Teaching Islam to toddlers and young children can seem tricky at first. Lots of parents (especially first-time parents) are very excited to share the beautiful deen Islam with their young children. However, you can’t sit down with books and worksheets! Allah blessed kids with the ability to learn a lot in a short space of time and the best way of teaching Islam to toddlers and young children is to teach them in a way they love to learn! Unit studies are perfect for teaching kids about any topic and they offer a natural way to introduce Islamic content to young kids. Read on to explore exactly why they are so great for teaching Islam to toddlers and young children.
Increased engagement
Unit studies and hands-on learning create an engaging learning environment for young kids. By using a variety of activities, such as games, crafts, and experiments, children can interact with the material and stay engaged in their learning. Young children especially will lose focus if they find the lesson boring. Unit studies are exciting to toddlers and young children because they offer a range of different activities!
Memorable lessons
Unit studies and hands-on learning create more opportunities for children to practice and recall the material they are studying. This can help children better remember the information and apply it in the future. An example would be learning about the blessing of transport. You could tell children that Allah is the One who allows us to travel across water, land and in the air. However, if you build boats to see which one will float and carry the most coins, make a fun sailboat craft and draw pictures of sea transport while listening to a relevant ayah about the blessing of travelling by sea, you are creating active learning opportunities! Children are far more likely to remember those activities and therefore also the important point about how Allah is the one who allows us to travel across the earth.
Foster creativity
Unit studies allow toddlers and young kids to explore their creativity. This can be in lots of ways for example problem-solving, exploring arts and crafts or creating a new game through play. All of these offer opportunities for children to understand the information you are giving them about Islam and relate it to their lives. You might tell them about how Allah causes the snow to fall in winter and then you hear them tell their teddy that they need to wear warm clothes because Allah has sent snow. Children naturally want to learn what is relevant to their lives and world. They often process the information you give them and use their creative thinking to relate it to their own lives. Unit studies are perfect for teaching Islam to toddlers and young children because they offer opportunities to be creative and relate Islamic Studies to their lives.
Integrate Islam effortlessly
Islam is our deen, a complete way of life. It is a consideration in every action we take. When we are teaching Islam to toddlers and young children it’s important that Islam isn’t just limited to one lesson but instead is integrated into other subjects. Unit studies are brilliant for taking a topic and exploring it in different ways. It is very natural to relate Islam to the main topic in lots of ways and design activities to learn more.
Personalise learning
Teaching kids when they are enthusiastic and interested in a topic is like walking down a hill and when they are uninterested it is like hiking up a mountain…with no shoes on….in a blizzard. Unit studies offer a chance to choose topics that your kids are excited to learn about. It makes teaching Islam to toddlers and young kids feel effortless.
Fun and engaging
When learning is fun kids beg to learn. Unit studies are perfect for teaching Islam to toddlers and young kids because it makes learning enjoyable. It also makes teaching a joy because you can see your kids gain pleasure from learning and actually remember what you have taught them.
Unit studies designed for Muslim kids
I hope you have found this post on how unit studies are perfect for teaching Islam to toddlers and young kids helpful. You can create your own unit studies by picking a topic that your kids are interested in learning about and then finding or creating activities related to that topic. For example, if you had a child that loved animals you could create a unit study all about animals mentioned in the Qur’an.
If you would like to save time and get a unit study that has all the fun activities already planned for you, check out the Winter and Transport Unit Studies for Muslim kids. They include simple and engaging activities in STEM, play, art and deen categories. They are perfect for parents who don’t have time to create their own unit studies or who don’t feel confident to do so yet. Visit Etsy or Tpt to learn more.
