Assalamu Alaykum Craft mummies,
How are your days going during the lockdown? I know “technically” we’ve somewhat come out of a lockdown with ‘some’ freedom, but nonetheless, some of us may have developed social anxiety and dread the thought of going outside.
Some might have decided to keep all the family members at home, some may have started to slowly disperse into the “strange” realms of the outdoors. Some might be super chilled and enjoying a safe stay at home, yet some may be going a little coo-coo with all the kiddos at home, running out of fun activities for their children.
If you fall into the latter category, then you’re on the right page.
Welcome to The Muslim Craft Club - where we have nothing but ideas.
It started from a simple private lesson in South London to now hosting online courses for Muslim kids globally! We’ve come far Alhamdulillah.
I’m Miss K and I developed this platform to elevate Muslim children, who are often forgotten in the western world. The Muslim Craft Club is a new project to help entertain and train our Muslim children with very unique craft skills. If you’re a Muslim mother who’s run out of ideas, keep on reading.
Firstly, what do kids love the most when they’re bored? Yes you’ve guessed it, something new. Something they haven’t tried before. How many parents can honestly say they’ve run out of fun, creative, new ideas for their Muslim children? You want it to be Islamic-friendly as well as unique & engaging so that you’re grabbing their short attention.
Kids have a tendency to lose interest pretty quickly They get bored the moment they can’t do something or allow their minds to wonder off when there’s a distraction. Children need something that’s short, quick, bursting with fun. It needs to draw them in, be simple enough to do independently, and giving their minds space to develop ideas.
When I develop classes for my students, I have them in mind as it’s being created. How do I know what they want? Because as bizarre as it sounds, I actually have a similar attention span to them. I also lose focus when I’m bored and find it hard to stay present when it doesn’t grab my attention.
Apart from my own experiences, I’ve also worked with many children who have given me an insights into their curious minds;
“If something is too long” - forget it, you’ve lost them. What do we do? We ensure these classes are short and sweet.
“Nothing visual or attention grabbing” - you’ll see them fixating on something visual OTHER than your presentation. What do we do? Our classes are full of visuals and colours, showing demonstrations of what they’ll be doing.
“Monotonous voice, one tone no depth to your speech” - sleepiness begins to creep in. What do we do? Bubbly & animated voice tone during each class!
Why hand crafting for Muslim kids?
When you see a child, what’s the first thing a mother usually reaches out to to keep them entertained?
Phone / tablet / Nintendo (or something similar)
I shudder at the thought of children being so immobile that their gross motor & fine motor skills become compromised. I get concerned thinking about children’s mind becoming so numb that they begin to experience episodes of “digital dementia”.
At The Muslim Craft Club, our focus is to provide a one-stop platform for our Muslim children to learn something new! Without them even realising, they’re actually being professionally trained.
Hard to believe, but by taking these hand craft classes, they’re moulding into mini craftsman. Who said you had to go college to learn specialist skills? That is a thing of the past, kids are more than capable of learning specialist craft skills than their older peers.
Muslim homeschoolers will probably feel more inclined to these classes as they need more of a break from their children than schooling mummies do! So Muslim homeschooling mummies, visualise this:
You’ve finished a hard day at your home-school office, the kids are still with you, nobody is taking them away oh no, that would be a dream. You’re knackered from getting the kids ready and seated for another homeschooling session. You’ve finally finished the class and now need to feed their hungry bellies. They’ve eaten, played with their toys but still bothering you about being bored. You’ve run out of ideas, they’ve already played that board game 3x today - they can’t bare another go. Then you discovered an online course that they can all watch and learn from home. They see some examples of what they can make and they’re getting SUPER excited to say the least, begging mummy to go ahead and buy the equipment already. The equipment finally arrives, they rip the packaging so quickly that you’d think a lion came into the room. They start their lessons and they are glued to the screens - you've finally found some peace. They learn a very unique skills and their minds are beginning to flood with ideas; “what can I make for mummy? I also need to make something for Sarah… What about aunty Aisha?” Once they continue with the course, they begin to get better and better at what they do, their confidence plummets and they start showing their friends what they’ve made. They've finally finish the course and feel tremendously confident with their new skills! How do you know? Because they're now teaching YOU how to do this craft. Not bad for a 7 year old.
Has this visualisation sunk in? Making this into a reality isn't difficult.
Want to find out more?
Ideas make our children thrive and develop as little people. If you're looking for something new to support their creative development, you know where to find us.
Take care,
Miss K
Founder - Instructor/Designer
The Muslim Craft Club
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