Since Gab learned his first five baby signs, we have been encouraged to teach him more and he loves the new signs he is learning.
Here are some tips to successfully teach your babies and toddlers some baby signs.
Gab signs for BIRD
1. Start simple. Pick the simple signs to teach your babies. The best ones to start with are those which can be used daily at home like eat, milk, and sleep. I listed five simple baby signs to teach here. You can start one sign at a time. In our case, we have eat, milk and food taught at the same time.
2. Show and Connect. Teach the sign by showing it yourself and connecting it with what the sign means. When we taught the sign milk to Gab, we first show him his milk and once he is drinking his milk, we show him the sign for milk. The other way around might work too. Discover which order works best for your child.
3. Repetition. This is the key. It took us about 2 months before Gab starts showing his first signs to communicate. In those 2 months, we keep repeating the signs and find oppurtunities to teach them.
4. Encourage. We find oppurtunites to encourage Gab to make a sign. We clap for simple gestures he makes even though they have no meaning. We cuddle him for simple sounds he makes. This is to show to Gab that he can communicate with gestures or sounds. The first sign might not be exactly the correct one, so watch out for simple cues that your baby is signing.
5. Praise. We were all happy when Gab first signed for milk. Finally, our efforts paid off. So everytime, he signs milk, we give him milk. Even if he already had milk a few minutes ago. We also give him affirmations like a clap, a kiss, or saying “yehey” to show he is doing it right.
Happy signing. 😀
