The thing with kids, is that they love to do what the big kids are doing. In my case, I am the big kid. Whether it’s lifting weights (baby ones!), cooking dinner or praying salah, my daughter just wants to grow up way too quickly. On the last one, we’ve always taken a holistic approach to teaching her Islam. We’ve not taken the usual route of sending the kid to madrassah on a Saturday morning, so the My Salah Mat has been a great way to introduce her to salah.
To be honest, we’re lucky that she’s so engaged in joining us in salah, however as all kids, she wants to be as independent as possible. The prayer is large enough to cover all the essentials, but the size of a normal mat. The interactive icons provide feedback to the child to perform the right action at the right time. This is really useful during the silent parts of a prayer, which unless we’re teaching, they tend to get a bit lost on.
I also like the pre and post salah steps which help the child get ready with wudu and trying to stop them running off before a dua. It’s not overly rigid or complicated, but the essentials of prayer make it a great addition to our prayer room.
1. The My Salah Mat is interactive
My Salah Mat is suitable for children from age 3 upwards. The mat is colourful and well laid out, with buttons to press and audio sounds to guide them through the prayer or practice their recitation. My Salah Mat contains the audio of what is said during salat, a range of surahs, and a collection of short duas, making it a comprehensive tool and probably the only thing you need to teach your child to pray. My Salah Mat also comes with a guidebook for parents and an activity book, and the company emails educational content to parents on a regular basis.
2. It’s simple to follow
To use My Salat Mat, go through the guidebook that comes with it make sure you are getting the best out of it, although it is straightforward to use. Flatten it out to get rid of any creases and it’s ready to use. When your child stands on the feet pads, the salat starts with ‘Allahu Akbar’. Once your child goes into sujood, the pressure on the mat causes it to continue with the salat, reciting ‘Subhaana rabbiy a’laa’, and so on until the salat is complete. Not only that, but your child can also press the buttons on the mat for memorisation purposes, such as to practice a surah or dua. The visuals and audio content of My Salah Mat are really appealing to children and will definitely encourage them to pray.
3. It’s encouraging
It is useful to get my Salah Mat out when you are praying so that your child is watching you being an example while engaging in their own salah. Importantly, if you have a very active child, My Salah Mat should keep them occupied in a suitable way while you pray! By providing your child with this interactive tool, you are encouraging their learning, as it is suitable for children who like to learn through doing, as they need to press the buttons and do the actions of salat; for children who are visual learners as the mat is colourful and well laid out, and for children who are audio learners as the sounds are clear and recited by a qualified Arabic speaker.
4. It’s portable to travel with
My Salat Mat is a high quality and durable product – it is fireproof and waterproof. The buttons on the mat are clear and colourful, making it simple to use and attractive to children. In addition, once you have gone through it with your child a couple of times, it is easy for them to use on their own, which is important as if they choose to use it, they are choosing to learn! Children can learn at their own pace and they will see salat as something special by using the My Salah Mat. In addition, the salat can seem quite long for young children, and My Salat Mat makes it an enjoyable experience, especially as children nowadays are obsessed with technology.
5. It won’t become outdated
Available in 11 languages, it’s accessible to anyone and of course, Salah will never become an outdated learning need. So once you’re child has finished using it, their siblings or even as a donation will continue the sadaqah of someone learning their salah. Starting from £44.99, you receive the prayer mat ready to use out of the box.