Unfolding the Story of Eid al-Adha: A Guide to Playful Celebration

If you have been exploring our journal for a while, you may have already read our guide to Eid al-Fitr, the joyful festival that marks the close of Ramadan. But there is a second Eid, and in many ways, it carries an even deeper story.

Eid al-Adha 2026 is expected to begin in the UK around the 5th of June. It falls during the season of Hajj, the great pilgrimage to Mecca, and it is a time of faith, gratitude, and extraordinary generosity. A beautiful story to tell. A beautiful time to play.

Eid al-Adha means the Festival of the Sacrifice. It commemorates the moment when the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) showed his willingness to sacrifice his son in complete trust and obedience to God, and how God, in His mercy, provided a ram in his place. It is a story of faith tested and held, of love that runs deeper than fear.

Today, families around the world mark Eid al-Adha through three beautiful ideas.

Faith. Honouring the courage and trust of Ibrahim, and reflecting on what we hold most dear.

Generosity. Families who are able to perform Qurbani, the ritual act of sacrifice and sharing, divide what they have into three portions: one for the family, one for neighbours and friends, one for those in need. No one is left out of the feast.

Togetherness. Like all Eids, this is a time of new clothes, communal prayers, shared meals, and visiting those we love.

It is also the time of Hajj, the sacred pilgrimage to Mecca that millions undertake once in their lifetime. The two are woven together: while some families journey to the heart of the Islamic world, those at home hold the spirit of that journey in their celebrations.

These are the words that live at the centre of this story. Saying them aloud with your child is its own kind of play.

Eid al-Adha (eed al-ad-ha) is the Festival of the Sacrifice, one of the two great Eid celebrations in the Islamic year. It lasts three to four days and falls at the close of the Hajj pilgrimage.

Ibrahim (ib-ra-heem) is the Prophet Abraham, revered across Islam, Christianity, and Judaism as a figure of extraordinary faith. His story is at the heart of Eid al-Adha.

Qurbani (koor-bah-nee) is the ritual act of sacrifice and sharing performed during Eid al-Adha, in remembrance of Ibrahim's trust. The gift always moves outward, to family, to neighbours, to those who have less.

Hajj (haj) is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Muslims who are physically and financially able are called to make this journey at least once in their lifetime. It takes place in the final month of the Islamic calendar, culminating at the time of Eid al-Adha.

Takbeer (tak-beer) is the declaration Allahu Akbar, God is Great, chanted joyfully in the days of Eid al-Adha. You may hear it ringing out from mosques and homes during this time.

Unfold your Radiant Crescent: Joy and Giving Edition storytelling toy wherever the story takes you. Across the floor as a gathering place, draped over a cushion as a canopy, spread beneath a window to catch the light. These gentle prompts invite children into the story without directing where it goes.

Play Prompt 1: The Journey of Ibrahim

Ibrahim's story is one of the great journeys of faith, a man who trusted deeply and walked forward without knowing the destination. Lay the scarf as a vast landscape and invite your child to send a small figure on a long journey. What will they find? What will they carry? What will they leave behind? This open-ended play holds the spirit of the story without needing to explain it. Children will find their own meaning in the travelling.

Play Prompt 2: The Feast of Three Portions

The spirit of Qurbani is radical generosity. The gift is never for one family alone. It moves outward, to neighbours, to strangers, to those who have nothing to bring. Spread the scarf as a great feast table. Invite your child to prepare three portions, perhaps three leaf boats, three little parcels of wooden blocks, three flower heads from the garden. Who are they for? Where do the journeys go? This is play that quietly holds the understanding that abundance is for sharing.

Play Prompt 3: The Gathering Place

Hajj is one of the most extraordinary human gatherings on earth, millions of people arriving from every corner of the world, dressed the same, moving together, equal before God. Lay the scarf at the centre of the room as a gathering place. Bring every toy, every small figure, every animal from the shelf. Let your child arrange and rearrange. Who has come? Where have they travelled from? What have they brought? This simple invitation holds the vastness of Hajj in a child's own hands.

If your family has our Hajj storytelling scarf, The Gathering, you may find it becomes a natural companion during Eid al-Adha. The pilgrimage and the festival share the same days of the calendar, and the two scarves can open into one expansive play landscape: the journey to Mecca, and the celebration back home.

And if you have already explored Ramadan Nights with your children during Eid al-Fitr, this is a beautiful moment to return to it. This time, to notice what the two Eids share. The same crescent moon that announces Ramadan is the same moon that governs the Hajj. The same generosity that shapes Zakat al-Fitr shapes Qurbani. The same gathering of family, the same table spread wide. Two festivals, one continuous story.

When we invite children into the stories of Eid al-Adha, we give them something that lasts far beyond the celebration itself. A sense of their place in a vast, generous, faithful human story. The quiet confidence of knowing that their heritage is worth playing with, exploring, and passing on.

Every Storytime Scarves toy is ethically printed to order in the UK, on 100% Pima Lawn cotton with certified non-toxic inks, and independently UKCA certified as a safe toy. Made to be played with, handed down, and treasured.