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Tuesday, 1 March 2016

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!


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.

Teach Arabic with play dough

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:

Teach Arabic with play dough

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!"



Teach Arabic with play dough


Then we used the cutters themselves to make the individual letters of the Arabic alphabet.


Teach Arabic with play dough

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)?"

Teach Arabic with play dough


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.


Teach Arabic with play dough


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.

Teach Arabic with play dough

Teach Arabic with play dough


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. 

Teach Arabic with play dough


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.

Teach Arabic with play dough



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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24 comments:

  1. Really cute ideas, jazakillah khayr for sharing!

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  2. 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

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  3. 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!

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    1. Yes, my little boy loves it! Play dough is such a fun way to learn.

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  4. 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

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    1. Jazakillahu khayrun. I'm so happy to have helped :)

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  5. Interesting..Great article dear :) Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Oh wow! That's an amazing idea. I never thought of it. It seems fun and a learning experience.

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    1. Play dough makes a great teaching tool. Thanks for commenting :)

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  7. 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.

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  8. Aww..that looks so much fun and educational

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    1. It WAS! Thank you for visiting our blog :)

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  9. JazakAllah Gemma for sharing such a colorful learning activity with the kids.

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    1. waiyaki Myda. Thank you for stopping by :)

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  10. We have that bucket! It's good isn't it! Will try out some of these activities! Am sure Bee would love it.

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    1. Yeah we love it Fozia. If you do try any of them out, please let me know how they worked for you :)

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  11. I'll never look at play dough as unnecessary ! really cool ideas :)

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  12. 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.

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    Replies
    1. Oh wow! Did you have something similar as a child! It's a great toy :)

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