Al-Alwan, Al-Ashkaal, Al-Arqam: Learning My Arabic Colors, Shapes & Numbers

Brief Synopsis: 

It’s a board book that teaches the Arabic colors, shapes and numbers.  

Why I like it: 

• Every parent I showed the book to has said something like “oh wow this is reallyyyy good quality!”
• The art work and design is modern 
• All three books are excellent choices for babies! 
• Since I am not an native arabic speaker I REALLY appreciated the transliteration at the bottom. I also liked that the author chose not to use the english words! It really puts the focus on learning the arabic words!!
• The numbers can be traced over with a dry erase! How great is that for preschoolers!
• In the color portion, it’s one color per page with stimulating geometric art. You can also talk to your kids about the different shades (ie this is “light purple” and this is “dark purple”)
• The shapes part has 8 shapes distributed over two pages. 
• The number pages have one number per page, and look like they belong in a high end modern nursery! Hopefully the Civilian Publishing team makes these available as posters/prints! You can talk about the patterns in the illustrations and add stripes, dots, etc to your kids vocabulary. Furthemore on Tis’ah you can ask which two umbrellas are the same, which one is different. On Khamsah you can talk to your child about what shape the trees are.
• Comments by 4-6 year olds have been:

“This is soo pretty!!”

“I LOVEE this book!”

“I want to learn these with my dad too!” 

• Another target audience for this book is actually kids with autism who are learning arabic. I personally wasn’t planning on introducing these books to my son (because we are working on him communicating in English first Inshallah). Anyhow he picked up the books by himself and was simply fascinated with the art work. 
• The board books have thick pages and can be beneficial to kids who have difficulty turning pages and other special needs as well.

Additional Activities: 

• Supplement the book with an arabic numbers and colors poster, blocks, puzzles, felt toys, more books etc.
• There are so many color and numbers crafts on pinterest/google! For a preschooler, you can cut out triangles (like the ones on the colors page) and have your child make their own geometric art. 
• For the numbers portion, you can draw or print out the items in the illustrations and have a DIY hands on activity. For example there’s “10 dinosaurs”, you child can make their own 10 dinosaurs out of paper, playdo, or any material they like. Then they can bring along their crafts and count along (in arabic!) when you read the book together. That will help them   
• Pinterest Board: click here

Overall: 

These are really high quality books and perfect for babies and toddlers! They can actually be used by anyone learning the Arabic letters, colors, shapes, numbers and first words but they are ideal to introduce for the under 5 age group! They look like they will hold up well against biting, chewing, dragging, food spills, etc Plus the fact that the kiddos can trace the letters with dry erase is so awesome!

These are great as a baby shower gift! And to all expecting mommies who want their kids to learn Arabic, add this to your baby registries!

*I received this book in exchange for my honest review of the book

Other reviews: 

Muslim Mommy Blog