Part of the Toddler Arabic series — one toddler-sized topic each week, taught realistically in the cracks of a busy schedule.
The focus this week is feelings. I'm planning to name emotions in Arabic in the moment they happen — whic
This week's words
- مبسوط (mabsut) — happy
- زعلان (za'lan) — sad / upset
- خايف (khayif) — scared
- تعبان (ta'ban) — tired
- جوعان (ju'an) — hungry
- عطشان ('atshan) — thirsty
How we practiced
- Naming it in the moment: “You’re za’lan (زعلان), huh?” — doubles as a toddler emotion-coaching trick.
- Mirror faces: making happy/sad/scared faces in the mirror and naming them.
- Book characters: pausing on faces in his books — “Is the bear mabsut (مبسوط) or za’lan (زعلان)?”
Free printables & activities
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A book we love: Creatures Full of Feelings by Slumberkins (Kelly Oriard with Callie Christensen, illustrated by Theresa Thomson). We actually got it free through a maternity sign-up, and I turned it into our own bilingual version — I translated it and hand-wrote the Arabic word for each feeling right on the pages. We read it together all the time; he gets to see the Arabic writing next to each creature, and honestly it doubles as a cheat sheet for me too, a little reminder of every word right when I need it.
New in the rotation this week: my sister-in-law gifted us an Arabic feelings wheel — a wooden spinner ringed with emotion words (حماس, خوف, ملل, فضول, غضب, حزن, نعاس, and more) with an “أنا أشعر بـ...” (I feel...) pointer that lands on a face. He loves spinning it, and it gives us one more low-effort way to name a feeling in Arabic in the moment. In the name of honesty: this week the pointer landed on نعاس — sleepy — which is exactly what potty training has done to me.
From our playlist
Made for this week: Eza Kent Kteer Mabsout (If You're Happy and You Know It) by Lila TV on our playlist — a tune he already claps along to, now carrying this week's key word. One more we keep coming back to: this feelings song.
How it actually went
Funny enough, the only time all week he actually repeated a word back to me was in the middle of potty training. I asked if he was hungry and told him we’d eat after he used the potty — and he screamed “Ju’aaaaaan!” through tears, furious about the bathroom, not the food. Not exactly the calm practice moment I’d pictured, but hey: he used this week’s word, in context, with real feeling. I’ll take it.
Stuck / flopped
Beyond that one meltdown, this week mostly flopped — potty training swallowed everything and there wasn’t much room left for feelings vocab. Man, potty training is the worst. Fair warning: it’s probably going to make the next couple of weeks pretty brief and not our most successful, and I’m making my peace with that.
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