Kids books

[LegoHouse274]

Salams.

My children are 6, 3, and newborn. I am not particularly devout for want of a better word, and for complicated reasons I don't have much Muslim family or friends. So far their Islamic education has been pretty limited. My eldest in particular we do talk about Islam more recently and she is gaining a stronger sense of Muslim identity and asking me more questions etc. I would really like to find some nice picture books for the kids that tell the stories of the Prophets in particular as my own knowledge from childhood is somewhat faded and I don't want to tell them anything incorrect! Can anyone recommend any good books and where I can buy them please? Also TV shows and/or nursery rhyme type songs perhaps. Thanks.

I think Zain Bhika does kiddie songs, look him up on YouTube. I learnt the Islamic calendar months through his months of Islam nursery rhyme type song when I was kid years ago! I also really like kids Islamic stuff from Learning Roots (www.learningroots.com), they have cute illustrations, books, informative jigsaw puzzles etc for a range of ages from newborn up. They have a book called My Prophet Muhammad which also has little questions at the back so you and your kids can discuss after reading if you want for history specifically about Muhammad pbuh but they have general prophet ones too. For your oldest I would also recommend from there the sahaba cards (each card is a bite size history of different sahaba so you can pick one card at a time) and there's an illustrated book called Khadija: Islams first lady - I recommend these because especially now with Muslim women often shown as oppressed I think its a good shout and empowering to teach our kids about the important women in Islam who get overlooked so they can see that historically there were still significant women who were merchants, even warriors who went to battle, etc not just sitting at home cooking like a lot of Muslim men would have you believe! Anyway sorry for the essay, hope it helps!

Omar and Hana is a sweet show, and Zain Bhikha's channels are brilliant. I also like the learningroots site (link in the previous post) - several children in our extended family are enjoying things from there.

Do you have any Islamic centres near you, or do you know any sisters locally? Real life experiences can be great for sparking imagination. 6 might be a bit young for formal classes but there might be play-based activity groups?