Our first Bookcamps: An-Naas and Al-Maun

Some of the first things IqraSaurus ever made were camps on a single surah, run for our friends, our families and the parents of our children's friends. We started with Surah An-Naas and called it a boot camp. By the time we reached Surah Al-Maun, we had renamed it a Bookcamp. A boot camp sounds tough and intensive, and we wanted ours to be fun, compact and engaging.

An-Naas: plain prints and empty boxes

The An-Naas workbook is the earliest worksheet style we still have. It is printed in black and white, with one small logo of a dinosaur beside a signpost, and a line on the cover for the child's name above the words "has experienced An Naas Boot Camp".

Inside, most pages are a question and an empty box. Under the heading "Mankind", children looked at coins from different countries, wrote down the country and shaded the coin. They decorated a paper doll to represent another race or country. On the pages about protection, they drew the kind of lock they have at home and wrote what it is made of and what it is used for.

The last page is about what Prophet Muhammad ﷺ did before going to sleep, with a big rounded box under the question "How big is your palm?"

These pages are very plain. We keep them as the first point on the timeline of how our printables changed, from plain prints with one logo and some boxes to what we make today.

Al-Maun: Have Courage and be Kind

The Al-Maun Bookcamp workbook came in two levels, Mini Junior and Primary Group. Each cover reads "Has experienced Al Maun Bookcamp" above a flower wreath with the words "Have Courage and be Kind". By then our logo carried the words inspire, integrate, impart: the 3-I we worked with before we added Investigate to make the 4-I.

Each activity has a name and a focus. Quran Search builds confidence in looking things up in the Quran. Thinking & Ideation asks children to draw small acts of kindness they can do for their parents, for orphans and for the poor. Language Literacy matches the people described in the surah with their opposites. Art & Craft is a card for a neighbour: "Say something nice!" The Reflection Checklist asks children to rate themselves on their wudhu', their concentration in solat and praying on time, with a second column for what their parents think of them. Word matching and verse matching come last.

Most of the activities were done during the camp. Some went home, and the children shared what they had learned with those who were not able to come.

Hilwaa's pages

Hilwaa filled in a Mini Junior workbook. On the Quran Search page she traced the answers, circled her choices and added a smiley. On the kindness card she wrote a big "Hi!" in coloured letters and signed it "from: Iman".

The other Mini Junior workbook on this page, with the matching activity and the Reflection Checklist, is Hilwaa's too.

The Bookcamps went on as a series, one surah at a time, at good moments in the year, mostly during the school holidays.