Family Activities

• Let’s have a conversation
• About the landmarks of Baghdad and the market: The events of the story took place in Iraq, and important landmarks and places were mentioned to us, such as: Baghdad; the Copper market; Bab al-Sham; House of Wisdom Library. We can look for information and pictures of these places, and we can talk about them with our children. We can talk about the most important landmarks and places in our town and ask our children: Which of them are the most beloved to them? And why?
• About the feelings, desires, and thoughts of the characters: We can trace the drawings and talk with our child about various events. We can ask them, for example: What did Aladdin feel when he entered the Cave of Treasures? Why did Hanish ask him for the old copper lamp instead of the treasures, and how did Aladdin feel about that? What did he do, and what was Hanish’s reaction and feeling?
• About solving problems and getting out of trouble: Aladdin faced several predicaments. We can follow the drawings with our child and we can ask them: How did Aladdin get out of the cave? How did he feel in prison, and how did he get out of it? How did Princess Asmahan save the lamp from Hanish’s hands? We can also ask our child: Did they ever get into trouble? How did they feel? How did they get out of it?
• About good and evil: Princess Asmahan released the genie and asked him to travel the world and help people. We can talk to our child about good and evil; We could ask them the follwoing: How can we describe the behaviour of the princess? What does it mean to do good? What is the meaning of evil? How did that appear in the story? Have they done a good deed, or have they thought of magically turning something from bad to good? We can suggest some good deeds and help our child to do them.
• About the qualities and uniqueness of the characters: We can talk with our children about the characteristics of Princess Asmahan and compare them with the qualities of the minister, of Hanish and Aladdin and we can compare them with her behaviours in the story. We can also talk with them about their own qualities and how they appear in their behaviour. We can say, for example, that Princess Asmahan is brave and hastened to take the lamp when it fell. What are the characteristics that distinguish our children, and how do they stand out in their behaviour?
• Let’s imagine and create
• “Journey to the land of dreams.” We can encourage our child to imagine a genie that will carry them to dreamland. What do they love about this place?
• Let’s enrich our language
• The story is rich in beautiful and new linguistic vocabulary; we can explain them to our children while reading and we can talk about them afterwards as well.
• We draw our child’s attention to the rhyming words in the text. We can help them compose his own chant using rhyme.
• Let’s explore
• Several films have been released about the story, the last of which was Disney’s “Aladdin” movie. We can search for it on the web, and we can spend quality time with our family watching it. It is interesting to then compare the movie and the book.
• Enjoy your reading!

רעיונות לשילוב הספר בגן

From the Field