My small kids had a big question, “Why do Muslims pray toward the Kaaba?” They were wise enough to know, Muslims pray toward, not to, the Kaaba. They inspired me to create this lesson and craft so that I could teach them the why behind the direction we pray.

Lesson

• A Muslim can’t bow down to anyone except God.
• When Muslims bow down in a unified direction to pray, it’s called the Qiblah.
• The Kaaba is the spiritual center of Islam. According to the Qur’an, the Kaaba was built by Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) PBUH and his son on Allah’s instructions and it served as the first house of worship for mankind. (ref. Zamzam)
• “The Black Stone of Kaaba is believed to be one of the original structure’s only remnants built by Ibrahim since the remaining structure was demolished and rebuilt many times for maintenance over the history of Kaaba.” (ref. Zamzam)
• When Muslims pray we connect ourselves along an invisible line, a thread from every point on earth to the spiritual center of Islam.
• In prayer, we are unified with Muslims all over the world.

The why is our connection and unity.

Activity

For Eid al-Adha, a craft for kids about the Kaabah, qiblah, connection, and unity!

The idea of unity inspired this watercolor collage craft, a beautiful visual of our earth, with invisible lines, and threads, connecting and unifying us. I was also able to incorporate and share a few different art techniques: watercolor brush strokes and collage, and used more than one medium. The best part, I was able to use supplies I had at home, and no plastic is used in this craft.

Supplies

• Regular white printer paper (Amazon Basic White $8)
• Watercolors (this project requires blue, green, yellow) (Crayola Watercolors $3)
• Black marker or permanent marker (Sharpies $7)
• Gold pen or crayon (Gold Pen, $7)
• Metallic orange/gold crayon (Glitter Crayons, $10)
• Standard ruler (Ruler, $1.95)
• Print out my free 8.5×11 World Map Download to paint! I’ve created a detailed version and a simple version (for younger painters).

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Tutorial Video

This was such a simple and fun project. In step 1, I did a dry-ish side-to-side stroke which create a beautiful water texture. In step 2, the brush stroke was more of a wiggle-wiggle. Then I combined all the elements! Check out the tutorial below for all the details.

Disclaimer: This is not a map with accurate latitudinal and longitudinal accuracy, this is a symbolic piece of art for children to learn the meaning of unity and connection.

This was a fun craft to celebrate Eid al-Adha because the Kaaba is central to Hajj, and Eid al-Adha is celebrated to mark the conclusion of Hajj every year.

Peace and Salam,

Natasha