Teach ARABIC with PLAY DOUGH!

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!

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.

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:

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.

Fun Dough Arabic Letters

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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Peace and Love.