Looking for ideas to spark up your kids’ room the easy and economical way? Well,
Alhumdulillah, the Muslim Ummah does not seem to suffer from the decaying illness of low or even negative birth rates. Islam not only highly encourages the natural growth of population, but also promises abundant blessings to parents for raising their children in a good manner.
If you are among the blessed parents who have one, two or may be a house-full of kids, then at one time or another, you have faced the question of decorating a room for your children. If you have not got started on it yet, here are a few helpful tips that will effectively, and without much expense, refresh the look of the living space for your children.
1) Toddlers and pre-schoolers will surely appreciate a large white or black board that would satisfy their “artistic need” to write on the walls, without actually doing it. Make sure to hang the board at an easy-to-access level and adjust it when necessary, as your child grows taller.
2) School-going children can utilize the same white or black boards for working on their homework and displaying their school related projects. If the board is not large enough, do not hesitate to put up the projects on the walls directly. Nothing helps to remember the lessons more effectively than repeatedly seeing the material in front of your eyes.
3) Decorative shelving can add a pleasant touch to an empty wall. Since most kids love colourful things, let your children select the colours for the shelves and involve them also in the painting process. Depending on the age of your children, the shelves can display soft toys, dolls, cars, books, awards, etc. If you and your children feel ready for it, you can extend the painting project to the other pieces of furniture in the room!
4) Encourage your children to create their own personal wall-calendars. Give them a helping hand in arranging the number part of the calendars correctly and marking down all the important dates they need to remember throughout the year: Islamic holidays, starting / ending of school sessions, dates of exams, etc. The opposite opening of each month can feature a selection of your child’s best artworks.
5) Walls and doors can also serve for displaying the Arabic alphabets, Duas, Surahs from the Quran, names of Allah (swt), and other Islamic texts, depending on the age and the learning level of your children. Posters containing Islamic landmarks can help to familiarize your children with these important sites. Work with your children on creating project posters that would highlight the Sunnah related to the Islamic festivals as well as their daily activities. Encourage your children to write out all the texts in their own handwriting – this will make memorizing easier.
6) A colourful area-rug will brighten up almost any part of the room, where it will be placed, be it near the bed, at the door or by the study table.
7) If siblings are sharing a room, create a private corner for each of your children, where they can retreat for reading or quiet playtime. Once again, a small area rug would be perfect here, along with some large pillows for a relaxing setting. A toy box or a floor-based bookshelf at an easy-to-access distance will add a more personal touch to your child’s corner.
Do remember, however, to keep yourself away from “surprising” your children by arranging their room in their absence. Although children are under your roof and care, their privacy, preferences, and personal belongings should be respected. Also, do not get carried away in unnecessary and expensive extravagances – kids’ tastes change pretty rapidly, therefore, the room setting should be flexible enough to accommodate those changes.
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