'Ramadan Camp' reaches Muslim children across the globe

Amin Aaser remembers as a child growing up in Minnesota that his Muslim faith often made him feel like an outsider, and being required to follow its practices and tenets "sometimes felt like going to the dentist."

Those memories are part of what spurred Aaser, now a married man with a 5-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son, to spend Ramadan producing an online, interactive "Ramadan Camp" for Muslim children ages 5-12 throughout the world.

The Noor Kids Ramadan Camp started two years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, about 90,000 families have signed up, and about 3,000 families join live every night, he said.

The camp is streamed from a warehouse in Brooklyn Park that is designed to resemble a treehouse. Children spend between 30 minutes and an hour hearing stories, playing games, making projects, listening to guest speakers and sharing prayers.

It's all intended to find fun ways to help the children learn and discuss the tenets of their faith while meeting other Muslim children around the world.

Aaser said Ramadan is the most important time of the year for Muslims, who fast from sunup to sundown while focusing on improving themselves and building their faith. Busy Muslim parents who are fasting can often struggle to bring the spirit of Ramadan into their hearts and homes, he said, and the camp is designed to ease that burden.

The camp is a continuation of Aaser's mission since 2012 to help Muslim children embrace their faith and feel accepted, particularly in areas where they are a religious minority.

In 2012, he and his brother, Mohammed, began Noor Kids, which has grown to provide child-centered books and online programs that emphasize building character with age-appropriate stories about traits such...