Hajj Activity #1: DIY Hajj Banner

Last week we made this Hajj banner to welcome the ten best days of the year. The theme of course is Hajj but I also added the Hajj Rituals. Every morning we talk about each place and see some pictures we have from our trips to Arafah, Mina and Muzdalifah. When we did Hajj last year we took AR with us to do Jamarat, so he remembers a lot of the things very clearly.

To make the banner I used felt, needle embroidery floss, a stiring and some templates. Then I cut out the Hajj route (Arafah, Mina, Muzdhalifah and Jamarat) and the sacrificial animals using templates I had printed. You can draw yours if you are good at it. I found the templates easier and faster! I used assorted sizes and colors for the base and glued the sacrificial animals and the Hajj route on them.

AR suggested to write the names of everything on it, of course Mama loved his suggestion and thought of embroiding the names on the base. H is in love with the little felt kaba we had to represent haram.

Banners can be made from any medium, paper, fabric, foam sheets in any design, I chose Grey, yellow, white, black and blue to match our living room colors. Banners can be fun, beautiful decor and educational, H has learned so much about the Hajj with us in the last few days mashaAllah through just being part of the morning Hajj discussion.

Introducing embroidery to children

As a little girl growing up in Saudi Arabia in the early 90's life was very simple. People found happiness in little things such as, going to the park, picnic, going for a walk, biking, playing with sand, and lots of crafts to explore. One of the things I got to introduced to very young was thread and needle and the wonders it can produce. I learned most of it on my own, through making mistakes and then correcting them. When we moved to Canada, it took me sometime to absorb the fast paced life and the lack of barakah in time. It wasn't long before I found myself running each day to complete one days tasks just like everyone else.

During summer vacations was when I was able to find time for myself and my hobbies, I would mostly go back to thread work. Till this day I love embroidery and bead-work. I love the feelings and memories of childhood it brings back for me. I always found thread work very therapeutic, I think that goes for all forms of handwork.

A few months ago I started an embroidery project and one evening when I sat down to work on it, AR came and asked me what I was doing and if he could do it do. I asked him if he would like his own embroidery loop and he was so happy and excited about the idea.

He helped me prepare the embroidery loop with a square cotton fabric piece.

We went on for 30 minutes, he helped me thread the needle every time. H give it a try too,  however I feel shes still too young and she pulls the needle too close to her eyes. We embroidery once a week, when she's asleep.

He has instead to work on the same piece. MashaAllah he's so proud of his hard work, he shows everyone and tells them "when ALL the yellow thread is finished we will cut and glue the fabric at the back and hang it on the wall!" I was impressed to hear his sophisticated idea. InshaAllah we will hang it, and it will be hung in our living room like some of their other art projects.

I feel it encourages children and builds their confidence and shows them their master pieces that they worked on with their tiny hands and creative minds are valuable and worth being hung for display on the walls. And that they give life and bring beauty to their house/walls and that they are not just for the study area or the fridge.

Boy or girl both should learn how to handle a needle safely and work with it. Since we very well know our beloved Prophet SAW used to sew his own clothes and mend his own shoes. So its important to encourage these essentials of life from the very start. Especially because a child is physically more involved in these activities its more satisfying and pleasurable to (most) children then being forced to or bribed to write.

The best part is... its so cheap!

This where we normally keep their paintings. Its hard to hang stuff on the walls here so we placed them on the shelves until we bring in the construction worker to drill in the walls.

Ramadan is around the corner once again!! Can you believe it??

Benefits of Indoor Plants

Indoor plants improve air quality by cleaning and conditioning the air we breathe.  By removing toxins and adding oxygen and humidity, they make the air easier and fresher to breathe for us.

I love having plants in the house for many reasons. InshaAllah in this post I will be sharing with you why I love having plants in our house and what are some good choices for indoor plants and their benefits.

Here are some plants we have in our house. 

Aloe Vera

Indian Jasmine Plant

Madagascar dragon tree

Mint Plant

We were planning to make a nursery on our roof, but now we will not be getting the roof so I am looking for some indoor plants. The kids really enjoy watering the plants and seeing them sprout. I am working on growing some herbs as well, for food and juicing. (I'll keep you updated on that too inshaAllah)

Indoor plants have numerous benefits. They are known to provide physical and psychological benefits and naturally create a healthy relaxing environment.


Benefits of indoor plants

• Improve Air-quality in homes and offices
• Absorb harmful substances
• Work as 'Natural Humidifier' (Why buy a electrical humidifier which suck up energy)
• Reduce Stress
• Encourage productive
• Cooling Effects (when you see the plants you can literally feel the cooling in your eyes)
• Inspire our creativity
• Increase positive feelings and reduce negative feelings
• Improve sleep
• Add natural beauty to the homes and offices.
• Can clear congestion (Plants such as Eucalyptus)
• Improve overall mental health\prevent allergies
• Reduce carbon dioxide
• Lower blood pressure
• Help fight colds

These are just to name some in order to motivate you all to add some indoor plants in your homes and offices to give the artificial decor some really beauty! Nothing beats the nature Allah SWT has made to cool our eyes, body and mind. 

Why grow indoor plants?

Children love plants, I found with AR that it helped me teach him how Allaah gives life and death, how water is such a blessing from Allah SWT for all living creatures. One of our plants died when we came bak from the vacation. Sometimes he will ask me if I watered the plants, or should he do it, since he loves watering them, he has learnt to control himself now. 


Indoor plants improve air-quality by absorbing harmful toxins/pollutants from the air around them. Some of the most common toxins/pollutants in our homes are"

• Formaldehyde - found in medicines, cosmetics, dish-washing liquids, fabric softeners, glue, adhesives, carpets, carpet cleaners, antiseptics, paper, latex paints, plastics, and pressed wood used for furniture read more.
• Benzene - Rubber, lubricants, dyes, detergents, paints and plastics.
• Trichloroethylene - found in paints, adhesives and used extensively in dry cleaning products.
• Carbon monoxide - found in fuel, water heaters, using gas powered tools in poorly ventilated areas.

All of the above have been proven to cause severe health problems such as, respiratory problems, irritability  headaches, asthma and nausea. One way to help ride these toxins from our homes is to get rid of products/things that cause buildup of these toxins, which is not that easy to do, becuae that includes almost everything in the house. For some of us (including myself) that's not possible, so we can do three things to help our air-quality 

1. Buy indoor plants, some researchers say their should be one plant every 100 square feet.
2. Keeping the house ventilated by opening the windows. That will keep the house from smelling fresh, free from odors as well. 
3. Try to go 'chemical free" or at least buy less chemiclal products. Instead try to make homemade cleaners. Most of these homemade cleaners an easily be made with products in your kitchen cabinets  InshaAllah will be posting some fun homemade experiment recipes and tips soon.

Although all plants improve indoor air-quality, some are known to be better than the others. These are some of the best choices of indoor plants that help improve air-quality better than other plants. 

• Aloe Vera                        
• Areca Palm
• Pothos
• Philodendron
• English Ivy          
• Boston Fern       
• Mother In Laws Tongue 
• Rubber Plant                
• Peace Lily        

Some indoor plants can be poisonous for children and pets and should be avoided or if you decide to keep them its is best to keep them out of their reach. We have a Aloe vera plant and its kept out of their reach. You check this link to read more about which plants and parts of a plant are poisonous. 

Sources: 1   2  3