Baby Sign Language Quick Start
This guide will have you ready to start teaching your child Baby Sign Language in just 5 minutes. It includes:
- Starter Signs: Learn mom, dad, eat, milk, and dog.
- Teaching Signing: Learn how to teach your child the signs.
- Signing Kit: Get guaranteed faster results with the Baby Sign Language Kit.
Baby Sign Language Basics
1. Your First Five Signs
We start by introducing signs that your baby will use frequently every day and will be motivated to learn. We recommend the following five signs:
(If those signs don’t make sense for your family, there are other great starter sign options on the Top 10 Starter Signs page.)
Top Five Starter Signs (Mom, Dad, Eat, Milk, Dog)
2. Teaching Your Baby
These four principles show you how to teach sign language to your baby:
- Fun – Keep signing playful and focused on motivating signs.
- Repetition – Incorporate signing in your daily routines.
- Encourage – Reward progress with praise & attention.
- Expand – Grow vocabulary based on your baby’s interests.
Teaching Baby Sign Language Quick Start
3. Sign Faster and Easier
with the Full Kit
Our award-winning Baby Sign Language Kits get your baby signing faster.
- DVDs – Your baby learns to sign while being entertained by the music of Rachel Coleman & the Signing Time Crew.
- Flash Cards – Extend your baby’s vocabulary to people, foods, and animals with these sturdy flash cards.
- Teaching Guide – Utilize advanced topics for faster results, potty training, and transitioning to speech.
- Signing Dictionary – Have the right sign at your fingertips to satisfy your child’s curiosity.
- Wall Chart – Help grandparents, babysitters, and caregivers learn the basic signs.
I have a great nephew that may have autism. He has stopped talking. Do you think this program would be good for him?
Sorry to hear that, Melanie. It would not hurt to try BSL. However, if your family suspects autism, it may be prudent to reach out to specialists as soon as possible, too. Best of luck.
The videos are really good and informative. I like how you can watch the videos and learn them, and you can replay them as many times as you want to learn, and you can be able to teach BSL to the infants as well.
I’m learning and teaching ASL to a third grade class, is it okay If i teach them while using baby sign language?
Our website and products use ASL so it would be okay to use for your class!
I think these videos are really good and informative.
Hello!! If i want my baby to learn my mother language Spanish, which i will be speaking to all the time, is it okay to teach them at the same time ASL. We live in Canada.
Thanks!
The majority of Canada uses ASL or Quebec Sign Language so you it will be okay to teach the ASL!
I’m really interested in your books and products. Do you have a Chinese version?
Thanks
Hi, Thanks for your interest! We don’t have a Chinese version. If you are learning BSL right now, you may consider your own “hack”, i.e., either download our flash cards and write the Chinese translation for each word, so that you can teach your baby bilingually speech-wise, but with only one hand sign, or buy any of our card sets so you can write the Chinese translations on those cards more easily. Cheers.
Do you have a spanish version of your dicitionary?
No, we don’t Sonya.
Do you have an app?
Hi Jamie, No app yet. In the meantime, feel free to browse our new dictionary pagesfrom your mobile phone. Flash cards can be directly downloaded on your phone as well. Cheers.
Is this based on ASL ? I am an teacher of English as a foreign language, and I am trying to teach using some ASL.
Hello, Carlos. Yes, Baby Sign Language is based on ASL. Cheers.
Hello,
My daughter is 18 months old. We started sign language because she wasn’t saying one word. Now in less then a month, she is using like 20 signs or more, and now she finally says three words. Should I expand her vocabulary in baby sign or would it make a delay on speech?
Baby Sign Language has three types of benefits:
Practical: less fussing and more fun.
Emotional: creates a closer child-parent bond.
Cognitive: boosts brain development.
Hi Paula, That is great news — both that she has learned so many baby signs and that she has started to speak as well! Don’t worry about impeding her speech development if you continue signing. Baby Sign Language studies have actually indicated no speech impediments even in the continuance of signing, and in fact, BSL is known to help boost the child’s intelligence. So, keep signing and enunciating the words to your daughter. Speaking and signing at the same time can only help activate multiple senses in her. Have fun!
Is this sign language iconic? Is it the same as ASL Sign language?
Hi Jasmine,
Yes, Baby Sign Language is based on ASL. Please do note that ASL itself has some sign variants due to different source regions across America. Having said that, the signs are generally widely used by ASL signers spanning both coasts. Cheers.
es interesante saver
si, es interesante ver. ¿Puedo preguntar qué te pareció más interesante?
Can babies & children speak sign language with each other without any adult around?
Hi Ken, Absolutely, though this wouldn’t preclude them from trying to utter their first words (or babble) with each other either. 🙂
Howdy,
I was given some of your DVDs and don’t have a player. After watching a few of your introductory videos, I’d like to know if you have downloadable content for sale in lieu of DVDs?
Thank you!
Alissa
Hi Alissa, Thanks for asking. Have you tried playing the DVDs on your PC’s/laptop’s CD/CD-ROM player? That should work fine. Cheers.
Laptops don’t have cd/dvd players anymore. At least not the good ones 😂 Young people having kids now, don’t have DVD players. Haha! I’m 34 and It’s been over a decade since I’ve owned or used a DVD/CD. I’d love a digital download as well.
I also would like a digital version. I don’t want to buy a DVD (it would be the only one in my house). I would pay the same price if you updated your medium to digital.
I’m afraid we don’t have a digital compilation for sale at the moment. However, I hope you’ll bookmark our sign pages as our videos are readily accessible on each page. We’re also developing a few hundred more sign pages now. We will keep you posted when we eventually get around to a digital version of our products. Cheers!
The DVD can be replaced with a flash drive too. Is that option being considered?
Thanks for your comment, Nkem. We are likely to go all digital soon though, so bookmark our page for any future changes.
THIS LESSON CONFIRMED WHAT I HAD LEARNED WITH MY DEAF SON, AND WE ARE LEARNING MORE AND MORE SIGNS DAILY. THANK YOU!
Wish this was more affordable.
We have used the ‘milk’ sign, ‘eat’, ‘more’, and ‘all done’. It’s so amazing! I will be ordering a kit as well.
I’ll be ordering a copy of the book for signing to help my son learn easier!!!
If a grandparent is called nana or papa would you will use the grandmother and grandfather sign?
ADMIN – Hi Leanne,
Yes, the sign is for the relationship and not for the naming attribute.
Great stuff! The Basics/Quickstart info helps us know where to begin learning and teaching sign language to our kids. Keep up the awesome work!
Is there a separate sign for nursing? Or should I just use milk for both a bottle and nursing?
ADMIN – Hi Brianna,
I use the same sign for simplicity
At what age do you recommend starting to teach signs to a baby?
ADMIN – Hi Brittany,
We have seen the highest levels of impact when parents begin using between six to eight months.
Is this American Sign Language, or are any of them made up “baby signs”?
ADMIN – Hi victoria,
It is adapted ASL. This means some signs have been simplified to match the motor skills of a baby.
This was very helpful! I am definitely getting your Baby Sign Language book!
Great to hear that, Jennifer. Let us know how it goes once you’ve ordered the book for signing. Have fun learning with your son!
The more I learn about ASL, the more fascinated and intimidated I get. ♥
My husband keeps thinking that the 10 week old babies that are signing are just super smart babies. I think it’s due to the amount of exposure and/or better fine motor skills the baby may have. Can you set us straight? lol
ADMIN – Hi Shawndra,
It is not a matter of IQ. It is generally a matter of engagement and environment.