Minaret Zakat Box {Tutorial}
Zakat is the Arabic word for “that which purifies” and is used to mean alms giving to Muslims around the world. After prayer, it’s the second highest in importance in one’s life.
Every year, as part of our annual Ramadan crafts 30 day challenge, we make a zakat box to collect money during the holy month. Everyone pitches in with change found in pockets, cars and couches, or collected at the Eid Al Fitr party.
At the end of the month the girls tell us how much they have total and we, the parents, match it. We pick a charity together and donate the money.
A few years ago, we made a zakat box from an ice cream carton. Today we used a can of Pringles, a type of potato chip that comes in a tube. We added a door and windows to make our recycled can look like a minaret, a tall tower added to some mosques.
We hope you enjoy making your own zakat box and filling it for the whole month too!
Supplies
Cylinder can with lid (we used a can of Pringles)
Alphabet letters
Arabesque stencil
Spray paint
Paintbrush
Glue dots
Scissors
Moon wood shape
Foam brush
Toothpick
Texture coastal paint
(Not in photo – Blue painters tape)
We used our sticker letters to spell out the word Zakat. We used a capital ‘Z’ from a different letter set once we realized it was only lower case letters.
We used blue tape for making a door, cutting off the top to a point for interest.
We added some windows towards the top of the minaret.
After making sure all the stickers and tape were secure, we started to paint.
We used the foam brush for larger places and the smaller brush for under the rims. In some places we went over the paint again once the first coat dried, but as you can see, we got great coverage with just one try on a lot of the can.
We set our can outside to dry for a little bit. Once it was dry to the touch, we held the stencil in place and used the spray paint to add an Arabesque design to look like tile.
We again set our can outside to dry. After a bit of time, we took the tape off the door.
And then the stickers for the word zakat also came off.
I have to admit, the windows were harder to find!
For our zakat box top, we added a glue dot to the toothpick and attached the moon.
We used a second glue dot to attach the moon to our lid.
Now our beautiful zakat box is ready to be placed by the door. When we come home from an outing, we will empty our change inside it. By the end of the month, we will see how much we have collected.
If you enjoyed this zakat box, please visit A Crafty Arab on Pinterest to see the many other zakat boxes we have made over the years. We try to make one every year as part of our annual Ramadan crafts 30 day challenge.
