Fun Ways to Teach Sign to your Baby

Join any group of new moms and you’ll hear all about the benefits of teaching Sign Language to hearing babies and toddlers. Many moms have started with the basic signs (milk, eat, more). But where do you go from there? We know how signing helps the parents, but there are many more subtle ways it can help the mother/baby relationship.

Signing enables your baby to communicate at an early age, before she can speak. Signing helps to lessen temper tantrums and frustration by giving our babies the ability to tell us their needs. But, it’s so much more than that. Not only do you have the chance to know when your baby wants “milk” or to “eat”, but you also have the ability to get a glimpse into her personality and share her interests. By simply teaching your baby signs like dog, book, telephone, baby, dance, fish, elephant, you are able to know what your baby is thinking when she looks out the window or rides through the grocery store. Just give her the tools to tell you!
There are many situations where you can ‘talk’ with your young baby.

Reading:
Look through picture books together and sign the names of animals and foods. Watch her point to animals and tell you exactly what she sees. If she points to an animal and looks at you for guidance, say the animal’s name and then look up the sign in your Sign Language Dictionary, so she can ’say’ the animal’s name back to you.

Grocery Store Trips:
During a walk through the store, your baby can tell you she sees “balloons”, “dogs” or “cats” if you walk through the pet aisle, “flowers”, “books” and so much more.

Videos:
Sit with your baby and watch a video together. Sign the different objects as they come on the screen.

Zoo trip:
Point to the animals as you walk past, say and sign their names. You’ll be amazed when your baby signs back to you.

Songs:
Old favorite songs like “Old McDonald” are perfect for signing. Or find a new Children’s CD to sing and sign with.

Games:
Put toys under a blanket or behind your back and ask the baby to find them. Simple words to sign are “ball”, “phone”, “hat”, or “book”.

We have been given a gift that our parents didn’t have — the tools to communicate with our preverbal babies and toddlers. The opportunities are endless.

Need an ASL dictionary? This one is great! Random House Webster’s Concise American Sign Language Dictionary.

Article by:

Nicole Dean is the owner of www.showkidsthefun.com , a fun resource for parents to spend time with their children. Nicole also owns www.showmomthemoney.com - a fun and informative site for Work at Home Moms. Copyright 2005 - Nicole Dean

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