It varies a lot depending the specific Muslim cultural background, so there aren’t many songs that are universal, but here are some things I think might get you started.
In the last couple of years, this song has gained ground with American Muslim kids, since it’s sort of a Christmas song from the Muslim perspective:
Islamic celebratory music usually takes the form of nasheeds, which are portions of scripture, prayers, or Islamic poetry set to a tune and usually accompanied by percussion. Wedding nasheeds are usually super upbeat and celebratory, but they’d be hard for kids do. This is a modern version of an old nasheed that I used to hear a lot:
For kids, maybe something simple like this if you don’t think it would offend a largely Christian audience:
The pronunciation isn’t too hard as Arabic goes, it’s fairly short and reworked from a traditional piece, and it sounds amazing when you have several people singing it.
Doumbek music is popular throughout the Muslim world, and it’s usually possible to find cheapo doumbeks in places like Pier 1 and other stores that carry “exotic” furniture and design elements, or you can buy some fairly cheap ones online. If it’s a drum used more for show and the head isn’t tight enough, just lay it in front a heat source and keep an eye on it. The head should tighten from the heat and give you a better sound. I play with an informal drum circle in the park most weekends and kids love it.
As for traditional dance, dabka is the way to go if you want to have fun. It’s a big deal at Arabic weddings and general celebrations and there’s no specific formula, you just get everyone up holding hands in a line, play some doumbek music or an upbeat nasheed, and stomp or kick up your feet in a line or a circle however you feel like. The higher up your hands are, the more fun you’re having and usually there’s sort of a circular pattern unless your cousins get carried away. lol Here are some examples of what it looks like:
There are some traditional circle dances that women do that are fairly simple, but I can’t find a good video of them from a simple search, so I’ll see what I can find later.
Edit: Okay, I couldn’t find a youtube of the dance I was talking about but slap some Arabic music to
this and
this in place of the medieval music and you’ll end up with something really, really close to traditional women’s dances. The “Maltese” or “Turkish” branle was based on the Crusader’s impressions of Middle Eastern dancing. You can see the similarity with dabka in the first one, with the holding hands and the big circle. The second video is more in line with dances that women would do among themselves as entertainment in the medieval Islamic period. I used to teach this dance to kids at summer camp when I was a counselor and it’s always a big hit, especially if you can find music that speeds up over time until everyone gets dizzy.
