Play, Learn and Grow
Signing Games for Infants & Toddlers

There is no magic formula for teaching your baby/toddler to sign, the key is consistency and repetition. Teaching signs at home is simple and easy; just incorporate the signs you want to teach into your daily routines by following three easy steps.

Step 1: SAY the word you want to teach (i.e. Eat)

Step 2: SHOW the sign for that word,

Step 3: REPEAT the word and show the sign often throughout the day.

In our Sign, Say and Play® Class, we always want to teach the parents, grandparents and other caring adults in our class additional ways to incorporate signing.

The following is a preview of some easy, fun games you can play with your infant/toddler at home.

What happened to the light? Help baby turn the light switch on/off. Each time the light turns on, sign light. When the light turns off, you could add the sign “all gone/done”.

 

The Animal Sign Game. This fun signing game is a great way to teach both infancts and toddlers the signs for different animals and it’s also a great social activity between you and your child. For this game you will need some stuffed animals or large colorful pictures of animals. Sit on the floor with your child. Show the animal, and say the animal (i.e. monkey), make the animal’s sound (eek-eek) and then sign the animal. Repeat.

Other animal signs that are easy for most toddlers to imitate include cat, dog, cow, and pig. For older toddlers, this can be accompanied by moving around the room like the animal.

In addition to games, songs and rhymes are also a great way to incorporate signing into your daily activities. There are rhymes and songs for all age levels such as, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Old MacDonald Had A Farm, Baby Bumble Bee and Pop Goes the Weasel. You can even change the words around to make up your own songs and focus on the signs you want to teach your infant or toddler.