Ramadan 2016 began in the evening of Sunday, June 5 and ends in the evening of Tuesday, July 5 (depending on the sightings of the moon). For lots of details on who, what, where, and when, plus educational resources, have a look at “Ramadan for Kids” here. Today I am featuring Kay Tarapolsi’s incredible Ramadan crafts for kids. Kay is a Libyan American artist who creates art to promote a positive image of Arab culture. Crafts are a fantastic way to introduce world cultures to young children, and a beautiful symbol of celebrations for those celebrating. I LOVE her work!!! Click on the pictures for full tutorials on the crafts featured!
What is the “Ramadan Crafty Challenge?”
The 30 Day Ramadan Crafty Challenge started as a way to introduce my 3 daughters at a young age to Ramadan in a fun way. When I started this in 2011, there were no other craft sites devoted to Arab crafts and we would go to the library and bring home stacks of books and adapt the projects to fit into our lesson. It was a great bonding tradition with my girls since we tend to do the tutorials one on one and I would share stories about my own cultural upbringing. We would also create some crafts about Arab countries and spend our time researching and learning new things about those countries. I am an artist and art teacher by trade, so putting the tutorials on a blog seemed like a great way to share these lessons with others who also couldn’t find the resources.
How long have you been running the series on Ramadan crafts?
I started in 2011 and this is my 6th year doing Ramadan crafts. Since 2011, my 3 daughters and I have spent the holy month of Ramadan creating projects and DIY activities to talk about their connection to the 1.75 billion Muslims around the world. I wanted to show them they were part of a larger Ummah, a word meaning community in Arabic, أمة. As an Arab mother, I wanted to spend time with them individually talking about Islam, Ramadan and my childhood memories of family.
I just launched the page for the 2016 preview and have links on it for the years past. You can find links to all of the years’ Ramadan crafts here.
What are your goals with your web site, “A Crafty Arab?”
My page’s mission is handcrafting a vibrant Arab world. I hope people learn something new about the Arab world after visiting A Crafty Arab’s blog. If it’s from craft tutorials, recipes or educational posts, I’d like anyone who stops by to enjoy their visit because we Arabs are known for our hospitably. I want to make sure experiences into my world is positive and everyone feels welcome.
What do you think? I love to hear from my readers:).