Making Ramadan Fun for your Child
There are many ways to educate your children about Ramadan, the best and most important of which is to set the good example by fasting properly and behaving according to the Prophetic teachings. This is what your children will take from you first. When you are fulfilling this you can very easily teach them what you want. Here are few tips that you can use with your infants and toddlers.
1-Read them the Qur’an instead of or in addition to their baby books.
2-Wake them up for Suhoor (even if they don't fast) and Fajr prayer
3-Let your children help you make the Iftar dinner.
4-Let them eat Iftar with you and teach them that you are breaking the fast even if they ate before.
5-Teach your children the supplication of breaking the fast. The Messenger of Allah (S) when he broke his fast used to say: "Bismillah. O Allah, for You I have fasted and from Your blessings and provisions I break my fast. The thirst has gone and the veins have recovered and the blessing is established if Allah wills" (Allahumma laka sumna wa ala rizqika aftarna wa bika amanna. dhahaba dhamaa'a wabtallat al-urooq wa thabatal ajr inshaa'allaah) [Ahmad, Al-Baihaaqee]
6-Take your children to the Isha and/or Taraweeh prayer so that they get used it and know about it from an early age.
7-Decorate the house for Ramadan and Eid. Even infants would benefit from this because it would give them something new and colorful to look at.
8-Spend some time with your children simply telling them stories. You can read from a book, but often children enjoy it more if you just tell them stories - of your childhood, of the Prophet (peace be upon him), or of the Sahaba, etc. before bed is a good time – make one up about a little girl in Ramadan that is reading and listening to Qur’an and praying with her mother and helping cook, etc.
9-Teach them to give Charity. Ramadan is a time of sacrifice and sympathy for the poor and needy. Help your children decorate a jar and collect coins in it for the remainder of the month. At the end of the month, they can count the change and give it to the mosque or another Islamic organization to help those in need. Or, give them some boxes and encourage them to clean out their closets. Every child can find unwanted clothing or toys to give to children who need them.
10-Help your child make a Ramadan calendar, so they can mark off each day and do the Eid countdown themselves. You can create a calendar on the computer, draw one from scratch, or just use the Ramadan Prayer Schedule. Let your children color and decorate it, and hang it on the wall where they can see and reach it. Offer stickers for them to mark the days. Tell them that at the end they will get a gift for Eid.
Imanway.com
Subject: Ramadan & Kids 
