Ramadan has just begun and your children may start to ask questions about it. They may have grown up watching you fast each year and wonder why you do this. They may see non-Muslims eating and drinking and wonder why they do not fast.
So why do Muslims fast during Ramadan? One of the main reasons is that it is an act of worship. An act of worship is something that we do to get closer to Allah. When I told the children this, they asked me what other things they could do to get closer to Him. We started discussing all the things we could do to worship Allah and I thought Ramadan would be a great time to start incorporating more acts of worship into our daily lives.
We made an ‘Acts of Worship Jar’ which we are using to help us think of ways to get closer to Allah. The children used jewel stickers to decorate the jars which we bought on sheets from Poundland. We placed sticks inside the jar which have different acts of worship written on them. Each day the children pull a stick or sticks out of the jar, and try to carry out those acts. An ‘Act of Worship Jar’ is easy to make and will be a great addition to your home this Ramadan and beyond. Here is how we made it.
Act of Worship Jar
Materials
Jar
Jewel stickers
Decorative tape
Lolly sticks
Pen
Method
- Wash your jar and make sure it is thoroughly clean.
- Decorate your jar.
- Get the lolly sticks and write acts or worship on them.
- Place the sticks in the jar.
- Pull one or two out each day and carry out the acts of worship.
Acts of worship in Islam
Here are some of the acts of worship we included in our jars.
Make dua
Listen to the Quran
Pray
Smile at someone
Learn one of the names of Allah swt
Make dhikr using your tasbih
Learn a verse from the Quran
Be kind to your siblings
Respect your parents
Give charity
Have good manners
Go to the Mosque to pray
My children each decorated a jar and they are keeping them in their rooms. So far they have been enjoying using these jars each day to carry out an act of worship. It has helped them to understand what an act of worship is and why it is important to get closer to Allah.
Can you think of any more acts of worship that would be good for children to do? Let me know in the comments below!
Author Bio
Ronni is a Speech and Language Therapist specialising in bilingualism. She lives in the South West of England with her Turkish Kurd husband and their four young children. They are a multilingual family, speaking English and Turkish at home and learning Arabic as a third language. Ronni shares information about her multicultural family life on her blog, Multicultural Motherhood, where she writes articles about homeschooling, bilingualism and speech and language issues. She can also be found on social media.
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Excellent idea I will incorporate it this Ramadan as still haven’t done anything productive.