Monthly Archives: September 2008

Zakaat al Fitr Project

This is a nice activity designed to teach about what is given out as zakaat al fitr. It should be fun for all ages!

Materials:

  • glue
  • scissors
  • pencil
  • marker or crayons
  • one sheet of white paper
  • 4 sheets of different colored construction paper
  • poster board OR 18×12 sheet of art paper OR put several sheets of 8×10 paper together to form a large rectangle
  • food sales ad or magazines with pictures of food items AND/OR small amounts of dry goods (rice, oats, barley, date seeds, etc.)

Instructions:

1 — Create labels for poster

The poster is divided into two parts: the right side and the left side.

First, write the following across the center top of the poster board : “Zakaat al Fitr”.

Then, on the right side write “Yes!”

In the top right corner write “4 Hand Scoops”

In the bottom right corner write the name of the person who’s hands you traced (ie Big Brother Saleh’s Hands or Abu’s Hands or Grandpa Ali’s Hands etc).

In the top of the left side write “No!”

In the top left corner write “Don’t Give This!”

2. — Create Hand Pattern

Have father, big brother, grandfather or an uncle to place both hands palms down on a sheet of white paper. Make sure the hands are not touching each other.

Trace over both hands. Cut them out; this is the hands-pattern.

3a — The Right Side of the Poster

Place the hand-pattern on top of whatever the construction paper you want to use. Use one color per pair of hands. Trace over the hands then cut out. You should have a total of 8 hands or 4 sets of hands, 4 left and 4 right each.

Now, on the right side of the poster board/art sheet, near the top of the paper, glue a set of hands onto the poster; make sure the thumbs pointing outward away from each other. Layer the remaing sets of hands on top of each other. Leave the other side blank for now.

3b — Adding Food Items

Now have children add food items onto the sets of hands. They can either cut out pictures of food items that can be given as zakaat.

If there are no pictures of food items, then the child can write the names of food items into the hands.

Another idea is to get small amounts of rice, oats, barley, dates (I used the seeds of dates), etc. Spread a small amount of glue. Then put several grains of the items onto the glue. Make sure they dry first before moving the poster. Then write the name of each item that is glued onto the poster.

4 — The Left Side of the Poster

The left side is similar to the right side except the pictures are things that we do not give as zakaat. In this case pictures are best. The pictures can either be cut out and glued down or they can be hand drawn. Again, write the name of the items that are added to this side of the poster.

One idea for money is to print out fake money, color it and glue it down.

5 — Finish Up

The poster can be colored and/or decorated some more such as coloring in a pretty border or hand drawing bowls, tables, pots and pans. Have fun!