Prophet Musa (AS) - 3 - Escaping from Firaun

Over a couple of days, we read from our books the part of the story where Musa (AS) was chased by Firaun, ending up with Firaun drowning in the sea.

We also watched some of this video (played in background while they were downstairs) and then this Adam & Mishmish video to inspire the girls' imagination before their craft, so they could think what the Red Sea at the time might have been like and which kinds of fish they could draw in the water.

For our craft, we made another simple folding pop-up using blue paper, yellow paper, cutting/sticking drawings of fish from scrap paper and using glitter pens for the waves of the sea:

We talked about how Firaun only called out to Allah right at the end as he was drowning - but it was only out of fear and it was too late. The lesson I wanted them to learn was to follow the right path before it's too late - don't get distracted by what's easy or what might look like more fun. And to talk to Allah during good times too, thanking Him for His blessings, not only when times are bad and you need to ask for help.

We also went to Brueton Park, as we've not been before and I've heard good things about it, as a place for them to stand in front of a large body of water... Since we're a little too far from the coast! So they could appreciate a little the feelings of despair Musa (AS) and his people must have felt, knowing they were being chased and with no way across, and then awe from seeing the water part before them.

While we were in the park, we recapped the previous part of the story where Prophet Musa first went to Firaun and the magicians threw down sticks to look like snakes... We found some sticks and I asked the girls to try and arrange them to look like a snake... It wasn't easy! And it definitely didn't look real! But when Allah commanded Musa (AS) to throw down his staff, what happened? It was a miracle and it really did turn into a snake! No wonder the magicians believed in the message, because even though their sticks looked like real snakes (enough to frighten Prophet Musa), they knew they didn't have the power to make them come alive. Only Allah has the power to give life to things.

Prophet Musa (AS) - 2 - The burning bush

We read the next part of the story of Musa (AS) from book 1 of the Safar series, this time focusing on the time when Musa (AS) became a prophet. The lessons I wanted to bring out from this were 1) recapping miracles from Allah and 2) how Allah speaks to us through the Quran.

I asked them if they could remember any other miracles we've talked about to do with other prophets... Alhamdulillah, they could! We spoke a bit about them then did a simple craft together to help them remember this part of the story.

For their craft, they made a collage of a bush on fire. I asked them how they wanted to do the bush and M said to paint it... Then they cut up pieces of cellophane (old sweet wrappers!) and used PVA glue to stick them on top as the fire.

When they were done, we spoke some more about how Allah is able to do anything. Allah spoke to the prophets and sent them signs and miracles. But did he speak to them like we speak to each other? No, it was usually through dreams - but he spoke to Musa (AS) directly. And does Allah speak to us? How can we hear Allah's words? By reading the Quran! And the Quran itself is a miracle too... No one can write anything like it - although this is a little more complicated to understand/appreciate until they're older! I thought it still worth mentioning now. 💕

Prophet Musa (AS) - 1 - As a baby

We read the beginning of the story of Prophet Musa (AS) together, from the books which we have, focusing on his mother putting him in the river and how Allah not only kept him safe but also reunited them together - the morals I wanted the girls to understand from this part of the story were 1) to trust in Allah and 2) if Allah wants something to happen, there's nothing anybody can do to stop it from happening.

We talked about how Prophet Musa's mother must have felt when she gave birth to a boy and knew the soldiers would kill him if they found him... We talked about whether it was easy for her to put her baby in the river - because what might happen to him in the river? But what would happen to him if she didn't do it? We related it to baby A (who's now almost 8 months mashaAllah!) and how they would feel having to do that to her - and mothers love their children a lot more than siblings love each other! But where did the idea come from in the first place? It was from Allah so Musa (AS)'s mother trusted it would be ok... And it was!

Since it came up, we had a brief biology lesson into why Firaun's wife needed a nurse for the baby... By "nurse" the book meant "wet nurse" and a wet nurse is a woman who breastfeeds the baby for the mother - maybe the mum can't feed the baby herself for whatever reason (no milk, not enough milk, too busy, doesn't want to!) and in those days they didn't have baby formula and bottles! So why couldn't Firaun's wife feed baby Musa? Because women don't make milk all the time, only after they've had a baby. Firaun's wife hadn't had the baby so that's why she needed a wet nurse for him - and Allah brought Musa (AS)'s mother back to him in this way.

For our craft activity, to help them remember the story, I thought of a simple pop-up type picture - similar to the zamzam picture we did before. I drew my idea on the whiteboard so the twins knew what the end product was supposed to look like:

Then they painted their picture onto white card. We used watercolours again (it feels like watercolours have turned into the art theme for now!) and talked about blending different shades, the direction of their brush strokes (F said they should be horizontal for the river and vertical for the grass!) and how they could layer the paint as it dries.

While the paintings dried, they drew, coloured and cut a picture of a basket from some brown card and sellotaped the back to a blue pipe cleaner. A lolly stick would have been better, but I've still not got round to buying more yet! But this was a good chance to recap materials: we talked about what the problem was (it was too flexible!) and how they could fix it (make it shorter... make it thicker...) - they ended up folding it in half and twisting it about itself which made it a bit more sturdy.

I cut a line along the centre of the river so they could thread their pipe cleaner through and so move the basket by using the pipe cleaner as a handle. Finally, I asked them to write a sentence to summarise what the picture showed.

MashaAllah Z did well, copying her sisters! I think this is the first painting she's done which has actually resembled something and not just a brown mess. 😂