any "halal" learning tool for toddlers?

[Amina786]

I posted this in Islamic Parenting also, but no response Pls Help!


My son is 1 and I wanted to get him some kind of toy or something that could teach him colors/numbers/alphabet etc etc... Since children seem to learn better by hearing things repeatedly (which is usually by a TV, I've seen kids learn numbers in different languages while watching cartoons etc etc)

But we don't have a TV, Alhumdulillah, nor do I plan on getting one.. but for those who are in the "been there done that" place, what have you done for your kids?

Every time I go to the toy store and try to find my son a nice learning toy, it is full of music or has pictures of animals so I don't buy it.

Any suggestions? I don't want him to be behind in anything, learningwise, insha'Allah

JazakAllah Khayr

[qibla]

Dear Sister In Islam
I find it admirable that you are putting so much effort to make your child Halal freindly so to say. Alhamdillilah. It is truly inspiring. I myself have been trying to do the same for my children but to no avail. unfortunately. The potential for such an industry is huge albeit toys out of wood etc. Why dont you ask a carpentar in your area to make you some toys especially through a community based group so everyone can benefit. Also someone who knows a bit about electronics can tweak the sound box in some "Halal" toys and put some islamic nasheeds or lullabys. I hope I dont sound like I am preaching but "Bombarding" your child with the sounds of the beautiful Quran all the time will give him all the benefits of becoming a true Muslim adult InshAllah. After all what better way than to stimulate the senses with the WORDS OF ALLAH. Hope InshAllah this helps.

[xs11ax]

on electrical toys with sound, the buttons that produce music can be internally disconnected. if you dont know how to do this then a drop of super glue will make sure the button cannot be pressed. be sure not to glue the button in the down position as this may stop the other non musical buttons from functioning.

[peacepro]

You could check out soundvision.com.hope it helps inshalllah.

[UmmIbrahimIsa]

assalamu alaikum wr wb

Books and lots of repitition with the books. Even if you've read the story 20 times in that same day, same hour, same gulp.


Get a book with a lot of bright colors, and it doesn't have to be a certain character but just a plain alphabet book such as the one by Dr. Seuss, or even this other one by the First Readers.

It is hard these days to find a lot of materials/toys out there without the "music" or special characters in it. It's another way for the media to draw people into buying their products and being hooked on those certain types of products.

Books are a good source and I suggest you try that and see what happens, and usually a lot of children, especially babies love books to begin with.

Flash cards also works, and there are some toys in which the alphabet is introduced without music.
Leap Frog is a good company, and Fisher Price is another one, and Hasbro.

As someone suggested Soundvision is a good place to start, they have these foam alphabet in a bucket, arabic letters and you can try that. There are other stores that could have these english letters i na bucket, or the alphabet magnets to stick to your fridge also another good way to learn.

As well as the old fashion way of singing the Alphabet song, the U.S. version type or the Canadian version type.

[Intrepid]

I don't know if you have it in the States, but I always found good stuff (without pictures and music) at the Early Learning Centre Toy Shops for my nieces.

http://www.elc.co.uk/toys/learning-b...tters-numbers/

[sudoku]

As brother qibla mentioned, when my brothers and I were younger, the tape recorder used to be on practically all the time, playing different Quran suraat like the thirtieth para, Yaseen etc. We memorized loads of suraat that way.

We didn't really have any toys per say, except for matchbox cars and a mat that you could drive them on, or the ball toy in which you take different shaped object and put them in the same shaped hole. My mom is very baby/children friendly so she'd join in the fun and put an Islamic twist into the games.

Books and lots of repitition with the books. Even if you've read the story 20 times in that same day, same hour, same gulp.

Precisely what my mom used to do with my little brother and I (older brothers were already in madrassa). We'd go to the library every week where she'd get new books for us, and that's what made us such lovers of books and taught us to read fast, so that by second/third grade my little brother and I were already reading chapter books of 60+ pages,

As well as the old fashion way of singing the Alphabet song, the U.S. version type or the Canadian version type.

My father used to use this song, but changed the English alphabet to the Arabic alphabet. This was long before the Arabic alphabet song that we hear today came out.

[Amina786]

JazakAllah Khayr for all the responses

Esp. br. Sodukuplayer.. it's so nice to see that your parents did that with you, Alhumdulillah, very inspiring. I bought a lot of those children islamic books for my son but when I try to read to him he just wants to play with the pages, so I felt hes a bit young to understand what a book is.

Which books did your mom get for you at the library?

About playing the Qur'an, Alhumdulillah he's been listening to the Quran since he was in the womb, I used to play (and still do) it all the time , so he is Alhumdulillah immune to it, and even falls asleep listening to it.

About the arabic alphabet, I try to teach him the letters but he's still not old enough to make out all the sounds from his mouth so I try to teach him as much as I can with the sounds he can easily make.

Insha'Allah as sis ummibrahimisa mentioned about the leapfrog, I"ll look into that and see if I can find something that doesn't have any faces on it and see if I can superglue the music part!

JazakAllah once again. Pls feel free to post any additional suggestions you may think of!

[Dhul-Qarnayn]

Spend as much time with them as possible, even at risk of spoiling them with affection. Even if there are no toys to use. There is no drawback to being 'overly' affectionate with children, it actually helps them develop better and they usually display higher intelligence as adults. At the same time, toys aren't absolutely necessary, give them plenty of time to explore the world on their own (within reason of course). Having to try and interact and communicate with you is what's going to drive their brains the most, not a toy.

As they get older and better able to understand stories in the next few years, I would focus on anything with moral lessons pertaining to social relations and manners. Especially in controlling your emotions around other people and being fair to them. There's no shortage of convenient stories even in Western children's literature with a slew of simple moral lessons like this if you're pressed. There are series like "Adam's World" which accomplish this with an Islamic viewpoint. Discuss the lessons with them, and don't forget them (the lessons) when the book or video ends, bring it back up in daily life later to reinforce it as situations arise. That's important and most people forget that.

[sudoku]

JazakAllah Khayr for all the responses

Esp. br. Sodukuplayer.. it's so nice to see that your parents did that with you, Alhumdulillah, very inspiring. I bought a lot of those children islamic books for my son but when I try to read to him he just wants to play with the pages, so I felt hes a bit young to understand what a book is.

Which books did your mom get for you at the library?

About playing the Qur'an, Alhumdulillah he's been listening to the Quran since he was in the womb, I used to play (and still do) it all the time , so he is Alhumdulillah immune to it, and even falls asleep listening to it.

About the arabic alphabet, I try to teach him the letters but he's still not old enough to make out all the sounds from his mouth so I try to teach him as much as I can with the sounds he can easily make.

you mean sister

Well I don't have kids myself but I used to see my friend with her child (now three years) and she used to be surrounded by books (the cardboard ones, phew!). She used to see her mom and dad read books as well, so by the time she was 1-1.5 years, she'd pick up any piece of paper and move her finger across as if she was reading it. Mostly I noticed kids like books with colourful pictures (for obvious reasons). Every kids different though, I mean this is my friend's child. I know my own nephew would rather chew the pages lol.

Well back then we didn't really have Islamic books near us, so my mom would get books with animal stories and stuff like that, and try to refrain from the disney stories. once we were a bit bigger (around 4-5), she used to read to us from Fazail-e-Amaal and make sure we understood the stories. She also used to read the stories by Khurram Murad like Love Your Home, Love Your Brother, Love Your Neighbour etc, and when we were even older, she bought the book Stories of the Prophet ie Qasasun Nabiyeen in English.