Laser Cut Frame Ramadan Decoration

This was another project by Ibraheem (10). It is quite straight forward.

Materials

1. Die cut wooden frames (available here in Canada from Michaels) or any other frame.

2. Paint to decorate the frame. We used acrylic paint.

3. Coloring sheet printed onto a transparency sheet.

NOTE: We used transparency sheet as we were going to hand this by our front door and it will be exposed to the elements.

4. Permanent markers to colour in.

Steps

1. Colour and decorate frame. Embellishments would be great too.

2. Colour the coloring sheet using markers.

3. Attach coloring sheet to the back of frame with some transparent sticky tape. Hang up, enjoy.

This piece generated a lot of conversations with people who showed up at our door through out Ramadan. Courier guys, people collecting donation, neighbours. We chose this particular coloring sheet as it showed the phases of the moon in a month. It is from Education.com.

Also to give you some idea of dimensions, our frame had an opening of 14×10 inch. It had to be large as it was by our front door. The colouring sheet is letter size. I was able to attach it horizontally across the frame that hung vertically. Due to being on a transparency, it gave the image a sort of floating feel.

 

Ramadan Word Art

This is a Pinterest inspired craft. It was a great way to use up leftover foam letters from past projects. I had completely left this is the hands of Ibraheem (10).

 

 

The possibilities of personalizing this craft is just endless.

– leave the foam letters as is in a rainbow of colours

– choose different colour for each word

– create patterns with words

– paint canvas in a multitude of colours

 

Upcycled Jar Ramadan Lantern

This was an upcycling project.

I used an old juice dispenser. Any sort of jar will work for this project. First I had to clean the jar thoroughly. We decorated the jar with tissue paper shapes. I slathered Modge Podge onto to small sections and the kids stuck tissue paper shapes onto the outside of the jar.

I then inserted the string light through the tap opening (a regular jar will have the light crawling out of it). I spaced out the lights around the interior of the jar with the help of some stick tape. Lastly I printed Ramadhan Mubarak greeting onto overhead projector sheet and attached it to the jar. Plug in and enjoy.

Note:

You can completely omit the tissue paper part. However an empty jar sitting on a table top with string lights in it will look weird during the day. This step will make it pretty for the day as well.

 

 

DATES JAR ~ A Paint Resist Craft ~

The next few post will Insha-Allah be on crafts we made last Ramadhan and never got to share here.

This is a painted jar that we made to keep dates during Ramadhan. It was convenient, practical and pretty to pass around the table.

 

Things you will need . . .

A clear jar. I chose to use acrylic as it was going to be handled by children.

Stickers to decorate the jar. Preferably vinyl sticker so that they do not absorb the paint.

Paint that will cover clear surface and paint applicators.

STEPS:

Decorate the outside of the jar with stickers. We chose to place the word DATES.

Apply paint on all sides of the jar covering the stickers. Depending on yor paint you might have to apply several coats.

Leave to dry overnight. Carefully peel off stickers.

I decorated the lid as well with some paper and the dua for breaking fast.

 

Muhammad Sallallaahu Alaihi Wasallam Stained Glass Craft

Here is another simple craft that Insha-Allah has been prepared for the upcoming Maulidur Rasul program at our local mosque.

This is a craft to reinforce the concept that Rasulullah Sallallaahu Alaihi Wasallam is our guiding light.

It is a quicker version of my other stained glass crafts featured here and we made similar ones for last Ramadhaan and Eid.

STEPS

1. Print the WRONG SIDE template (Page 1) from the attachment below onto a overhead transparency.

Muhammad (SAW) Stained Glass Template

The page has two templates. Cut along the outer frame.

2. Cut 1 inch strips out of card stock, I used black. Glue down the strips to the transparency template with the right side facing up to create a frame.

3. Colour the template using PERMANENT MARKERS on the right side up. In Canada, they are commonly known as Sharpie markers. This is just a brand, BiC is another option.

You can use regular markers, however the colours will not be vivid.

Please note that it is important that you colour on the right side facing up. The felt of the markers will scrape off the print if you did in on the wrong side. This is why I flipped the template for printing purpose.

Once the colouring is done, the frame can be attached to a window. You can enjoy it this was.

OR

You can opt to attach a piece of crumpled up kitchen foil to the back of the frame. This gives the frame a more permanent glow. We are Insha-Allah doing this, to allow the children to hang the craft anywhere and not just limited to windows.

I have included a regular page to the template (Page 2). Those who are not keen on the above craft idea, can use this page as a colouring page.

 

Family Tree of Rasulullah Sallallaahu Alaihi Wasallam

This is a simple craft designed for younger children for a Maulidur Rasul program we are about to have in our local masjid here in Calgary. Since we are working with many children, I have designed templates that will allow us to precut all parts. That will leave just the assembling of the actual tree on the day of the program.

STEPS

1. Print the tree trunk template below.

Tree Trunk Template

Trace the shape onto a card stock. I used a cereal box.

Cut out the trunk and the stand part. Cut along the dotted line. Slide the two pieces in the opposite direction to create a 3D tree.

You can colour the trunk with markers as I did.

2. Print the names to go on the family tree below.

Rasulullah(SAW) Family Tree Template

You can print these straight onto a card stock if you prefer.

Cut out the names, colour if you want to and glue to the branches of the tree. In the finished tree below I have just used randomly cut pieces with names written on them as this was my test craft.

I have also included two extra circles in the template for those who want to add on.

3. Decorate tree with more leaves just randomly cut from a green construction paper.

The finished tree.

 

 

Mixed Media Ka’abah Art

This is an artwork the three boys and I made yesterday. It is made using mainly recycled material.

The size is 2 X 2 feet. After having made a simple sketch for the picture, I set off collecting the materials that I wanted to use. I had these on hand as I keep aside recycled stuff for craft.

The base which a particle board was $1 from our local RONA (a Canadian hardware store). They do have scrap pieces of material and will cut to size upon request. The caps are from milk jugs. Some can lids, a no-sharp can opener will keep them safe to handle. Corrugated cardboard from packaging. Craft sticks. Some glossy magazine paper (not in picture) for the background.

I also had some white and black spray paint. I purchased a primer for the particle board.

I started of by priming the particle board and spray painting the can lids black and bottle caps white.

Dividing the board right down the middle, we created ground and sky with glossy magazine paper. We used diluted white glue to adhere the paper to the particle board. This was left to dry overnight.

I do not have pictures of the next steps, but this is how it went.

1. Creat mountains using corrugated cardboard. Glue them down.

2. Create Ka’abah on a black pice of cardstock using black spray painted can lids and craft sticks. Glue in down.

3. Add people making tawaf by gluing white spray painted milk jug lids.

Here is a more detailed picture of what went where.

Alhamdulillah, our Ka’abah is sitting on our mantle. Instantly creating a hajj season atmosphere.

 

Glow in the dark – Maulidur Rasul craft (gone wrong)

Couple of weeks ago Ibraheem (10) and I set out to do a glow in the dark jar that I found on Education.com. Sounded straight forward and we had all the materials.

What they don’t mention, and I was not aware of, is that there is a glass vial within the plastic tube. We found out the hard way, ouch! Cutting a glow stick should never be recommended.

Upon searcing the net, I came across people using glow in the dark acrylic paints to create a similar effect.

Since we are in the month in which our beloved Prophet Sallalahu Alaihi Wasallam was born, I felt this craft would be great to support and reinforce that Rasulullah Sallalahu Alaihi Wasallam was a light from Allah, a light that guides us in the dark. He Sallalahu Alaihi Wasallam was a mercy to the worlds.

” . . . There has come to you a light from Allah and a clear Book,”[Quran: 5:15]

“Indeed, in this [Quran] is notification for a worshipping people. And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds.” [Quran: 21:106-107]

NOTE: This idea was inspired by Sister A. She made me set up a tent, and cover it with layers of blanket last year in our Musalla. Children took turns going into the pitch dark tent. She then turned on a flashlight, using it as an analogy of how Rasulullah Sallalahu Alaihi Wasallam is our guiding light.

I made a stencil and we used it to apply glow in the dark acrylic paint onto our jar. The picture shows the type and brand of paint we used for each jar.

The children tested it in a dark closet and the jars did not glow as bright. My poor boys were patiently applying layer upon layer of paint to make the jars really glow. They wanted these jars to be night lights as well. Sadly the didn’t glow as bright.

Alhamdulillah, besides this project we have been reading the seerah and listening to story CDs that covers the era before the blessed birth of Rasulullah Sallalahu Alaihi Wasallam and his actual birth story. They children understood the concept of how Rasulullah Sallalahu Alaihi Wasallam was sent to guide us.

Ilyaas (5) was truly disappointed with the not-so-glowing jar. Finally, I threw in a LED tea light that illuminated the jar beautifully.

I also found this CraftBuster post (what a great idea to weed out hoax crafts!) at Little Pink Monster with more details on how glow in the dark jars really work.

Our jars did not glow, but I hope these efforts will embed the glow of our Deen in my children’s hearts, Insha-Allah.

 

Hajj – kids craft

Crafts we did just this past hajj season.

Hajj Mobile

These were made using Smart Ark hajj activity print out. While Ilyaas (5) and Zakariyya (4) coloured, we had the opportunity to discuss the various hajj rituals. We attached the picture to paper plates cut into half.

In the first picture we used strings to glue the pictures onto. In the second one, we used pipe cleaners and stapled the pictures. The pipe cleaner option was better in that the pictures always faced up when it was pinned to the wall.

Hajj Wheel

This was another craft we made using the instructions and template from The Muslim Connection hajj page.

Hajj Lego Diorama

This was Ibraheem’s (10) project. Again building each location gave us time to have a conversation of the origin and significance of each act of hajj.

 

Lego Mosque

I registered Ibraheem (9) for a Lego contest at our local library. The rule was to build something that was not bigger than 2X2 feet and not something that came out of a kit.

Ibraheem was so excited about the whole affair. He researched, imagined and planned some brilliant designs. He set out to build this super aircraft. Something that looked like it was out of a Star Wars movie.

Subhanallah, he did build an aircraft . . . that got promptly shot down by the evil forces a.k.a two younger brothers. The younger boys just could not keep their hands of it!

After several days of being awfully sad and frustrated about the whole affair, Ibraheem’s mind switched into its default setting. “I am gonna build a masjid!” he announced. Alhamdulillah this was what he created.

Ibraheem's Lego masjid

Masjid dome

We did not have similar colour blocks to create a uniform dome. The instructions for the dome was from the YouTube video below.

Minaret

It was wonderful to see all of the quite imaginative creation that was displayed. The child who won the contest, built a multi teared treehouse like structure with all sorts of Lego man running around in it. It was some sort of war zone.

As for Ibraheem, he was proud of what he had built. He represented his creation well and answered questions from viewers and judges quite confidently. He was analysing all the other creations there for ideas and is geared up to enter another competition. When we got home, he was duly rewarded $10 by his Papa for his efforts 🙂