The beach as a classroom

Between 2020 and 2022 much of our learning happened outside the house, or at the kitchen sink. These photos come from those years. Our part as parents was mostly to notice things alongside the children and ask them about it.

On the beach

At the beach we talked about the sun, the shore and gravity as signs of Allah, and looked closely at whatever the tide had left behind.

Exercise was part of the day. Behind this boy doing push-ups at the water's edge, ships sit at anchor out at sea.

Qoyis drew his own obstacle course for the beach, with five stations numbered from first to fifth and a sandcastle at the top.

At sunset, one of us held up a hand and "pinched" the sun as it went down over the sea.

On the beach we reflect on the signs of Allah around us, like the sun, the sea and even gravity.

At the kitchen sink

Preparing meals counted too. Before cooking a batch of blue swimmer crabs, the children cleaned them at the sink and had a close look at the claws. Up close you can see the serrated inner edge of each claw, and we looked at its design as one of the signs of Allah.

A bumboat to Pulau Ubin

On another day Daddy took Nurin, Hilwaa and Qoyis to Pulau Ubin for a bicycle trip. Syauqi was not with us that time. We crossed on a bumboat, and on the island we made time to reflect on the Quran and the Sunnah together.

In the photo we sit at the back of the boat, the children in face masks, with the wake churning out behind us and the green shoreline low on the horizon.

Trying it yourself

A walk along any shore gives a child plenty to look at and ask about, from what the sea has washed up to where the sun goes at sunset. At home, letting a child help clean fish or crabs before dinner gives a close look at how each one is made.