Baby Signs for Animals [Board book]

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

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up | Series: Baby Signs

It's as easy as waving bye-bye!

Babies have a lot to say, even before they can actually speak familiar animal names like "dog" and "bunny." Baby Signs are simple gestures that allow babies and toddlers to communicate what they see, what they need, and even how they feel. Research has shown that Baby Signs decrease frustration and tantrums and help your baby talk sooner.

When to begin: When your child starts to wave bye-bye.

How to do it: Show your baby the sign and point to the picture. Always say the word as you make the sign.

Improvise: Make up your own signs -- your baby probably will too!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Linda Acredolo is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of California at Davis and an internationally recognized scholar in the field of child development. Based upon research conducted with collaborator Dr. Susan Goodwyn and funded by the National Institutes of Health, she and Dr. Goodwyn co-authored the best-selling book entitled BABY SIGNS: How to Talk With Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk, and founded the Baby Signs Institute. Continuing their mission to bridge the gap between research labs and family living rooms, Drs. Acredolo and Goodwyn published two additional bestselling books for parents, Baby Minds: Brain-building Games Your Baby Will Love and Baby Hearts: A Guide to Giving Your Child an Emotional Head Start. Dr. Acredolo serves on the Advisory Board for PARENTS Magazine and is a Fellow of both the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Board book: 24 pages
• Publisher: HarperFestival (January 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060090758
• ISBN-13: 978-0060090753
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #170,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Reference > Words & Language > Communication
  • #21 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Parenting & Families > Parenting > Babies & Toddlers > Child Development

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great pictures but signs are not ASL!, October 26, 2006

By 

M. Lagrou - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Baby Signs for Animals (Board book)

Checked out this book for my 1 year old son and he loved the real pictures of kids and animals. However, I was disappointed because the signs are NOT American Sign Language signs. We ended up looking at the pictures in this book, while doing the ASL we already knew. I would recommend the baby sign books by Kim Votry and Curt Waller instead as they use real ASL.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cute book, but not ASL, January 2, 2006

By 

Chilling Out "Love Music" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baby Signs for Animals (Board book)

I got this book out of the library when I first started looking into signing with my son. The book's pictures are very engaging and fun and my son really enjoyed looking at this book which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 3.

I was really dissapointed though when I found out that many of the "signs" used in this book aren't the actual American Sign Language signs. I wanted to use ASL signs with my son so he could communicate not only with me, but others outside of my family, but this book has made up gestures for many of the pictures in it. Luckily I had only been showing my son the "signs" in this book for a short while so I quickly replaced them with the actual ASL ones, but I was upset that this book didn't clearly indicate anywhere that the signs in it were made up gestures and not ASL. For children's board books with ASL I would recommend the Garlic Press "First Signs" and others in the series. If you are looking for a cute and engaging board book for your baby though this one fits the bill, just if ASL is important to you show the ASL signs to your baby instead of the made up gestures in the book.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My 2nd favorite baby sign book, June 8, 2004

By 

Dianna G. Narotski (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Baby Signs for Animals (Board book)

My favorite of the series is the "My first signs" book, as it gave our baby her start on signing. This one is a close second. Our daughter's always been enchanted by animals, and she loves to look at the pictures of the animals in the book. Some of the signs are a little confusing to her (she won't do horse, cow, mouse, or butterfly (she thinks butterflies are flowers no matter how much we sign "butterfly" to her))

But she loves to look at the pictures and do the signs for the rest of the pages. She does like to look at the pictures of the signs she doesn't do yet. Once she started to get the idea of signing animals, I've had to invent new signs for zoo animals and other animals not in the books! (camel, which she loves to sign, is pretending to spit, btw).