Make a Hijri Calendar

This activity is one that could be suitable for a wide age range.  A suggestion for a really very simple and basic version can be found at the bottom of the instructions - one suitable for even as young as 3 or 4 years old.  However, the project detailed below can be made as simple or as complex as you would like to have it according to the age and ability of the children involved.  It is one of those projects that looks far more complicated than it is, though if you are dealing with younger children you might want to pre-prepare some of the elements involved.

This is a useful project/activity for Ramadan in particular, especially since in our version we included an optional extra of a 'phases of the moon' dial [link to a downloadable table/picture included in the instructions!].  You could link this in to discussions of how we know when Ramadan begins and ends, sighting the moon, how the moon changes throughout the month, and so on.

For this activity you will need:

• • a piece of card large enough for the calendar itself: the size will depend upon exactly what you want to put on it. Because we were going to have three dials on our ours we opted for 12"x12", but if you want to just do the 'days' and 'months' dials, you could just use a piece of A4

  • card for the circles that will become the date/moon wheels or dials

  • a compass, plate or something circular to trace round for the dials/circles

  • scissors and possibly a craft knife

  • split pins (or 'brads' as they are called in the US)

  • coloured/patterned paper to decorate and for titles (optional - you could just leave it plain and write straight onto the calendar itself).  You might also want some tracing paper (see instructions as to how we used some and why we needed it)

  • felt tips, pencils, pens

  • a ruler

  • glue

  • decorations, stickers, etc (optional)

  • ribbon or string & sticky tape (if you want to make a loop to hang your calendar up)

  • you will also need a second piece of card or cardboard the same size as the calendar as well as strong glue to attach it if you want to reinforce your calendar to survive heavy daily use

Instructions:

Step 1: First measure out, draw and cut out your circles.  You will need 2 or 3 for each calender - one for the days, one for the months, and also one for the phases of the moon (if you are choosing to add that).  We used a saucer to trace round since we knew that would give us a good enough size for what we needed and the piece of card we would be using for each calendar (a piece of 12"x12").  Our circles were 14.5 cm in diameter.

Step2: The next step might seem complex, but really it isn't insha'Allah, so long as you take it one simple step at at time.  You need to mark out equal sections on your 'days' and 'months' dials.  Doing this makes things a LOT simpler in the long run and it's really quite easy to do.  To start with the days: you will need 30 sections on your wheel because the months are, of course, only every 29 or 30 days.  First, draw a line cutting your circle in half.  Then mark each 'half' into fifths - do not worry about being exact (no need for a protractor!) just judge it by eye approximately.  When you have done this, then you have marked out ten sections on your circle.  Now just draw lines cutting each 'tenth' into three sections (10x3=30!).  In the picture below, two different 'tenths' have been marked into threes so you can see how the process works.  Breaking it down into bits like this makes it really very easy to do insha'Allah.  If the picture is hard to see, click on it to see a bigger version insha'Allah.

Step 4: You now need to mark on your calendar where the wheels will sit.  They are going to go BEHIND the card and need to be positioned so that they do not overlap and that part of each one sticks over the edge (so you can turn them).  If you cannot make enough of the wheels/dials stick out from the edge, you could always cut a small curve into the edges of the calendar to provide a better handhold.  You need to mark on your card where to cut out the windows that will show the day and month for the date.  This is where an adult armed with a craft knife comes in useful: to cut out the little windows!  It is a lot easir to position everything if you place the wheels on TOP of the card first and then stick a pin or the point of a compass through the hole in the middle of the circles and into the calendar when you have the wheels in the place that you want them to be.  That way you already have the hole for the split pin in place on your calendar and, once you have the windows cut out, you will know exactly where to position the wheels under the card.

If you click on the picture above (to bring you to a larger version) you can just see the holes for the split pins above and below the two little windows.

Step 5: Attach the two dials/wheels to the calendar.  Remember they fit BEHIND the calendar, by means of a split pin through the middle.  Decide which direction they will turn in.  Now you can clearly see the pencils of the divisions you drew on each wheel as you turn.  Fill up the divisions of the days ones with the numbers 1 to 30.  Fill up the months with the months of the Hijri calendar which are:

Muharram, Safar, Rabi Al-Awwal, Rabi Ath-Thaani (or Rabi Al-Akhir), Jumada al-Awwal, Jumada ath-Thani (or Jumada Al-Akhir), Rajab, Shaban, Ramadan, Shawwal, Dhul-Qidah and Dhul-Hijjah

By marking out the divisions first, it makes this step very simple indeed.  When you are done, draw arrows on the outside edge of your wheels reminding you which way to turn them!

Step 6:  OPTIONAL.  If you are making a 'phases of the moon' wheel as well, then now is the time to deal with it. You can easily design your own version - drawing your own phases of the moon, perhaps, but to make things easy for you, you can download an A4 sheet with a table of the phases and their titles/descriptions - CLICK HERE to see it.  Print this out, cut it up and glue them down.  Then attach the wheel (this time to the FRONT of the calendar), again with a split pin.

Step 7: Now you need to decorate your calendar.  You will need a title (such as 'My Hijri Calendar'), a nice big arrow pointing at the phase of the moon of the day, maybe 'The phases of the moon' underneath that dial and also a 'Today's date is' title above the day and month.  However, in the examples below you will also see a decorative box 'frame' around the day and month windows.  This helps to make it clear where we should be looking on the calendar because otherwise those two small windows can get a bit lost, especially on as large a piece of card as 12"x12".  The frames are easily made by using some tracing paper and marking where the windows are and also where (roughly) you want the edges of your box to be.  Then use this tracing to cut out pieces of patterned paper that glue neatly into place over the day and month windows.  (See the finished examples below)  You can also use stickers or whatever else you can find/think of to decorate your calendar.

Step 8: OPTIONAL.  For added strength and reinforcement, in the examples below, a second piece of card (or, in this case, cardboard) was glued to the back of each calendar.  Two holes were pierced in the cardboard first, and a 'handle' of ribbon was threaded through and the ends taped down on the INSIDE of the cardboard.

This was then glued (using STRONG glue - paper glue will not be enough) to the calendar.  If you choose to do this, be advised: put the glue on the back of the CALENDAR and NOT on the back of the cardboard.  That way you can make sure NO GLUE TOUCHES THE DIALS ON THE BACK.  They need to be able to turn freely to be able to function as a calendar.  Put glue all round them, but make sure they can still move.

Finished examples:

You can click on each picture to get a larger version and see each one in more detail.  A pen was included in the second picture so you can get an idea of the scale.

SIMPLER VERSION: For younger children, rather than bothering with complicated dials that sit behind the calendar and so on, you can write (or have them write) out the numbers 1 to 30 on a strip of card, and then the months on a second strip of card.  Attach this to the front of the calendar only by either ends of the strips.  Then use a paper clip to slide along the card to indicate the day and month.  You could still use the 'phases of the moon' wheel. You could even add other wheels to indicate the weather that day, the temperature, the seasons and so on.  You can see an example of this kind of calendar (used for a Gregorian/Western calendar) in the picture:

This was made some years ago, so is a little tatty but is still holding up very well.  Laminating the various wheels and sliding scales has helped with that enormously.  Even if the child is too young to be able to write out the days and months, they can still colour in the pictures and enjoying putting the thing together.  It is very easy to use and understand - so a very useful educational tool for youngsters as well, alhamdulillah!