Libyan food is one of the least known from the Arab world. I wrote a guest blog post over at Multicultural Kid Blogs of 10 fun facts about Libyan foods to introduce people to this special cuisine.
I’d love for you to check out the 10 Fun Facts About Libyan Food and try out some new flavors this week.
Here on A Crafty Arab, we have several craft tutorial resources on the Kaaba, Hajj and Eid Al Adha. We also have a lot of tutorials on sheep, an animal commonly sacrificed during this important holiday and shared with family, friends, and the less fortune.
Dhul Hijja is the twelfth month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the most sacred months, followed by Ramadan, and in Arabic means “the month of the pilgrimage.”
One of the 5 pillars of Islam is to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to visit the Kaaba. The Kaaba is the most holy of all mosques and Muslims perform rituals at the Kaaba, also known as Bayt Allāh (Arabic: بَيْت الله) which means House of God.
The holiday Eid Al Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضحى) occurs on the 10th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, lasts for three days, and is know as the Festival of the Sacrifice. It honors the willingness of Prophet Ibrahim (Peace Be Upon Him) to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience command.
Please share these resources with your children, students, and other educators looking to learn about the Muslim culture.
Please stop by A Crafty Arab on Pinterest to see more tutorials that teach about Muslim holidays & culture.
This recycled cardboard home telescope began it’s life as two paper towel rolls. We added some reading glasses and paint to make a homemade telescope just like the one Sadiq, the protagonist from Sadiq and the Desert Star, used to help him look for stars.
Sadiq and the Desert Star is a new book by Somali American Siman Nuurali and illustrated by Anjan Sarkar. It was published by Capstone and they recently sent me an advanced copy to enjoy.
My daughter read the story, and had lots of questions about Berbera, Somalia, where Sadiq was from. We learned it is a coastal city and was the most important place of trade in the entire Horn of Africa. Sadiq’s grandfather used the desert star to guide his caravan trips through the Sahara Desert.
After we spent some time learning about Berbera, my daughter gathered supplies to start her telescope right away. She wanted to see if she could really see Mars, just like Sadiq and his friends at the observatory.
The first step my daughter took in making her own telescope is to cut one of the paper rolls lengthwise.
She took the cut paper roll and placed it inside the other tube.
Next, I helped my daughter pop out the glasses from their frame and she taped one to the end of the cut paper roll. She made sure to place the curved side facing the tube.
Once that end was secure, she did the same to the other end, but this time she made sure the curved side of the glass faced away from the cardboard.
Next we painted the tube with cardboard paint. You can use any paint you want, but we thought it might be fun to use chalkboard paint so that we could use chalk on the tube to write down what we saw.
We had a bit of a problem trying to paint over the tape that attach the glasses. I think when we make more telescopes for our upcoming space club, we will have everyone paint their tubes before taping on the glasses.
Now our telescope was ready. We wanted to take a photo in the daytime to show you what it looks like, but please never, ever use your telescope to look at the sun. This is dangerous and could really hurt your eyesight.
While she did love this book overall, she was confused as to why Sadiq’s mother and sister were wearing the hijab in the kitchen. Her own grandmother and aunt, who wear the hijab everyday, always take it off when they come home.
My daughter did love the facts about Somalia that was included, as well as the new Somali terms she got to practice. For example, in Somali, a grandfather is awoowe, but in Libyan we use jidu. I also loved the glossary in the back for the astronomy terms, plus the sections that encouraged kids to talk about and write down their thoughts about the book.
There are more Sadizq books coming out and my daughter can’t wait to read them:
To check out our other reviews of books, with craft tutorials, visit
Pakistan Straw Topper Flag {Tutorial} Plus Meet Yasmin {Book Review}
Persian Paisley Painting {Tutorial} plus Naji and the Mystery of the Dig {Book Review}
Be sure to stop by A Crafty Arab on Pinterest to see hundreds of books lists and tutorials that teach about the Arab world and Muslim culture.
