Umm Abdul Basir's Creative Corner

Links updated again

2018-05-17T18:00:00.003-04:00

As Salaamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatuallah,

My dearest sisters in Islam I apologize greatly for any inconvenience with all the broken links. I have corrected most of them.

I hope you are all able to access them and benefit from them as well insha Allah.

Links Updated!

2012-07-23T01:31:00.003-04:00

I apologize to those of you who have been trying to download some of the files. I have fixed the problem and the files are now working. If there are anymore, please let me know and I will be sure to get them fixed.

Here are the fixed Links:

Date Recipe Book
Good Deed Cards
Under The Ramadan Moon Tot Book
Sadaqah Box Activity
Fasting Day Sequence Cards
Ramadan Fasting Calendars
Break Fast Placemat

Thank You for visiting and enjoy teaching your little ones!

Hajj

2011-11-04T22:13:00.001-04:00

As we near the end of Hajj and approach Eid Al-Adha I just wanted to make du'a for all of our brothers and sisters who are making Hajj.

Insha Allah, I plan on posting Hajj activities for next year. This year just has been so jam packed lately with 5 of my 6 children all homeschooling the days are endless here with not enough time for but the basics. May Allah make it easy for us all, Ameen.

*hugs* to you all!

Updated Broken File!

2011-11-02T16:14:00.004-04:00

I am so sorry to all of you that have tried to download the Pillars of Islam Mobile I have updated the link and it should work without problem now, insha Allah.

Please, if you have any difficulty downloading any other files please let me know. I have updated my profile so you can now contact me through email for any problems you have, insha Allah.

Thank You all for your patience and I hope to soon be back to posting our crafts and sharing our ideas soon, insha Allah.

Love you all for the sake of Allah and look forward as always to see what you have to share.

*hugs*

Special Snacks!

2011-05-29T13:00:00.001-04:00

I always try coming up with something special for the kiddos to look forward to after we have schooled all day. My kids actually started calling them mommy's special snacks.

My special snacks are always something nutritious and yummy as well as light to make sure they will have enough room for dinner but hold them over til then too.

The weather has finally started warming up around here so I have started playing around with smoothies and other frozen type drinks.

I have made Orange Julius in the past and that is always a big demand in the house. You can find that recipe here

It's a super orangy and delicious frozen drink! We used to buy it in the mall when I was a kid and I learned to make it when I was in high school.
Another recent cold drink we have made is strawberry lemonade. This is the recipe I have used, everyone in my home Looooovvveess this one! I don't have any pics for this one but when I do I will post, insha Allah.

Finally a more recent special snack that my husband actually came up with and decided to join in on a "daddy" special snack!

Frozen Yogurt Pops! I know nothing new or special to most but my children love the freshness of these pops!

Simple recipe if you want to call it that!

Plain yogurt
fresh chopped strawberries
sugar
ice pop holders

We cut the straberries and poured our yogurt into a bowl so we can mix the berries in with a little sugar to give a bit sweetness since plain yogurt is exactly that...plain!

We usually buy a 5 lb container of plain yogurt from our local halal market at a decent price.

Here is our ice pop holders which we bought at our local walmart for $1!!!! I am all about bargains!!

We had to make two of these holders to make enough for our entire family!

End result! This yogurt pop is so delicious with all the small chunks of fresh strawberries throughout!

Have any special snacks to share?

Arabic Alphabet Strip

2011-05-28T13:00:00.002-04:00

Yep, still working on filling our Arabic wall up to help all my children learn arabic,insha Allah

I printed this one from IBB again! *smile*

It was presented as a strip type visual learning aid that you would ordinarily use to surround your classroom wall, but as usual I always have to change everything! lol

I presented it to my children in a "poster like" way. I just found it better for my young children to see it more eye level and put together than far up near the ceiling as it would traditionally be. The strip printed well and was easy to put together, masha Allah.

My littles are now expanding their arabic vocabulary, Alhamdulilah!

Enjoy!

Arabic Weather Wheel

2011-05-27T13:00:00.001-04:00

In working with out Hijri Calendar we have also put together an Arabic weather wheel.

This is similar to our Fasting Day Cycle we did during Ramadan last year and plan on using again this Ramadan, insha Allah.

Here is how it turned out...

I also 'laminated" the weather wheel so it will last us a little longer than normal.

Oh, I think I forgot to mention how I laminated the wheel. I don't yet have a laminator although I have wanted one for soooo long it has not fit our budget just yet, insha Allah one day!

I used clear contact paper to cover the entire wheel as I did with our calendar and numbers too. It does the job, masha Allah.

You can also print this weather wheel over at Islamic Bulletin Boards .

I hope you enjoy making one of your own and putting together a morning circle time in arabic with the little ones too.

Here is what our Arabic wall has started looking like....

Here is what the other side of our classroom looks like for now...

I change this wall up frequently! Right now since my 2 yr old has included himself in our homechool I placed some posters up for him to "busy" himself with...lol

Have you shared your classroom environment in your blog?

I would love to see....

I would also like to know if any of you have any new ideas you would like to share or for us over at IBB to help you with. We still have so much in the works and on hold but always looking for more ideas to make your visit at IBB a pleasant one!

Hijri Calendar Practice

2011-05-26T00:23:00.001-04:00

As Salaamu Alaykum Wa Rahmahtuallahi Wa Barakatuh!

It has truly been busy over in our home! I haven't posted in forever to share all we have been doing. I so do apologize! Sometimes we just need to take a break!

We have been homeschooling and working very hard over here, just haven't posted anything!

I am back and have some things to start sharing again, masha Allah.

Sometime ago The older girls and I made a Hijri Calendar that was so fun,but through the weather of using it we no longer have it working for us anymore!

I know you all know that I wasn't going to go long without having one in full practice in our home again right?

Here we go....................

Here is our calendar in the works!

Completed!

Okay, where did I get this calendar so you can print one out and customize it so you can use it in your classroom you ask?

Go on over to Islamic Bulletin Boards and print yours today! I was going to print ours on Yellow cardstock but totally forgot to! By the time I hit the print button it was too late for me to change my mind. I ended up coloring it in on my own and it paid off since I was able to leave the inside white.

I printed the headers in color since I liked the look of it but it's also available in black and white if you choose.

I also 'laminated' the calendar this time so it will last us longer...lol.

I bought some velcro circles and placed them behind the numbers and on the calendar so they can be changed each month.

This was definately a time consuming project for me, but well worth it and I am happy with the end result!

I hope you enjoy it and make one of your own, insha Allah.

Arabic Alphabet Practice

2011-02-09T15:20:00.000-05:00

The Littles have been doing alot of work on their arabic so I thought I would put together and interactive arabic alphabet board for them. I have found that in the past, activities for the kids learning projects work really well. Hands on fun!

This is the entire board.

I made this board by using cardboad that i recycled from things I bought around the house or you can buy posterboard and use that.

I then printed the letters out in black and glued them onto cardboard. while i waited for those to dry i glued colored paper to the cardboard.

I used a utility knife to cut the letters out and used cut popsicle sticks or craft sticks to the letters that had pieces to them or you can use toothpicks.

I bought adhesive velcro dots and adhered them to each letter. For the board part I first put clear packing tape in the areas where I was going to place the velcro so when I pulled it off and on it wouldn't tear the paper. I did the same for the back of each letter as well.

Here is the board where you can see the velcro dots.

Here are the letters

Here is where my 3 year old is using the board!

They all are enjoying our board now!

I even took it a step further ( you know me) and made the vowels for more practice!

This was a very time cosuming project that my zawj had suggested. I did one a few years back but it was a little more simple and ended up not being interactive. After having that one up for as long as I did, I decided to redo and revamp and it was so well worth the time. I am loving how much the kids are using it! Masha Allah.

Amazon.com Widgets

Snow Day!

2010-12-28T17:33:00.000-05:00

Alhamdulilah! We have finally had our first snow and was it a big one!

I must first say, my lil guy AB said it snowed so much because he made du'a for lots of snow,masha Allah. He is my lil du'a maker,Alhamdulilah!

We have 20 inches of snow outside of our house right now! The wind was treacherous,so kids had to wait to go out and play. We did watch abi "dig" us out!

This is a short video of what we saw once we opened the door! Zawj didn't know where to start it was so overwhelming!

I have always loved the snow, growing up we did everything in the snow. We built igloos,went sledding,had snowball fights. This is something I had wanted my children to have a love for,and masha Allah they do. I think all children love snow,don't you?

Here is a slideshow of pics we took:

Winter Storm 2010 - slideshow dvd

We decided to do a little winter snow day crafting!

we made some winter scenes with handprint trees!

This is my 3 yr olds tree, he used confetti snowflakes and cotton!

My 5 yr old added an igloo~!

My 7 yr old added cotton for snow!

My 20 month old even participated! What a great keepsake!

Simple, but fun craft for all ages,masha Allah.

I hope all my sisters are keeping warm and enjoying the winter season and all that Allah has blessed us with!

Home Made Craft Clay

2010-11-14T20:10:00.006-05:00

My children absolutely,positively go bonkers over play doh and clay. They go on for hours playing and creating and imagining, it's so wonderful to see them all pitch in and help one another with their creations!

Over the years we have bought so much play doh, I thought today we can try making our own. What a reward they would feel and also nice science experiement to see how liquids solidify!

I should have taken pics of the process,but really this was just a spontaneous experiment so I wasn't so prepared with step by step pics!

First I will share the craft clay recipe we used:

1 cup salt
2 cups flour
2 cups water
4 tbsp oil
4 tbsp cream of tartar ( in baking section of grocery store)
food coloring

Combine, and our in pan over low heat.
Stir constantly until mixture binds together

This recipe I split up to make 4 colors. You will have to split and color before you put in pan.

The recipe is quite easy and comes together well. I will also say that the clay is super soft! I did let my lil 17 month old play with it,watching him closely of course. He was able to manipulate it and play with it just fine.

Here are our pics:

Our octopus growing hair!

Another one of our play doh tools, perfect flower imprint!

Another tool, which this clay worked perfectly in!

Storage suggestions! We are storing ours in old play doh containers that we saved. You could also store in plastic storage bags or even small yogurt containers with lids. The possibilities are endless when playing and storing! This clay can sure be a money saver and a wonderful activity to play when it's cold out or even when a lil one is sick and bored sitting in their room!

Go make some craft clay today and play with it yourself so you can see. You will feel like a kid again, and your kids will love the quality play time!

Enjoy!

Arabic Alphabet Desk Strip

2010-11-05T01:54:00.004-04:00

Since we're working on arabic in our home, I wanted to make it more realistic and keep a visual close to the kids.

We have used the regular English alphabet desk strips in the past, so I thought to make a fun arabic one.

Here is what it looks like:

Here is the file if you want to use it in your classroom too

Arabic Desk Strip

Enjoy teaching!

Arabic Color Matching File Folder Game

2010-11-04T15:20:00.001-04:00

More arabic practice in our house! I put together an arabic color matching file folder game similar to our paintbrush matching file folder.

Here are a few pics of our game:

The entire layout of the game

The pockets that hold the crayons

folder with out crayons in pockets

The crayons

Crayons and pocket up close

I have two versions to offer

Color

Black & White

Enjoy!

Shoe Tying Practice

2010-11-02T02:17:00.001-04:00

Having 4 littles in the house brings many busy days! My 5 yr old has been practicing shoe tying as a quiet activity latley. I didn't like the fact of using his dirty outside shoe to practice , so I did some searching and came up with an idea. I have seen many people make their own cardboard cutout of a shoe and then lace it and have their children practice.

I chose 5 pieces of sturdy cardboard, mine was from a diaper box. I used the end flap which happened to be white for what I used for the top piece.

Hot glue all of the pieces together except the white piece.

Next, you will need to punch holes in the white piece where you plan on lacing your shoelace for the tying practice.

Lace the top piece then hot glue it to the other 4 pieces, make sure you don't glue the end strings!

To make your shoe more fun, you can use fun colored shoelaces. There are so many varieties out there. We chose to use what we already had.

You don't have to do this last step, but I did to make the shoe look more finished.

Cut one or two white strips the width of the sides of your shoe and hot glue around the sides of the shoe.

This is what the sides will look like once the strips are completely glued.

Your ready to start decorating your shoe now!

Here are what our shoes looked like once the kids colored them.

We chose to color with markers, but you can either paint,color,glitter,glue nice beads or anything you can think of to make your shoe stand out and be appealing.

All three kids shoes.

Here are the sides of the shoes:

I think this is such a great alternative for learning how to tie your shoes. Go ahead, try it!

Pillars of Islam Mobile

2010-10-21T01:16:00.001-04:00

We have continued our Pillars of Islam study, and the littles ( my younger children) sure love it.

We all know our children love visual learning aids, well at least mine do *smile*

I decided to craft up a mobile for the Pillars of Islam.

My first go with the mobile is actually good for a wall hanging mobile. Here is a pic of that:

Here are pics of the mobile that is suspended from the ceiling:

The entire mobile

The pillars up close

1st Pillar close up

2nd Pillar up close

3rd pillar up close

4th pillar up close

5th pillar up close

entire mobile up a little closer

Things we used to make this mobile were simple.

wooden dowels, but tree twigs would work just as well
curly ribbon or any kind of string you choose to suspend the pieces
paper towel rolls, or you can just roll each pillar in the file
cardboard for more sturdy parts, we use cereal boxes which are great for durablity and easy to cut
crayons or markers to color
hot glue gun to glue dowels together

File for this mobile: Pillars Mobile

Hope to see your mobiles soon,insha Allah

Pillars of Islam File Folder Game

2010-09-23T17:21:00.003-04:00

We did a Pillars of Islam file folder game. The paint brush matching was such a huge hit, I thought beyond that and did a Pillars of Islam one. This is a simple game that teaches not only the names of the pillars but teaches the spelling too. My 6 yr old has been covering the Pillars so I thought the timing was perfect to make this one.

The Cover

The main layout of the file folder game has the five pillars and 2 pillar shaped pockets.

The concept of the game is to match the letter tiles onto the correct Pillar spelling out each pillar of Islam.

A Pillar up close with Spelling tiles.

Pillar shaped Pocket that holds the spelling tiles

Another Pillar shaped pocket holds the picture cards.

Pillars up close with matching picture cards as an addition to the lesson. The student will match the picture below each pillar.

The entire game with cards and some matching spelling tiles.

I have made two version of this game for you to download:

Black & White
Color

Paint Brush Match File Folder Game

2010-09-23T16:29:00.001-04:00

We have been so busy at work with bigger kids that I almost forgot to put some quick activities together for my little 3 yr old guy. He is so patient asking ummie when can he play school, lol. I felt so bad! I mean we do things here and there throughout the day, but to fit him in our busy schdedule! I finally took some time out and found a quick solution to my problem....file folder games!

I took a visit over to Confessions of a Homeschooler Blog and found the cutest little paint brush color matching game. I printed it on regular paper, I did this because I knew my cardstock was not durable for my little guys hands. I then glued the paint brushes onto some cereal boxes, some of you laugh as I have but it works! This was so simple to layout and put together. I had an instant hit! My older one's even got involved for a little bit! I plan on going with this idea and incorporating some Islam into some of the file folders so stay tuned....

Some pics of our file folder game:

Cover

The brushes

The jar with paint brushes to match

The entire layout with brushes matched into the correct jar.

Eid Ul Fitr

2010-09-09T17:03:00.000-04:00

Support Al Maun Fund!

2010-08-31T13:53:00.002-04:00

I am sure you have all heard of Al Maun Fund, which is a non profit charitable program where they provide financial assistance for basic needs and support famililes in time of need.

Half date has started a poll where you view videos by numerous charitable programs and vote in a poll. Al Maun has done well with these polls in the past, so I thought I would try to help by reaching out to my readers and ask for you all to go and vote for them if you haven't already.

Here is the link to where you can view the video and vote the poll: Half Date Current Poll Scroll a little less than half way down you will see the Al Maun Fund video labeled "Day to Day Help" then on the video itself it says "Al Maun needs your help".

Voting on the poll is just two videos above the Al Maun video. Please, I ask you all the spread the word and help Al Maun win the poll so they can get the funds necessary to help their current requests, insha Allah.

If you are not familiar with what Al Maun has done please go take a look at their site and see all that they have done and continue striving to do: Al Maun Fund or click the images for Al Maun Fund.

Jazakallahu Khair Al Maun!

Laylatul Qadr Mini Display

2010-08-30T20:03:00.001-04:00

Time sure does fly doesn't it? We are down to our last 10 nights insha Allah. We have found so much benefit this Ramadan, masha Allah.

I set up a mini display for my older girls to learn more about Laylatul Qadr,insha Allah.

The layout of our mini display

This is not our normal to make so plain, but I wanted the girls to more focus on learning about Laylatul Qadr and it's significance.

To put our board together we used a diaper box and covered it with construction paper, simple and effective!

our header of the board

Surah Al Qadr

What Happens on Laylatul Qadr

What are some signs of Laylatul Qadr

What happened on Laylatul Qadr

When is Laylatul Qadr

The Du'a for Laylatul Qadr

What should we do on Laylatul Qadr

Is Laylatul Qadr on the same night each year

I loved the simplicity yet the power of knowledge our board has. If you want to teach your children about Laylatul Qadr this board is it! You can find the mini display printables over at Islamic Bulletin Boards.

May Allah accept all of our deeds, Ameen

Date Recipe Book for Kids!

2010-08-29T12:00:00.005-04:00

Dates have been an extremely important part of our diet this passed month and are very nutritious.

I compiled the start of a small recipe book which include easy to do recipes for younger ones to do with very little intervention from us.

Let your little ones make you a date smoothie after you have iftaar to help you revive your body with the ever beneficail dates.

The cover to the book

The file for download: Date Recipe Book

Enjoy!

Ramadan Coloring Book!

2010-08-28T12:00:00.020-04:00

Ahhhhhhh! Keeping the little one's busy has seemed to be a little challenging this Ramadan! I haven't been able to do much with them craft wise as usual, Subhan Allah. Maybe this is why it seems more of a challenge.

I am just now getting things situated and it's nearing the last ten days, Insha Allah. I just wanted to quickly share with you this wonderful coloring book that our wonderful sis over at Talibiddeenjr Blog has put together. It's such a nice Ramadan coloring book. A very simple book, but it teaches and is so much fun to color.

If you haven't gone on over to see what she has for this Ramadan, do so now! It's still not too late to fit in a little more, right? *smile*

Here are some pics of a few pages in the little one's books, I printed 3!

This is a page in my 6 yr olds book.

Here is a page in my 5 yr olds book

Last but not least, here is a page in my dear 3 yr olds book, masha Allah.

Go over and take a look, print this one out and have your little one color! It's a great addition to your Ramadan activiites.

I loved this book because I could simply have them read it if they are able to read then while they color we talk all about it.

Little intervention from me, and we are spending quality time while I am cooking!

Keeping Little One's Busy...

2010-08-27T12:00:00.001-04:00

Have your children been asking for things to do or say that they are bored or just been keeping you extremely busy?

I know that when it's time to prepare for iftaar that the little one's seem to get more chatty, lol.

I put some quick activities together where they can sit quietly at the dinner table or in our classroom and keep them busy while learning.

I turned to some of my favorite blogs to help me as usual since my time has been limited and crafts have not really hit the house yet, insha Allah I will find time to do a little something with the younger children.

First I went over to A Muslim Child is Born Blog and printed her wonderful comprehension stories.

These are wonderful because they are also interactive. I printed them out then used zip ties to hold them together for easy portability. I made a small pouch on the back of each reader out of index cards to hold the little cards that came with the readers.

I loved these readers that our Dear sis Umm An-Nu'man has put together because they are Islamic readers and interactive! Jazakallahu Khair dear sis!

Go on over and take a look around if you haven't seen her blog yet. She has lots to share and I am sure you will want to print all! *smile*

Under The Ramadan Moon Tot Book

2010-08-26T13:47:00.005-04:00

We have been doing so much this month, masha Allah. I have been doing alot of reading and studying with the older kids this Ramadan since they are older. I wasn't able to prepare ahead for crafts like I did last year, but I did find a little time to "play/teach" the little ones some more aspects of Ramadan.

They are still enjoying the things we made last year,masha Allah. Our Bulletin Board that we posted over on Islamic Bulletin Boards has been keeing the little ones busy as well.

We have been reading alot of Ramadan books that we own and have borrowed from our local library.

One of the favorites in the house is "Under the Ramadan Moon" by Sylvia Whitman. It's a cute little rhyming book.

I thought since they liked it so much that I would actually make a tot book for them to review and remember their favorite book about Ramadan,insha Allah.

Here are some pics of our tot book:

our cover just a simple printout on yellow cardstock

The main layout of the lapbook, simple and portable!

mini book about the different phases of the moon.

page inside the mini book

ABC'S of Ramadan Pocket.

A few of the abc 2 piece puzzles where you match the uppercase to the lowercase

A card up close

Moon sizes pocket

The moon to sort from largest to smallest or smallest to largest. You can actually do a few activities with these moons.

Ramadan counting tabs

I tried to keep it simple and fun for the little ones

The masjid puzzle mat. Here you have shapes that make up a masjid and you match them on the activity mat in the tot book.

The pieces on the mat to show you how they will place.

The activity mat also serves as the pocket to hold the pieces that make up the Masjid.

We have been having lots of fun with this simple little tot book,masha Allah. I originally made this for my little 15 month old to explore, but my little 3 yr old is loving it just as much.

If you liked and want to make one of your own here are the files:

ABC's of Ramadan Cards

Masjid Activity Puzzle

Moon Sizes Black & White

Moon Sizes Color

Ramadan Counting Tabs

Ramadan Moon Phases mini book

Lapbook cover

I loved making the tot book for my little ones and reading the book to them. What a wonderful way to bond with your little ones and have some quiet time!

Go out and buy or borrow the book today and make your own tot book to go with,insha Allah!

Enjoy!

Sadaqah Box Activity

2010-08-21T01:34:00.002-04:00

We are all in our own mind state just 10 days into Ramadan, masha Allah. Our children are too believe it or not. They are all running ideas in their heads of how to do the next good deed or what else they can do for sadaqah. They think from the biggest thing like giving money down to the smallest thing like giving a smile, when in all actuality they carry the same weight.

My three year old is such a busy learner, masha Allah. He is a sponge that sucks up everything I dish at him. He holds it strong and practices daily, Alhamdulilah.

I wanted to teach the little guy more about sadaqah and the different ways we can share. I came up with a small & simple yet fun activity for him to either play with while we are in the car or simply at the dinner table while he waits for iftaar.

Sadaqah boxes is the name of the activity, there are 10 activity cards where the child places a certain amount of items in the numbered sadaqah box.

An image of the number 3 sadaqah box from the downloadable file

The cards to be counted for the activity.

Here are the pics of our activity:

Here is how your child will play this activity. He/she will read the number on the box and put that many items on the box to give as sadaqah.

The pages of the activity and how it stands.

Close up of one card

The mini cards which are used for counting items that go in sadaqah boxes.

This is the back of one of the activity cards,we used a cut piece of an index card to store each set of mini cards for each sadaqah box.

We used zip ties to bind the mini book together for easy portability. You can find zip ties at dollar stores or hardware section of your walmart.

Here is the file if you wish to share with your child: Sadaqah Box Activity

Enjoy!