Eid al-Adha Flashcards: EYFS 2024 Guide for Early Years Educators

Written by Heidi Samsoondar, founder of Storytime Scarves and Outstanding childminder with tiney, an Ofsted-approved childminding agency, with four years of experience in early childhood settings.

These cards were designed with children first in mind, but the EYFS 2024 connections run deep. But when you place them in the context of the 2024 EYFS statutory requirements, the connections run deep and naturally across all seven areas of learning.

Understanding the World

This strand sits at the heart of every card in the collection. Children encounter the sacred city of Makkah, the desert landscape surrounding it, the story of Ibrahim and Ismail carried across thousands of years, and the lived traditions of millions of Muslim families around the world.

This is exactly what the People, Culture and Communities strand asks for: resources that help children make sense of their community and the wider world they are growing into. These cards do not present Eid al-Adha as something exotic or distant. They present it as something real, something that belongs to children in your setting and in your community.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

PSED runs through this collection in ways that feel genuinely child-led rather than curriculum-driven. The white clothes of Hajj open a conversation about equality and what it means when everyone looks the same. The three-way sharing of the feast becomes a concrete, meaningful exploration of empathy and generosity. The story of Ibrahim invites children to think about bravery, love, and trust in ways that connect directly to their own experience. None of this requires the children to know anything about Islam before they begin. The feelings come first. The story follows.

Communication and Language

Every educator card in this collection carries open-ended prompts designed to support the quality of back-and-forth interaction the 2024 framework places at the centre of language development. These are not yes-or-no questions. They invite children to imagine, describe, wonder, and share. When a child points to the crescent moon or picks up the Kaaba card, the prompt gives you the next move in the conversation. That serve and return rhythm, the child notices, the adult responds and extends, the child responds again, is where language and understanding actually develop.

The vocabulary introduced across the collection, Ihram, Tawaf, Makkah, Eid Mubarak, sits in what the 2024 framework describes as Tier 2 language. These are words children are unlikely to encounter in everyday conversation, but which open up new conceptual worlds when they arrive in context. Here they arrive embedded in story, sensation, and play rather than as a list to memorise. That is how Tier 2 vocabulary sticks.

Physical Development

Physical Development is woven into the play invitations on several cards. Children are invited to walk in a great circle like pilgrims performing Tawaf, to stretch their arms wide like the open desert, to count seven steps, seven claps, or seven slow waves of a scarf. The learning happens in the body, not just in the mind. These are not add-on movement breaks. The movement is the meaning.

Mathematics

Mathematics arrives naturally through two of the strongest moments in the collection. Tawaf introduces the number seven through repeated physical action, with counting grounded in story and sensation rather than abstraction. The feast, divided into three equal parts, gives children a concrete, meaningful experience of equal sharing, one of the conceptual foundations of early number sense. Both moments meet the 2024 Mathematics framework's emphasis on deep understanding through real-world context.

Expressive Arts and Design

This area is present in the movement invitations, in the sensory imagination the desert card evokes, and in the way the lantern image on the Eid Mubarak card invites children to respond to beauty and symbolism before any words are needed. When a child drapes a scarf across their shoulders and becomes a pilgrim, or stretches it wide to become the desert itself, they are working in the imaginative and expressive mode described by the 2024 framework. The scarf is the loose part. The card is the invitation.

Literacy

Literacy is supported by the collection's overall storytelling structure. Children encounter narrative, character, journey, and resolution in a form they can hold, carry, and return to freely. The story of Ibrahim on Card 6 is one of the oldest stories in the world. Hearing it in a nursery setting, held in something beautiful, is a profound act of cultural and literary connection.

Observable Moments

Every card in this collection creates natural opportunities for assessment. When a child shares the feast in three, a child circling the room seven times, a child explaining what they would pack for a long journey. These are rich, documentable moments in PSED, Mathematics, and Communication and Language that sit naturally in your planning and observation records. The cards do not generate worksheets. They generate real moments with real children, and those are the moments worth recording.

Using These Cards as a Play Provocation

These cards work best as a play provocation rather than a teaching tool. Place them in your continuous provision, pair them with loose parts, fabric, stones, small figures, and step back. The child leads, and the story follows.

For settings with a lending library, these cards work beautifully inside a Story Sack that families can borrow and take home. Include a simple note for parents on how to use the prompts at home, in their own language, in their own way. The 2024 framework's emphasis on partnership with parents sits naturally here. 

A Note on Cultural Accuracy

These cards were reviewed carefully for theological accuracy, age-appropriate framing, and cultural respect before going to print. A few things worth knowing as you use them in your setting.

The spelling Makkah is used throughout rather than Mecca. This is not a stylistic choice. Mecca has become a generic English term with commercial associations entirely separate from the sacred city itself. Makkah reflects the correct Arabic pronunciation and is the standard used by the Muslim community globally.

The Ibrahim narrative on Card 6 names Ismail as the son, in keeping with Islamic tradition. This differs from the Judeo-Christian version of the story, where the son is identified as Isaac. Both are honoured traditions. These cards reflect the Islamic telling because they are an Eid al-Adha resource, and Eid al-Adha is rooted in the Islamic narrative.

Pronunciation guides for Ihram (say: Ih-ram), Tawaf (say: Tah-waff), and Eid Mubarak (say: Eed Moo-bar-ak) are included on the relevant cards. These are there not to test you, but to give you confidence. Saying these words correctly, even imperfectly, matters to families. It tells them you took the time.

Whether Eid al-Adha is part of your own life or something you are discovering alongside the children in your care, these cards are designed to hold you. Use them with curiosity, with care, and without fear of getting it wrong.

Further Resources

We believe every child deserves a rich ecosystem of culturally grounded resources, not just one. Here are some places worth exploring alongside this collection.

Books. BookTrust, the UK's largest children's reading charity, has curated a beautiful list of children's books about Ramadan and Eid for all ages. It is an excellent starting point for building your setting's book corner around this season.

Toys and resources. Four Kids Toys is one of our favourite independent retailers, stocking a carefully curated range of faith, culture, and identity-based toys, including Islamic and Arabic heritage resources. Worth bookmarking for your next resource order.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are the Eid al-Adha flashcards aligned with EYFS 2024?
Yes. The collection supports all seven areas of learning in the 2024 EYFS statutory framework, with particularly strong coverage of Understanding the World, Personal Social and Emotional Development, and Communication and Language. Every educator prompt card includes EYFS 2024 links on the reverse.

What age are the Eid al-Adha flashcards suitable for?
The collection is designed for children aged 3 to 6, covering the EYFS and into Key Stage 1. The child-facing illustrated cards and simple prompts also work well with younger children from around age 2 with adult support.

Can these flashcards be used by non-Muslim educators?
Absolutely. These cards were specifically designed to support educators who are discovering Eid al-Adha alongside the children in their care, not only those who already know the celebration well. The Context on every educator card gives you the background, the Talking Prompts give you the conversation, and the pronunciation guides give you the confidence to use key Arabic words correctly.

What is Tawaf and how do the cards explain it to children?
Tawaf is the ritual of walking around the Kaaba seven times during Hajj, moving anti-clockwise as millions of pilgrims have done for thousands of years. Card 10 introduces Tawaf through a simple movement invitation, asking children to walk in a circle together and count seven steps, seven claps, or seven slow waves of a scarf. The learning is physical before it is conceptual.

Do the cards include pronunciation guides for Arabic words?
Yes. Pronunciation guides for Ihram (say: Ih-ram), Tawaf (say: Tah-waff), and Eid Mubarak (say: Eed Moo-bar-ak) are included on the relevant cards, so educators can use these words with confidence in their setting.

What is the difference between Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr?
There are two Eids in the Islamic calendar. Eid al-Fitr celebrates the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting. Eid al-Adha comes later in the year and commemorates Ibrahim's devotion and God's mercy. It coincides with Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Makkah, and is centred on the spirit of sacrifice and generosity. This flashcard collection is specifically about Eid al-Adha.

Can these cards be used alongside Storytime Scarves play scarves?
Yes, and this is where the collection really comes alive. The cards pair beautifully with The Radiant Crescent, our Eid play scarf rooted in the spirit of generosity, and The Gathering, our Hajj storytelling scarf. Together they create a fully immersive, multi-sensory experience that deepens every story through movement, imagination, and open-ended play.

When is Eid al-Adha in 2026?
Eid al-Adha 2026 is expected to begin on the evening of Tuesday, 26 May, with the main day of celebration falling on Wednesday, 27 May 2026 and continuing until Friday, 29 May. As with all Islamic dates, the exact timing is confirmed by the sighting of the new moon, so it is always worth checking with your local mosque or community as the time approaches. This makes Eid al-Adha 2026 a brilliant focus for early May planning in your setting, giving children time to explore the story, the symbols, and the spirit of generosity before the celebration arrives.

Ready to use these in your setting? Shop the Eid al-Adha Flashcard Collection here

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