Ceria. May Allah make it easy for us to perform the ibadah and accept our fast and all the good deeds, Amin!