This post is sponsored by Desi Doll Company Ltd
Every child loves play dough! Make learning Arabic fun for
your kids by teaching through play….Teach Arabic with Play Dough!
your kids by teaching through play….Teach Arabic with Play Dough!
Teaching Arabic to young children can be done in two ways:
through natural exposure to the language (conversations, story books, songs etc.) and
through play.
through natural exposure to the language (conversations, story books, songs etc.) and
through play.
In my humble opinion, workbooks and written curriculum have limited
value in young children. Instead, for preschool and kindergarten children,
Arabic can be learnt through play.
Here are 5 ways to teach
Arabic with play dough:
Arabic with play dough:
Letters
An obvious place to start is teaching your child the Arabic letters.
For these activities, it helps if you have a poster or book displaying Arabic letters nearby. We used a wooden puzzle to help the children visualise the letters.
The play dough can be moulded into the shapes of the letters:
Alternatively, you can now get play dough cutters in the shapes of the Arabic letters. This set by Desi Doll company was fantastic!
The letters came out really clearly and my kids found them very easy to use. On top of that, the play dough smells like candy!
We began by doing a ‘Letter Hunt’ where all the cutters were placed in the middle, and I would call out a letter and the kids had to find it!
“Find me the letter Raa!”
“Find me the letter Meem!”
Then we used the cutters themselves to make the individual letters of the Arabic alphabet.
The children were eager to write their names in the play dough… as well as all their friends!
Colours
Whilst the children are playing with the play dough it is very easy to casually teach the colours as you go along.
“What colour is this?”
“Shall we make it in Burtaqali (Orange) next time?”
“Where is Azraq (Blue)?”
Numbers
Play dough makes a great manipulative, and it is easy to mould into counters.
We used simple ball shapes, but you could use any shape/animal that appeals to your child.
We used these counters to count to ten in Arabic and then ask:
“How many balls are there altogether?”
“How many ball are Asfar (Yellow)?” etc.
Shapes
Using the shape cutters and knives in our play dough kit, we were able to make a variety of shapes to to help the kids learn their names in Arabic.
Spell out Vocabulary
This activity was by far the most successful of all!
We used the letter cutters to spell out new vocabulary words; such as the parts of the face and body, food, animals etc. My five-year old really enjoyed spelling out the names of the Prophets (Peace be upon them).
Combining the sensory experience and manipulation of the play dough, with a purposeful spelling exercise, seemed to massively improve their memorisation of new words. This technique would be particularly effective for children who are tactile learners.
On top of that, it was so much fun! The children get so excited when I bring this play dough set out!
Play dough is also a great way to increase hand strength in preschool children, and improve their fine motor and bilateral coordination skills; so they will be ready to learn to write in the coming school years.
If you are interested in buying the play dough set we used, visit DESI DOLL COMPANY for more information.
How have you used play to teach the Arabic language?
What games or toys have you found useful?
Please share your thoughts with us in the comments below 🙂
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Ruby
03/03/2016 at 4:23 am (8 years ago)Really cute ideas, jazakillah khayr for sharing!
Gemma
03/03/2016 at 12:41 pm (8 years ago)Thank you!
Papatia Feauxzar
03/03/2016 at 9:29 pm (8 years ago)I saw this yesterday and it's so practical. We need to buy this and play with the kiddo. thank you for bringing this cool activity to the light mA! 🙂 xx
Gemma
05/03/2016 at 10:01 pm (8 years ago)Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Amina Qureshi
04/03/2016 at 4:59 am (8 years ago)My older two know their letters but I think this would be really good for my little one! We have it in ever color so this could be fun!
Gemma
05/03/2016 at 10:02 pm (8 years ago)Yes, my little boy loves it! Play dough is such a fun way to learn.
Nakida1604
04/03/2016 at 3:54 pm (8 years ago)this is brilliant, I go through so much play dough a month, I normally buy it in bulk on Amazon but I never really though about using it as learning activity, and I believe this idea will help my boys learn the arabic letters faster. Jazakallahu khair
Gemma
05/03/2016 at 10:02 pm (8 years ago)Jazakillahu khayrun. I'm so happy to have helped 🙂
CREATIVE KHADIJA
05/03/2016 at 3:36 pm (8 years ago)Interesting..Great article dear 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Gemma
05/03/2016 at 10:03 pm (8 years ago)Thank you Khadija
Blogs by FA
05/03/2016 at 7:34 pm (8 years ago)Oh wow! That's an amazing idea. I never thought of it. It seems fun and a learning experience.
Gemma
05/03/2016 at 10:04 pm (8 years ago)Play dough makes a great teaching tool. Thanks for commenting 🙂
Amina Edota
05/03/2016 at 7:39 pm (8 years ago)Yes you are right, children love play dough.
And this is a brilliant hands-on learning experience. Children learn best in this way – through fun play.
Thanks for sharing.
Gemma
05/03/2016 at 10:04 pm (8 years ago)Thank you Amina!
iihahs
06/03/2016 at 10:37 am (8 years ago)Aww..that looks so much fun and educational
Gemma
20/03/2016 at 8:08 pm (8 years ago)It WAS! Thank you for visiting our blog 🙂
myda tahir
06/03/2016 at 9:06 pm (8 years ago)JazakAllah Gemma for sharing such a colorful learning activity with the kids.
Gemma
20/03/2016 at 8:07 pm (8 years ago)waiyaki Myda. Thank you for stopping by 🙂
Fozia S
07/03/2016 at 3:17 pm (8 years ago)We have that bucket! It's good isn't it! Will try out some of these activities! Am sure Bee would love it.
Gemma
20/03/2016 at 8:07 pm (8 years ago)Yeah we love it Fozia. If you do try any of them out, please let me know how they worked for you 🙂
Maryam Souleman
07/03/2016 at 6:26 pm (8 years ago)I'll never look at play dough as unnecessary ! really cool ideas 🙂
Gemma
20/03/2016 at 8:06 pm (8 years ago)LOL! Thanks 🙂
Kai Darul
19/03/2016 at 11:02 am (8 years ago)ma sha Allah. this is really creative. i used to love this toy as a child. cant wait to try it on my child in the future. in sha Allah.
Gemma
20/03/2016 at 8:05 pm (8 years ago)Oh wow! Did you have something similar as a child! It's a great toy 🙂