From Books to Interactive Learning: Helping Children Build a Love for Salah
Teaching a child how to pray, for many Muslim parents, is one of the most meaningful parts of their Islamic upbringing. But knowing what we want our children to learn and knowing how best to teach it are not always the same thing. Some children learn by reading, others through listening and repetition, while many learn best when they can touch, move and actively take part.
This is why Islamic education can benefit from combining traditional learning with interactive resources. Books, teachers and parents remain central to a child’s Islamic education, but practical tools can give children another way to practise what they are learning and gradually build confidence.
Learning Salah Through Interaction
A child learning Salah has several things to understand at once. They need to remember the sequence of movements, become familiar with Arabic recitations, learn where different Duas and Surahs are used and eventually feel confident enough to pray independently.
This is where interactive learning can help. By connecting movement, sound and repetition, children can begin to associate each position of Salah with the words and actions that accompany it.
One company developing products around this approach is My Salah Mat.
Founded in the UK in 2018 by product designer and former Design & Technology teacher Kamal Ali, My Salah Mat created an Interactive Prayer Mat designed to help children learn Salah through touch, audio and physical participation.
The Kids Interactive Prayer Mat includes touch-sensitive areas that respond as a child moves through the prayer. Audio guidance helps children become familiar with the different positions of Salah, recitations, Surahs, Duas and Wudu. The aim of using this prayer mat is not to replace the role of parents and teachers, but to give families another practical learning tool they can use at home.
A Shared Approach to Islamic Education
There is a natural connection between Noorart and My Salah Mat. Noorart was founded in 1997 after Ammar and Noor Saadeh recognised the need for engaging Islamic and Arabic educational resources for Muslim children growing up in the West.
Although the two companies began more than twenty years apart, both were created around a similar question: how can we make Islamic learning easier for children to engage with?
For Noorart, that journey has included books, Arabic curricula, Islamic studies resources, audio and educational products. For My Salah Mat, interactive technology became another way of helping children listen, repeat, move and practise.
As My Salah Mat founder Kamal Ali explains:
“Children learn in different ways. My Salah Mat was never created to replace a parent or teacher. It was created to give them another tool to help a child practise, repeat and eventually develop confidence in Salah.”
Learning Beyond Salah
Interactive Islamic learning can also extend beyond prayer. My Salah Mat has developed products including My Quran Pad, which helps introduce children to Arabic letters, words, short Surahs and early Qur’anic learning through pressing, listening, recording and repetition.
Books, teachers and traditional Islamic education will always have an important place in a child’s development. Interactive resources can sit alongside them, giving families additional ways to encourage practice and participation.
Sometimes helping a child build a lifelong relationship with Salah starts by simply giving them a way to practise it for themselves.
Explore My Salah Mat at Noorart today.
