Allah Made Hands

Our first project was "Allah Made Hands." I took a sheet of paper and traced my youngest's hand on the paper and did the same for her sister on a separate piece of paper. Then, we talked about her handprint and counted how many fingers she had. Then I traced one of my hands on the same piece of paper (for both girls). We then made comparisons and found differences between the hand prints.

We asked questions like the following:

Which is your hand?
Which is my hand?
How do the hands look alike?
How are they different?
Of all the hand prints, which one is biggest? which one is smallest?

We then had a discussion on the importance of hands.

Could you write without hands?
Could you draw without hands?
Could you put on clothes without hands?
Could you eat without hands? etc.

Then I asked them to tell me other ways they use their hands.

We then discussed the importance of washing hands before eating, after eating, going to the bathroom, etc. We also discussed the importance of using our hands for nice things (such as helping others) and not for things like fighting and hitting.

After we were done with the discussion, we printed at the top of each page "Allah Made Hands" and then I let the children color the hands. When complete, we hung them up where everyone could see.

Our next project will also be related to this. We are going to make hand prints with tempera paint on white paper. We will cut out around the handprints and then make a pot shape out of construction paper and cut out leaves and a stem from green construction paper. We will then glue the pieces together to make a tulip in a pot. These will also be placed near their first hand print pictures on the wall.

Other related projects we will do:

1. I am going to check to see if I can find Lois Ehlert’s book, Hands in our local library and we also have the book My Hands by Aliki. After reading them, we are going to make a Handy Hands Booklet. Just staple four or five sheets of paper together and have your child trace their hand on each page. Then, they will write about or draw pictures in each handprint of things they can do with their hands.

2. As a fun little lesson, you can tape your childs thumbs to their hand with masking tape. Without taking the tape off, have them see what activities they can perform without their thumbs and which activities they cannot do without them. (Have them try to eat, write, read, hold a book, dribble a ball, etc.) Then, you can discuss the importance of having thumbs as part of their hand. Explain to your child how Allah made our hands with perfect wisdom.

3. We are going to make a handprint coupon book. Just staple four or five sheets of paper together to make a booklet. On each page, have your child trace their hand. On the cover, write "Helping Hands." The booklets will be given to friends or family members and will be used as redeemable coupons for help from the child. They just have to tear out a page and tell the child that they need help doing something.

4. I also would like to teach them the importance of hands for people who use sign language and just go over the alphabet in sign language with them. I think I will see if my local library has the book "The Handmade Alphabet" by Laura Rankin – which shows each letter of the alphabet in sign language along with a picture of an object that starts with that letter. I also found a link to this site: American Sign Language Browser, which shows different words acted out in sign language. I also found a few short stories online about what it is like for a child to grow up without hearing.

5. Fingerpainting and playdough work – helps your child to use their hands to express themselves creatively.

6. We will also discuss right hand and left hand uses. In other words, we will talk about how in Islam we use our right hand and it is the preferred hand for doing things like shaking hands, eating, etc.

Each day, along with these little projects, we will emphasize and discuss the fact that Allah Made Hands and talk about different things we can do with hands and why they are important. Once finished with these little projects, I'm hoping we can go on to a lesson plan about feet, eyes, ears, etc.

Asalaam 'Alaikum,

Sumayyah Umm SAA