Today’s Ramadan craft project involves updating an item in our kitchen, a Lazy Susan, into an Arabic educational tool. A Lazy Susan is a rotating tray that is placed on a table to aid in distributing food.

We have had our Lazy Susan for a number of years and use it daily at dinner time. Since I am trying to incorporate more Arabic into our lives this Ramadan, starting with this month’s holy calendar, I thought I would could use the tray to help introduce more food words.

All I needed were a couple of paints I had received as my role as Plaid Ambassador for Plaid Online (make sure you enter for a chance to win $50 worth of Mod Podge accessories on Facebook).

I gave my daughters the day off today from crafting to did this DIY craft tutorial myself. I want to surprise them with it at dinner tonight. Not counting drying time, the entire project took only a few minutes of painting.

Supplies

Chalk

Paintbrush

Chalk paint

Eggshell finish paint

I first made sure the Lazy Susan was clean of all food droppings and then painted the outer edge with the chalkboard paint. I added a second layer once the first layer had dried.

I painted the inside of the Lazy Susan with the beautiful blue ink paint.

Before I could write on the chalk area, it has to be conditioned. This is done by rubbing the entire area with chalk, letting it sit for a few minutes and then cleaning it off.

Now it was ready to be used for our iftar dinner. Iftar is the Arabic name for the meal eaten by Muslims after sunset during Ramadan.

Update: My daughters were so happy to see the Lazy Susan had a make over. And we spent the rest of dinner learning new words riz, rice and laham baqir, beef. We also talked about what else we can write on our new teaching chalkboard. My youngest suggested leaving time for doodles while waiting for dinner to cool.

Check out these other Arabic learning tools we have made

Repurposed Arabic Perpetual Calendar {Tutorial}

Arabic Game Die {Tutorial}

Visit A Crafty Arab on Pinterest to see more of our tutorials