Project Little Blueberry: Baby Sign Language

Today's post has something a little different--videos!!! I've decided that we're going to attempt to teach the Blueberry baby sign language. Supposedly, according to the proponents and developers of this movement, babies can learn ASL or a rudimentary version thereof well before they learn to speak. Sounds neat right? If it works, it could be a great help to know whether the baby wants to eat, sleep, or needs a diaper changing. We (or at least I flatter myself to say me) are getting pretty good at reading his cues, but that doesn't always work. Plus, as he starts to eat more than breast milk, he'll probably begin to have likes and dislikes. I'm cautiously optimistic that we can do this. Hey, I managed to teach my 4th graders hand signals for when they needed to use the bathroom, wanted a drink, etc., so if they could do it, the Blueberry can learn too.

We're using Baby Signing Time, the video series, a few books, and this neat ASL video dictionary.

Source: signingtime.com via TheFishie's on Pinterest

Why the videos? Quite frankly, they're much more for me (and probably my husband) than anyone who might be reading our blog. I DO NOT recommend my baby sign postings as a tool for teaching your baby to sign. I have no clue if what I'm signing is correct and our only goal is communication. For our needs it will be handy to have all the signs we want to teach in a week in one place. Using a book or video means either going by their suggested order of words or scrolling/flipping through to find the signs we want whenever we need to review. I might show the Blueberry some of the videos as the kids that demo the signs are really cute, but we'll see.

As I explain in the introduction video which is up first, the goal is to start with five signs per week. He might be able to handle more, but I think five is a good number to start. That's also about as many as I can remember in my sleep-deprived state. (Actually, I got a good amount of sleep last night, so I'm feeling good!). I probably should have prettied up before making these videos, but oh well.

Intro to our Baby Signing Project