Affirmations

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The station of Ibrahim reminds us of the great man who was chosen to be a Prophet. He is remembered by millions of Muslims who follow in his footsteps as they complete the Hajj. Allah tells us the story of Prophet Ibrahim in many places, describing and praising his good character and how he was His special friend. Prophet Ibrahim is admired by all the religions and an example of a person who had qualities that Allah loves and those that we too are trying to have.

One way that can help us develop a good character is by using positive affirmations. These are words that are absorbed by the mind when repeated often. Positive words remind you of what you believe in and can encourage you to behave in the right way when you are in a difficult or unsure situation.

For example if you want to teach your mind to become more grateful you can focus on and repeat the words 'I am thankful' for a few minutes everyday. If you are then faced with a situation when you feel like complaining, your mind will remind you that you are grateful and instead you will remember your blessings and say Alhamdulilah! Allah has given us an amazing mind and the power to control it! Make Dua to Allah to help you and choose a few qualities and positive words to repeat everyday.

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30 days Of Gratitude

All the activities can be found in our book Islamic Values available to buy online.

Learning Objective: To spend the month of Ramadhan practicing an attitude of gratitude!

Decorate a wall display using Gratitude as the theme for the 30 days of Ramadhan. Incorporate the activities below to fill the month with meaning, blessings and fun!

Gratitude Wall
30 Days of Gratitude Challenge

I Spy

Blessing Tower

Thank You

Blessing Box

My Blessings From A To Z
Blessings from Ar Rahman

A Shower Of Blessings

Alhamdulilah Tasbeeh Keyring
What does Alhamdulillah mean?

My Amazing Senses

My Thumb Is A Blessing

Sweet Blessings

I Am Blessed

Dua For Thankfulness

Gratitude Stone

Thank You Card

Overflowing Rewards

Blessings Are Multiplied

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Blessings Are Multiplied!

Learning Objective:
Illustrate the generosity of Allah. 

Activity:
Put a few drops of liquid soap into a small container and fill with water.
Place the container onto a tray to contain the over spill.
Have the child blow one large puff using a straw submerged under the liquid and see how many bubbles it makes!
For every blow, the bubbles continue to multiply many times over.

We can not count Allah's blessings. 
Allah tells us in the Qur'an that the more we thank Him from what He has given us, the more Allah will continue to give us!

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Gratitude Stone

Learning Objective:
To help prompt and instil a daily habit of gratitude

A special object to hold before bed, to remind children to think about the day and what they can be grateful for.

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Sweet Blessings

Activity: The pebble and the sweet
Give each child a small pebble to put into their sock/shoe and a sweet to suck on. 
Have them walk around the room and then gather them together to share their experience of the walk.
Most will dwell on the discomfort of the pebble and say little about the good taste of the sweet.

Just like the pebble, when we focus on the small things in our day which we don't like or find difficult, when we're too busy moaning and complaining, we forget the good things that Allah has given us. When we have an attitude of gratitude, we always look for the 'sweet' blessings.

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My Thumb Is A Blessing

Learning Objective: To help think deeper to appreciate the specific blessings Allah has given us.

Use a timer to see how long it takes for a child to pick some coins off a flat surface, one at a time.

Tape back the thumb using masking tape and repeat the same experiment, noticing the difference.

Other activities to demonstrate the importance of this digit, can also include writing their names. 

Allah tells us in the Qur'an, ushkurulillah, thank Allah, and the first step that we can take in becoming grateful, is to actually spend time to think about and appreciate all the amazing blessings Allah has given us.

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Blessings Are For Sharing

Lesson Objective:

- To understand why it is important to share our blessings and help others.

Allah has given each of us many different blessings, and He tells us to spend and give from what He has given us. 

Activity: Role play ‘It’s mine!’

Scenario: You’re eating a pack of crisps. Your mum cant resist and takes a large handful from the pack. Hey! You get annoyed. She stole YOUR crisps! But think about it, who paid for those crisps? You or your mum?! So it was your mum who used her money to buy you crisps so really is it your crisps or her crisps that she kindly let you have?!

Sometimes it’s difficult to give, but we must remember, everything we have is from Allah, it’s not really ours! The blessings we enjoy, are gifts from Allah. Everything we have is from Him and for Him! We must use our time, money, our possessions, our talents, for Allah, to help His creation.

Activity: Sweet Blessings

Divide some sweets between the group, leaving some children without any. Explore how the children could leave them ‘poor’, or be helpers of Allah and share their sweet blessings

Allah has made the Earth large enough for everyone to live comfortably and provided enough food for everyone to eat well. It is our responsibility to ensure no one is left without, by sharing the blessings Allah has given us. When we all behave in this way and share what we have, we help to build a more peaceful world. As helpers of Allah, we must do what we can, to ensure blessings like food, water, clothes, toys etc are made available to everyone.

Download Complete Lesson: Serving God's Creation

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Alhamdulillah Tasbeeh Keyring

ACTIVITY: Alhamdulillah Tasbeeh 

We can be thankful by saying Alhamdulilah. It is a beautiful phrase, which means we are praising Allah for being such an amazing Creator and thanking Him at the same time.

Materials Needed: 
Card 
Keyring 
Pictures 

Cut out some circles and have the child write on each, a blessing to be thankful for. For younger children, you could stick pictures of favourite food, toys and family members. Hole punch and place a keyring on the set. 

Emphasis how when we recite tasbeeh and pass our fingers over each bead saying Alhamdulliah, we should concentrate on thinking of our blessings. 

Use it regularly to help reinforce mindful recitation and instill a habit of gratitude. Additional circles can also be added on at a later date. 

Prayer: 
O Allah help me remember to always thank you for all the blessings you have given me and to use them in a way that makes you happy. Let me have good manners and be thankful to the people who are kind to me. 

See Also: A Shower Of Blessings

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Alhamdulilah

Lesson Objectives:

- To understand the meaning of Alhamdulilah as praising and thanking Allah.

- To understand the difference between the two.

- To understand how saying Alhamdulilah with our hearts, changes our attitude to not complaining.

Quran Verse:

Alhamdulillah

All praise and thanks be to Allah 1:2

Key Learning Point:

Alhamdulilah is a beautiful dhikr we recite everyday in tasbih. It means to Praise Allah for who He is and thank Him for what He has given us. When we say Alhamdulilah with our heart, we do not moan or complain about the small things we don’t like or find difficult. Instead, we focus on all the good things and are grateful. 

Activity: Alphabet Thanks and Praise

Pass around a bag of alphabet/Scrabble tiles. Have each child pick out a letter and think of a blessing Allah has given us, beginning with the letter chosen. Can also brainstorm as a group.

For the second round, have the children think of an adjective or Ism, to describe Allah, with their chosen letter tile. Can use the A to Z Asmaul Husna alongside.

Use the activity to help make clear the difference between thanks and praise.

Activity: What does Alhamdulilah mean?
Complete the worksheet by writing what you can thank Allah for on one side and Names you can use to praise Him on the other.

Activity: The pebble and the sweet

Activity: Find the blessing
On strips of paper, write different scenarios that could lead to possible moaning. Have the child act out the negative reaction and then turn in it a positive by looking for the blessing in it.

Activity: Alhamdulilah Tasbeeh

Extended Home Activity: As a family, take on the 1 day no complaining challenge! Wear a rubber band on your wrist as a reminder and mark on a chart every time you complain. Did it make you stop and look for the blessings before moaning about something?

Resources: Brief Explanation of Alhamdulilah

Download Complete Lesson Plan: Alhamdulilah

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Count Your Blessings

Quran Verse:
"ooshkuro lillah”, Be thankful to Allah.

ACTIVITY: Count Your Blessings 
Materials Needed: 
Number stickers, card and colour pens 

Have the child brainstorm the blessings Allah has given them. Can you countthem on your fingers?! 
Use the quote 'What if you woke up today with only the things you thankedGod for yesterday', to help think especially about those gifts we take for granted. Allah tells us in the Qur’an that it is impossible to count how many blessings Allah has given us!

Have them make a poster or decorate a canvas with numbered stickers as areminder to always be thankful to Allah for giving us so much! 

As part of the child's bedtime routine, make it a habit to share together 3 things to be grateful for each day. 

Use the Quran chapter reference, as a reminder that Allah chose Prophet Ibrahim to become his special friend because he was always grateful for his blessings.

Download complete lesson plan: Be thankful

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A World Full Of Colour

Lesson Objectives: 

- Know that everything in creation is a sign of Allah 

- appreciate colour as a blessing from Allah and be grateful for it. 

Quran Verse:

Tafakkaroona fi khalqi 3:191 

Think about what Allah has Created. 

One of the Surahs we recite on Laylatul Qadr, is the chapter of the Romans, in which Allah talks about reflecting on the many wonders of creation around us.  

One of the blessings, Allah makes us aware of is how He has created us all in different colours. Imagine living in a world without colour?! SubhanAllah, have you every stopped to thank Allah for the beautiful shades of colour we are surrounded by?! 

Activity: (younger kids)

Rainbow artwork 

Google images has lots of inspiration!

Activity: (older kids)

Colorful Allah Artwork with confetti tissue paper.

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Thank you card

Quran Verse:
"ooshkuro lillah”, Be thankful to Allah.

Hadith teaches us that not thanking the creation is the same as not thanking the Creator! And so thanking people is actually a way to be thankful to Allah!

ACTIVITY: Thank You Card 
Make a thank you card or write a letter to someone who has been kind and good to you.

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Bag Of Blessings

Key Learning Point: 
Everything we have, has been given to us by Allah. Being thankful to Allah is one of the best good deeds we can do to make Allah happy and bring us close to Him.

Quran Verse:

"ooshkuro lillah”, Be thankful to Allah.

ACTIVITY: Mystery Bag Of Blessings
Materials Needed:
Gather some small objects that represent ‘blessings’ in life.
Pen - write and share information
Car - transport
Soap - keep clean
Bulb - Electricity
Plaster - health, Medicine, doctors
Money - to buy things
Food/Trees/Books/Animals/Family/Toys/Sun/Water

Place all the objects into a bag. Have the children place their hand inside and pick out one object and guess what it could be. Use the prop to talk about what blessing each object represents. Describe what life would be like without it and how there are people in the world who live without many of the things we have.

Download complete lesson: Be thankful

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My Book Of Blessings

Quran Verse:"ooshkuro lillah”, Be thankful to Allah.

ACTIVITY: My Book Of Blessings
Materials Needed: 

Magazines/camera 
Have the children cut out or take pictures of things around them that they are grateful for. Compile the images into a simple photobook or a collage poster displayed as a daily reminder of the gifts to be thankful for. Older ones could be challenged to produce an alphabetical theme.

Download complete lesson: Be Thankful

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Qunoot Dua To Be Thankful

ACTIVITY: Dua Of Prophet Sulayman (as)
Decorate and learn the qunoot dua ‘O Allah help me to always be thankful for all the blessings you have given me’

Download lesson plan: Be Thankful

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Make Gratitude Your Attitude!

Quran Verse:
"ooshkuro lillah”, Be thankful to Allah.

ACTIVITY: Make Gratitude Your Attitude!
Materials Needed:
Notebook/Diary or large roll of paper to use as a banner/poster

To instill a habit of being thankful to Allah, start a gratitude journal and have the child write or draw one thing they are thankful for each day. Alternatively use a wall display as a visual reminder for the family to share daily what they are grateful for. Decorate the display with Qur'an verses and hadiths about gratitude.

Emphasise how important it is to spend some time everyday thinking about and remembering all the good things Allah has given you, and being thankful for them. There is no act of worship greater than being thankful to Allah!


Activity: 30 Days of Gratitude Challenge

Download complete lesson plan: Be Thankful 

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Allah Multiplies Rewards!

Lesson Objective:

- To know that Allah always rewards us with more than we give

Activity: Allah multiplies rewards!
Put a spoonful of baking powder, representing a good deed, into half a cup of vinegar.

Watch the mixture bubble over! A small amount becomes multiplied!

Allah always rewards us with more than we give!

Download complete lesson plan: Every good act is charity

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Maqam Ibrahim

Quran Verse: 
Ooshkurolillah, be thankful to Allah

Lesson Introduction: 
There is a special place near the Ka’ba called ‘Maqam Ibrahim’. Inside it are the footsteps of Prophet Ibrahim, from when he was building the Ka’ba. Pilgrims pray a 2 rakah salaa beside it after tawaaf.
It reminds us how with every footstep Prophet Ibrahim took, he said Alhamdulilah. He thanked Allah for everything and it made Allah love him so much!

Activity: Maqam Ibrahim 
Prophet Ibrahim (as) always remembered the blessings Allah had given Him and was always busy saying thank you to Allah. This good action was loved so much by Allah that He choose Prophet Ibrahim to become His special friend, Khalilullah. 

Materials needed: 
Card 
Gold glitter/paint

Have the child think/write/draw one thing they are grateful for each day.

Every time emphasise the Quranic phrase ‘ooshkuro lillah’ as a prompt to thank Allah for our blessings

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In The Footsteps Of Ibrahim (as)

Quran Verse: Alhamdulilah 

Lesson Introduction: Prophet Ibrahim (as) always remembered the blessings Allah had given Him and was always busy saying thank you to Allah.
There is a special place near the Ka’ba called ‘Maqam Ibrahim’. Inside it are the footsteps of Prophet Ibrahim, from when he was building the Ka’ba. 

It reminds us how with every footstep Prophet Ibrahim took, he said Alhamdulilah. He thanked Allah for everything and it made Allah love him so much!

ACTIVITY: In The Footsteps Of Ibrahim (as) 
Materials needed: 
Large roll of paper and paint. 

Paint the soles or have the child step into a tray of paint and walk along a large roll of paper. In each footprint starting on the 1st of Dhilhajj, write one thing to be grateful for each day. Celebrate all your blessings on Eid! 
For a less messy alternative, have the child think of one thing every day and write the list inside a pair of cut out footprints. 

Encourage and repeat the phrase Alhamdullilah throughout the day.

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Prophet Ibrahim (as)

Listen: Story of Ibrahim 

Quran Verse: 
Alhamdulilah 
Ooshkurolillah, be thankful to Allah

Lesson Introduction: 
Prophet Ibrahim (a) is the second most mentioned Prophet in the Quran. His character is highly praised and he is known as the father of all faiths. Surah 14 of the Holy Quran is named after him. 

Activities:
In The Footsteps Of Prophet Ibrahim (as)
Maqame Ibrahim 
Prophet Ibrahim in the Quran
Duas of Ibrahim (a)
Ibrahim: Father of all Faiths

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