In addition to reducing the frustration associated with daily interactions with the pre-verbal child a secondary function of baby sign language is to assist our little ones as they expand in knowledge and wonder of the world that surrounds them.
Urban environments may limit our access to locations and objects that expose baby to nature and all its complexity. Let’s face it, highrises are not a commonplace for goats, chickens or frogs. In a similar fashion, if your baby lives in a rural area the concept of a taxi may be difficult to introduce both as a sign and as word.
As we work together in helping our babies expand their knowledge of the world there are several tools we can use to introduce them to concepts and objects that may not be part of their daily life. Even when is something to which baby is exposed infrequently it still has value by adding dimension in the way our babies think and perceive the world that surrounds them.
For most of us lack of time may also hinder our ability to introduce baby to expanded vocabulary. This is true for working parents and SAHMs alike.
To help us overcome these challenges and work together toward shaping our little ones in a way that motivates curiosity we asked a few parents and communication professionals to give us some ideas and tips. These are our favorites:
Field Trips
This is one of our favorite ways of learning and helping little ones discover new ideas. To prep for a field trips with new vocabulary words you may want to spend time sharing flashcards with new concepts. A trip to a petting zoo could be preceded by learning via flashcards or toys words such as chicken, cow, sheep etc.
Models & Toys
Models and toys are specially helpful when it comes to making the connection between two-dimensional concepts and real objects.We like to introduce models right after we have worked with flashcards. In fact, one of our favorite games is to trade the flashcard for the toy once baby shows some effort in mimicking the sign we are trying to teach her. In this video Amelie engages with endless items as she works together with her mom to learn new signs and words.
Multimedia
Taking advantage of videos and apps does not exclude our responsibility for interactivity. Videos watched together with guided interactions are perhaps one of the most didactic and memorable experiences your baby is likely to have. We love Signing Time, a classic in early childhood that should be part of the digital library of every family.
Drawing & Activities
We frequent our school supply store and have built up a pretty large collection of stickers. You can often find our little ones helping out with by placing the sticker of a taxi on a hand drawing of a city road with skyscrapers. We color, we talk about the object and we explore ideas not readily accessible in our suburban home. On our table we always keep a drawing mat similar to the one Modern Twist so graciously provided for our May activity
Books
Literacy is high on our list and we engage on daily reading activities. For us signing while we read is second-nature. In addition to the classics we rotate books based on themes. We have books set aside for bedtime and others that we use outdoors as we work in the garden.
Songs
An all-time favorite, In our house we sing and sign sometimes using Signing Time DVDs and others inventing our own songs based on the words we wish to learn.
We want to encourage you to go beyond needs and use baby sign language beyond the pre-verbal as you and baby discover new concepts and places.
