Signing Sunday - Baby Signing Apps

If you aren't able to take a signing class, but still want to learn some baby signs, there's a way. My Smart Hands, the company I work for, has a bunch of awesome new apps. They are currently only available for iPhone but they are working on Droid apps. Here's the links and description of each app.

Baby Sign Language Dictionary App ($4.99)
The app has over 300 signs, which is about 45 minutes of instruction. Here's a screencap of Laura, my awesome signing boss, teaching the sign for "careful". There is also a fun quiz at the end. You can also try out the app for free here.

Baby Sign Language Everyday Signs Flash Cards ($.99)
This is the same as the regular flashcards you can buy, but in an app. There are also videos attached of Laura's adorable daughter Fireese teaching the signs. There's another quiz at the end too. There are pictures and words, so even non-readers can use them. CJ is obsessed with these flashcards. This one only has about 20 signs on this app.

Baby Sign Language Alphabet Signs ($.99)
This app is the same as the ABC flashcards. Similar to the everyday app, there are videos of Fireese teaching each sign. There's also another quiz. The app comes with a free download of MSH alphabet song which you can watch here. It comes in an American and a Canadian edition, eh. Really the only difference is zee versus zed.

ASL Fingerspelling Game ($.99)
This is a great app for both kids an adults to practice their fingerspelling (after you learn the alphabet with the previous app of course.) There's a couple of different ways to play the game, and it is a lot of fun.

 So there you go. I recommend them all, they are all fun and we use them all the time. They're a good distraction at doctor's appointments or other times you need to distract a baby for a few minutes. I use them to refresh myself as well. Have fun!

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Signing Sunday - Sexy and I Know It

Sorry that I haven't done this in a while. With the move and everything, I just haven't had time to put together a video to teach y'all. If you are in the Merrimack Valley Massachusetts area, I'm teaching ages 2-5 every Wednesday in May at Newbury Town Library in Byfield. Come check it out!

So I found this video on youtube and I just had to share it. I love the song, and their rendition of it is hilarious. All rights belong to the creators of the video. I just found it hysterical and had to share. Pin It

Signing Sunday - Spring Signs

Since the weather has gotten really nice, I thought it was time that I taught you all some Spring-related signs. Watch the video to learn the signs for spring, sun, rain, flower, tree, and bird. I forgot the sign for rain, my bad. I'll embed a video from Laura with that one. Enjoy!

Oh, and sorry for the mess behind me. We are starting to pack for our move next month. Wahoo!!


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Signing Sunday - Paul McCartney's "My Valentine"

Have you all seen Paul McCartney's new music video for "My Valentine"? It is a gorgeous video starring Natalie Portman and Johnny Depp. They sign the entire length of the video. Love it.





It's moving isn't it? Almost haunting. Pin It

Signing Sunday - President Obama

This is probably old news to most of you, but in case you missed it. Stephon, a deaf student, saw President Obama at a rally. When the president looked at him, Stephon signed in his language, ASL "I'm so proud of you" to which the President signed back "Thank you." This doesn't seem like a big deal, but it is. ASL has come a long way in the world, but it still isn't recognized by most people as a "real" language. For the President to instinctively respond the way he did is just awesome. Here's the video. I cry every time I see it, no idea why.

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Silent Sunday

This is a totally different type of Silent Sunday.



Isn't that sweetest thing? Note: This is British Sign Language, not American. It is completely different. Isn't it amazing how many words she knows at just 2 years old? Pin It

CJ signing

This is my 16 month old signing some of the signs he knows.

I apologize for the poor quality. It was taken with my phone since my camera has disappeared. 

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Baby Sign Language Aids

During the past few weeks, I've had the privilege of doing a couple of baby signs classes at the local library. I had a ton of fun teaching the signs, reading books, and singing songs. I'm hoping to do this again in the coming months. I've had a lot of parents ask me what sort of aids they should have at home to help them teach their babies to sign. I've decided to post and answer that question.

Classes

First of all, if possible, you should definitely attend a class. Here in Massachusetts, there's me. Lucky you. If however, you aren't located in Massachusetts or even in the US, don't despair. There are still a ton of great My Smart Hands instructors that would love to teach you and your babies. I promise. If you go to the My Smart Hands website, you'll find that there are instructors all of the US, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan, Croatia, et al. If somehow there isn't an instructor available near you, let me know, and I will do my darnedest to find one for you. 

Videos

As far as videos, there are tons out there. I've checked them all, I promise you. The best that I have found is Baby Signing Time. Each DVD has a different theme and goes through a different set of words, such as family: mama, dada, brother, sister, grandma, grandpa, etc. I just checked out their website, and they actually have a bunch of awesome deals going on right now. You can get Volume 1, plus two sing-a-long DVDs and a musical CD for $19.99. That really is a great deal. 

Books

Now, for books for you as the parent. There are tons of ASL books out there as well. You don't have to specifically get ones that are for "baby signs", but you can. Whichever book you choose, make sure that it uses official sign language, such as American Sign Language (ASL) or British Sign Language (BSL). The ones that I used when I first started teaching myself ASL were:

Baby Signs : This one is a really good overview of the benefits of signing, introduces a ton of signs, and even has songs that you can use to teach your baby the signs.

Teach Your Baby To Sign : This one has really great illustrations that show you how to properly make the signs.

Learn Sign Language in a Hurry : This one isn't specifically geared for babies. This teaches a TON of different signs. It teaches you the 5 basic ASL hand shapes which is really useful, and the illustrations are really great. This one focuses more on conversation than grammar, so if you want to know the basics of conversation, definitely pick this one.

Learn to Sign the Fun Way : This one is geared more towards kids and young adults. Again, it teaches the basics of conversing in ASL with a bunch of games to help remember.

As far as books specifically for the baby, you don't special "Sign language" books. Most babies books are simple board books that focus on different topics. CJ's current favorite is Dear Zoo which is about a little kid who needs the zoo to send him a pet. It has lift the flaps which CJ loves. It's a great book to use to sign. As CJ lifts the flap, I just say "What is that?" and sometimes he'll sign back "frog" or "elephant". Then I say, that's right, it is an elephant, signing elephant as I say it. If he doesn't remember or know the sign, I just say "It's an elephant" and I sign elephant. 

You can do this with tons of children's books. You don't need to know all the words, or even a sign on every page. Just sign the words you do know. Chances are, you are going to be reading books with your child anyway, might as well use it to teach them some signs. :) Other great books we use to read and sign are I Spy a Sun in the Sky, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Who's in the Forest?, The Sounds Around Town, and Alligator Alphabet. Check out the books you already have, chances are there's some great books for signing right there in your home library. 

Flashcards

We've just started using flashcards with CJ. I didn't think I would do this, but I had a set of our My Smart Hands flashcards and I found CJ on the floor reading them and signing. He'd dug them out of my purse. There are two different sets. There's Everyday Words and there's the ABCs set. Both are available to purchase here. Once you've got a few signs down, you can use the flashcards to review. They're really cute and have pictures of other babies signing on them. 

I hope this helps. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment or e-mail me.

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Signs Coming Tomorrow!

I'm in the process of making a few videos to teach some Fall/Autumn signs. If you have any in particular that you would like to see, please let me know. I'm going to try to make this a weekly thing, giving two or three signs a week. Maybe once a month I'll post a book or a song in sign language too. Let me know if this is something you'd be interested in. Thanks!! Pin It

Fishy signs!

I apologize that I haven't been keeping up with the "signs" part of the blog name. We are still signing with CJ and he is loving it. He has two new things that he's doing with signs.

Whenever we've heard the ABC song on something, I've signed along with it. Well now CJ does too. Obviously, he has no idea what he is doing, and isn't actually signing the correct letter signs. The fact that he knows that there are signs that go along with the letters is still good. He thinks he's hilarious when he's doing it. If I don't see, he comes over to make sure I see. If I don't hear the song, he comes over to make sure that I do so I'll sign along.

He has been doing the same thing when we sing "There was a dog and Bingo was his name-o". He loves that he gets to clap and sign with that one.

Finally, CJ has made up his own sign! Since he was a baby, he has made a really funny face. I'll try to find a picture of it. There's a picture to the right. We called it his fishy face, so we made a fishy face back at him. So now whenever we say fish, he tries to make a fishy face at us. It's so funny. I'll try to get a video of it too.

As far as teaching the baby sign language, I haven't had much luck. Everyone is interested in taking the classes, but no one is interested in hosting them. I will be doing some "read and sign" and "sing and sign" classes at the local library to try to drum up some business. I'll post about those when I get a little more information. Pin It