Magnet Ramadan Countdown Calendar {Tutorial}

June 7, 2016March 24, 2021 acraftyarab Ramadan Crafts

Ramadan countdown calendars are a great way to help younger children understand the concept that a month of fasting lasts 30 days.

There are many Muslim parents that create Ramadan calendars that take the form of a large rectangular shape with 30 slots, one for each day of the month. These slots can reveal a phrase or a small gift, such as a toy or a chocolate item, and are opened on consecutive days.

In the past, we’ve made a Ramadan Dates Countdown Calendar, to count down the days, and last year I used left over fence construction to create our Arabic Ramadan Countdown.

This year I move some things around my living room and lost the space to bring the large Arabic Ramadan Countdown from our attic. So I decided to make a new one from paper mache boxes that we can keep on the side of the refrigerator. This will keep the kids focused on fasting (hello, the food is in the fridge), plus since each box is only 2 inches big, they can easily fit into a plastic bin for convenient storage after. My oldest teen helped with this project and we’d rate it as medium.

Ramadan Countdown Supplies

Circle level punch
Glue dots
Paper mache boxes
Silver spray paint
Silver ink
Magnets
Double sided tape
Numbers printout

Spray the paper mache boxes. Make sure to do this outside or someplace that is well ventilated.

While they are drying, use the paper cutter to cut out the numbers. we used an awesome tool that also prints an image on the paper before it embosses and cuts it. We loved this inked arabesque design as it matches our green printables we already have in our home.

If you’ve never seen embossing before, it’s just means that parts of the paper are raised higher than others.

When we put them on the boxes, we didn’t like how they looked, so we cut them down to a smaller size. We used double sided tape to add them to the box top. (Please note the double printing on our 27th day box below. Just a reminder that these are kids crafts and if they make a mistake, no worries. Life moves on and you have a box that looks different then all the others. It’s all good.)

We used the glue dots to hold the magnets to the box bottoms. These boxes will be vertical, so make sure the adhesive you use is durable. If you use glue instead of glue dots, leave the boxes flat for a few hours for the glue to set.

We took our time putting the magnets in the middle to balance the box.

Inside the boxes, I put one of each of the 30 day activities we used last year.

And a piece of chocolate behind it.

Now we were all ready for the fridge!

(Tip – After a day of picking them up off the floor every time someone opened the door, I’d suggest you put them on the side so they stay put…or a cookie sheet on your counter!)