ProgrammeFrom the archive
Journaling templates we tried
Early Quran journaling and doodling sheets for Surah Ash-Shams, gratitude pages from 2018, and the cousins journaling at the table.
Before Quran journaling and doodling became a programme of its own, we tried out a lot of formats on paper. These are some of the early ones.
Surah Ash-Shams
One of the earliest formats started with the surah itself: the Arabic and the meaning of each verse side by side, for the children to match. Then came blank templates to help them draw and write about what the surah meant to them.
The sheets are landscape, so a child has room to draw right across the page. Every template has the same frame: a box for the month, the day and the child's name, a cloud-shaped box at the top, and our dino at the bottom. Inside, we tried different layouts. One has four panels in a row, like a comic strip.
Another has slanted comic panels, with speech and thought bubbles around the edge.
A third has one framed label in the middle and plenty of open space.
These sheets were reworked many times. We meant to put them up as printables, but that never happened. They stayed as research and development, part of how we tried to help children take the Quran to heart through reflection and doodling.
Gratitude pages, 2018
Alongside the surah sheets we made gratitude pages titled "Alhamdulillah, I am thankful…". One has an ornate frame. The other is about family, with the heading "Usrati = My Family". Next to it is a FOCUS bookmark with a quote by Yasmin Mogahed. The footer reads "2018 Copyright IQRASAURUS.com", which is how we know their year. Each page leaves a large empty box at the bottom for the child to write or draw what they are thankful for.
At the table
This is what Quran reflection and journaling look like in practice. Our children's cousins are at the table: one draws on a folded sheet, another bends over a booklet, with pencil sketches and coloured pencils spread around them.
This was around the time Nurin and Syauqi were in their early years of secondary school. The Ash-Shams sheets come from about then too.
Trying it at home
Fold a sheet of paper into four. After reading a short surah together, ask your child to draw one verse or one idea in each box, with a few words underneath.
