Although we still don’t let our son see screens (other than Face Time), I love finding fun rhymes on YouTube and playing them in the background, while he plays or eats. I try to find rhymes that are educational and catchy. We listen to standard popular ones; but, every now and then, I like them to relate to religion and culture. Our favorite Islamic rhyme on YouTube is the Omar and Hana Series.

The show is a musical cartoon, which follows the lives of a brother and sister duo, Omar and Hana, and their parents. Each episode is about five minutes and based on a key tenant of Islam and how it applies to life. For example, episodes include  “sharing your toys”, “being polite to a host”, “helping your parents”, or “not wasting water”.

My favorite episode is “being kind to orphans”. At first, I thought it was too heavy of a topic for young kids. But I appreciated the way the cartoon creators aligned the message from Islam “loving orphans”, with depicting two young kids showing compassion to a child who lost his parents, giving him a hug, and being his friend. This is the kind of act I want my son to see and reenact, if he is ever in that situation. 

In addition to the positive story lines, when I have the rhymes on in the background, my toddler generally stays calm because he enjoys the tune. Overall, I highly recommend – whether it is a show used for background noise for younger kids or a cartoon for slightly older children!