One idea per surah, in the language your child thinks in, told as something that happened or something that is true. Not a translation line by line, and not a lesson. A child who knows that Surah Al-Fil is about an army and an elephant that would not walk recites it differently for the rest of their life.
The method
Pick one idea
Not the whole meaning. The one thing you would want them to remember if they remember nothing else.
Tell it, do not translate it
“This one is about the people who came with elephants to knock down the Kaaba.” Thirty seconds.
Connect it to the recitation
Say it before they read, and once more a week later.
Let the questions come
Children ask better questions than any lesson plan. Answer the one asked, not the one you prepared.
Age by age
- 4 to 6
- One sentence, and a picture if there is one. Who it is about, or what it asks Allah for.
- 7 to 9
- The story or the point, plus one word of Arabic they will now recognise when it appears again.
- 10 to 12
- Why it was revealed, if it is known, and what it asks of them today.
- 13 and above
- The meaning in full, and their own questions taken seriously. At this age a dismissed question becomes a closed door.
Where the class helps
Ask the teacher to give the meaning in the lesson, in English or in Urdu, at the age your child is. Translation with tafseer is a course of its own here, but even in an ordinary reading lesson the teacher can give one line of meaning per surah without slowing anything down.
Related
My child reads the Quran but does not understand it
The bigger version of this question.
Short surahs for kids to memorize first
Which surahs come first.
Duas every child should learn first
Meaning in the everyday duas.