Mary Cuffy

The ninth month on the Is­lam­ic cal­en­dar has ar­rived, bring­ing with it a time of faith, fam­i­ly, and fast­ing for mil­lions of Mus­lims around the world.

Ra­madan is not just about ab­stain­ing from food and drink from sun­rise to sun­set; it is a month of spir­i­tu­al re­flec­tion, gen­eros­i­ty, and com­mu­ni­ty bond­ing.

When the sun sets, fam­i­lies gath­er for if­tar- the joy­ful meal that breaks the day’s fast. Ta­bles over­flow with flavour­ful dish­es like stew, rice, dates, lentils, and tra­di­tion­al favourites. Be­fore dawn, fam­i­lies wake to­geth­er for suhoor, the pre-fast morn­ing meal that gives them en­er­gy for the day ahead.

For the hun­dreds of mil­lions who ob­serve Ra­madan, this sa­cred month is an op­por­tu­ni­ty to fo­cus on faith and per­form gen­er­ous acts. Many do­nate to those in need, re­mem­ber­ing those who go hun­gry through­out the year.

Guardian Kids spoke with stu­dents from Al-Ih­saan Pri­ma­ry School to dis­cov­er what Ra­madan means to them.

“To me, Ra­madan is a holy month to fast in and bet­ter my­self,” said Tahir An­drews, who helps his par­ents by tak­ing out dates and clean­ing the ta­ble af­ter eat­ing. His favourite if­tar treats? Samosa, pies, and biryani!

Daniel­la Ram­lo­gan sees Ra­madan as a blessed op­por­tu­ni­ty. “Ra­madan means to me a month that we can get a lot of ex­tra bless­ings,” she ex­plained. She as­sists by set­ting the ta­ble, bring­ing dates, and fill­ing cups with wa­ter.

Ma­li­ka McIn­tyre de­scribes feel­ing peace­ful dur­ing this spe­cial time. “Ra­madan makes me feel calm and hap­py, and gives me spir­i­tu­al good­ness,” she shared. Re­mark­ably, she wakes every­one up and some­times cooks food for suhoor her­self!

Ami­rah Isaac re­flects on com­pas­sion and grat­i­tude. “Ra­madan makes me feel good and re­minds me of the less for­tu­nate peo­ple who don’t have food to eat,” she said. She helps by wash­ing dish­es and clean­ing the kitchen.

Aasim Mceach­nie feels ex­cit­ed about fast­ing and prayer. “Ra­madan makes me feel ex­cit­ed to fast and pray taraweeh,” he shared, look­ing for­ward to roti, soup, and salt fish.

Amaara Mo­hammed em­pha­sised the spir­i­tu­al con­nec­tion. “Ra­madan is spe­cial to me be­cause we feel close to Al­lah, get lots of good deeds, and feel ap­pre­ci­a­tion for food,” she ex­plained.

Fun ac­tiv­i­ties to try this Ra­madan

Ra­madan is al­so a won­der­ful time for chil­dren to learn through en­gag­ing ac­tiv­i­ties!

Spir­i­tu­al Ad­ven­tures: Re­cite Quran vers­es dai­ly or try mem­o­ris­ing a new Surah. Cre­ate a prayer cor­ner with mats and dec­o­ra­tions where you can lead prayer or call the Ad­han. Keep a spe­cial Dua jour­nal to write or draw your bless­ings and prayers.

Acts of Kind­ness: Fol­low a kind­ness cal­en­dar with one good deed each day. Dec­o­rate a char­i­ty box to col­lect mon­ey for those in need. Cre­ate a “Good Deeds Tree” where you add a leaf for every kind act you per­form.

Cre­ative Fun: Make home­made Ra­madan or Eid cards for friends and fam­i­ly. Help pre­pare if­tar by wash­ing veg­eta­bles or as­sem­bling sal­ads. Try sim­ple cook­ing like dec­o­rat­ing cook­ies or mak­ing Rice Krispy moons. You could even prac­tice “half-day” fast­ing un­til noon to learn pa­tience!

Through these tra­di­tions, young learn­ers dis­cov­er valu­able lessons about faith, com­mu­ni­ty, and car­ing for oth­ers, mak­ing Ra­madan a tru­ly blessed ex­pe­ri­ence for every­one.

La­dy­bug book se­ries. Ms Cuffy be­lieves the best in­vest­ment we can make in chil­dren is in the ear­ly years. Email: mary.cuffy@ya­hoo.com• IG: marycuffy • FB: mary cuffy/Lo­la and the Danc­ing La­dy­bug