Teach your kids about Hajj!

Are you wondering what to teach your children just before Eid ul Adha and the Hajj? Why not teach them this fab unit study on Hajj for kids!

One of the easiest ways for me to plan when homeschooling Ammarah and Hibah is planning around a relevant theme. The month of Dhul-Hijjah is fast approaching – this is the month in which the Hajj pilgrimage is performed by many Muslims all over the world who travel to Makkah to perform their Hajj. So what better to teach than Hajj for kids and give an insight into how I plan.

UPDATE- We have created a fab Mama Teaches Me Hajj series which consists of a 10 day digital resource for you to teach your children all about Hajj!

Back to the Hajj theme – I literally started like this below:

Homeschool Unit Study: Hajj for Kids!

1.Objectives: 

First things firsts – start with the objectives. Afterall, what exactly do I want my children to LEARN from this theme. Objectives can consist of skills relevant for this age group 3-5yr olds too, such as cutting, sticking, using selotape, painting etc. However I also want my children to learn a little about what Hajj is, why people come to Makkah for Hajj and what is the journey of Hajj? With all this in mind, I will be more focused on my activities based around the end learning. This is vital as it will save me buying every book, making every resource and stressing that my child doesn’t know all the rituals for Hajj – I still don’t know! I find this process is the one I use for every theme we learn about in our homeschooling sessions.

My final learning objectives for this theme are:

• • To identify Hajj as a pillar of Islam

• • To know why people come for Hajj

• • To sequence the journey of Hajj – helping mama prepare

• • To retell the story of Prophet Ibrahim (AS)

• • To know key vocabulary related to Hajj

2.Books:

Collate all the books you have related to your theme on Hajj or scan the internet for relevant books. I settled on some of the ones I already have and brought another one. These are the books we will be using – click to find them on Amazon.

• • Tell me about Hajj by Saniyasnain Khan

• • Going to Mecca by Naima B Robert

• • Migo and Ali: Love for the Prophets by Zanib Mian

• • The Story of the Elephant by Shade 7

3.Possible Activities:

 I jotted down some ideas of crafts and activities I had mainly seen online on pinterest, and whatever else I found interesting after doing a Google search. I narrowed everything down after writing up the objectives of our learning. You can also tie in your letter or number craft to the Hajj theme. For example in Maths you could – Count how many tents there are in Mina or Count the number of people at the kabah. For English you could label your map by copying and trying to sound out initial sounds of key places, or copy out a dua you would recite.

• • Reading over the story of Ibrahim and his son Ismail (may Allah be pleased with them both)

• • Sequencing Hajj cards

• • Creating a 3d Hajj map

• • Hajj small world on tuff tray or sand box

• • Kabah crafts box for busy activities

• • Hajj role play journey – setting up mina tents, stoning, making dua etc

• • sacrifice – sheep craft

• • Singing our Hajj song and learning the talbiyyah – Labbayk, Allahumma Labbayk

• • Eid Cards

• • Eid and Hajj themed Decoration

4.Useful Links:

Productive Muslim – Hajj Crafts for Kids

Hajj Theme Pack by Amuslimchildisborn

Handmadebeginnings

Hajj and Umrah App

5. Wow Project:

I like to include a build up throughout the theme to something exciting in the end to look forward to. In this case it will me own Hajj journey – but in the children’s case we will be able to take them to visit the Hajj sites when it gets less busy as Hajj season calms down. Eid will obviously be the natural something to look forward to by the end of this project too. It could also be a recital of the Quran, a play on the Hajj story, a poem or a special art gift for someone you know who will be returning back after the hajj your children could give to.

The next stage in my planning is looking over my weekly plan and jotting in all my ideas to fit around my weekly plans, therefore also pacing myself whilst making sure we are doing a little Maths and English each week too. Stay tuned for how I plan in the next stage.