My First Baby Signs (Baby Signs

by Linda Acredolo, Susan Goodwyn, Penny Gentieu (Illustrator)

A revolutionary parenting tool to help support your child’s communication skills from the start! Babies have a lot to say! My First Baby Signs introduces ten of the most popular signs and provides parents a place to begin talking with their child before their baby can speak up first. Pat your head to say HAT . Wave your hand to say BYE BYE . Baby signs are simple gestures that allow infants and toddlers to say what they need, what they see, and even what they feel long before their vocal chords are developed enough to let them use actual words. This book includes the most popular signs and provides parents a place to begin "talking" with their little one from the very beginning. 

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Nonfiction, Parenting

24 pages, Board Book

First published May 1, 2002

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on the title, I thought this book would show commonly first taught signs such as “more, milk, eat, drink”. Instead, the signs shown in this book are “ball, hat, dog, cat, baby, book, bird, fish, telephone, flower”. I don’t think these words are functional and necessary to be the “first” ones introduced.

Other than the choice of word/sign selection, I think this is a good book. Babies would certainly enjoy looking at this book to see faces of another baby. The signs are demonstrated by photographs of babies doing the sign, accompanied by photos of the actual item.

Note that the photo for the sign“telephone” is a bit outdated by 2024 standards because it shows a corded phone and not a smartphone! Babies nowadays are unlikely to come across one except maybe while visiting grandma.

I’m not familiar with American Sign Language, so I cannot speak to the accuracy of the book’s signs. However, the back cover of the book clearly says “IMPROVISE: make up your own signs- your baby probably will too!” so I don’t think the author is intending this book to teach ASL or a standardized sign language.

[Gwen · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you're just teaching your child motions to show what things are before they can talk, this might work for you but these signs are not all official ASL signs (trying to find out if the author is American but not seeing much on her in my quick search) which may just lead to confusion if you try to continue using the signs as they get older.

[Salem S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started out great, hut became very repetitive half way through

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read with grandma via FaceTime for nighttime storytime

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

Checked out from PR Library in IL

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is a wonderful book to have and for people to know and to teach to their children, especially during those young ages where children are unable to communicate. I think it is very valuable for children and parents to learn signs, so that they can respond to one another and the parent will be able to know what the child is saying and what he/she is wanting. A great tool!

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blakely LOVES these books! I checked them out from the library along with some other books and whenever I ask her to pick out a book to read she grabs one of the baby sign books. So now I am going to buy all four for her.

[Betty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I ended up not teaching many Baby signs to my baby because by the time she picked up two or three signs she started saying the words far quicker than she learnt the signs. She still likes to look at the pictures though.

[Ashley Whiteley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that this would be a wonderful book for parents with new children. It shows you how to teach your baby signs before they can talk. Research has shown that this way of communication has helped babies to talk sooner than normal. A great and informational book.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is meant for toddlers and learning sign language. It teaches a few common signs for words like hot, dog, cat, book, bird, and fish. I would use this book to practice the signs with children and also to show them pictures for the words.

[Kimbely Fletcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is great for the child to learn to sign. The pictures help children to learn the proper way to sign. The paren can teach their child to sign as they look at the weell illustrated pages.

[Crysta Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just some good knowledge for people who are around babies.