I live in the New Orleans area, and my 1st daughter was 6 months old when we had to evacuate for 3 months because of Hurricaine Katrina. We had 2 adults, a baby, and a cat in a tiny, hot (no electricity) hotel room for quite some time. I saw and bought a pack of “First Words” flashcards at a dollar store for $0.99, and it was the BEST dollar I’ve ever invested in baby stuff. Everyone thought I was crazy sitting on the floor in our dark hotel room doing flashcards and sign language with a 6-month-old baby, but it gave me something to do, and it kept her thoroughly occupied for GIANT stretches of time! This silly idea led to several very positive results:
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As I’m doing flash cards with Rachael (she was about 8 months old), she slaps her leg (the sign for dog) when I showed her the first card (which was a dog) before I’d ever said what it was. Now I figure that was just a coincidence, the she was just excited, and move on to the next card. She actually signed the first 5-7 cards correctly without any prompting! I was so excited that I called my entire family to come see what happened (and amazingly, she actually repeated the correct signs!)
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I was AMAZED!!! I had NO IDEA a child that young could understand anything like that! I just figured the reason she liked flashcards so much was because of all the time spent BONDING!! We’d sit cuddled on the bed talking and pointing at pretty colors, but she was spending quality time with MOM, so I figured that’s all she’d be getting out of it. But BOY was I wrong!
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As she continued to learn signs, our stack of flashcards grew until it was almost 3 inches thick! I’d stick them in the diaper bag everytime we had an appointment somewhere, knowing that she’d be perfectly behaved and quiet so long as she was “playing cards” with momma! She’d easily “play cards” with me for 30-45 minutes while we were waiting in Dr.'s offices and such.
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We started getting some Dr. Seuss board books and we’d read his “ABC book” several times a day. As we read “Big A, little a, what begins with A?” I’d point to the letters as they were said, and by 18 months she suprised me again by “reading” letters off our garbage can one day! I had NO IDEA she’d actually learned most of her uppercase and many of her lowercase letters just by reading that book!
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Later at a public library, we found some DVD’s called “Signing Time” and we borrowed one to see what it was like. THEY WERE AMAZING, TOO!!! Just like an earlier poster mentioned, they have the bright colors and soft music, but they are also spoken word and text rich!! They also have amazing original children’s songs in them that even I adore
I was sold on those videos after she’d watched one 2-3 times and signed something to me that I’d never shown her - she’d learned it by herself from the video and was able to use the words in context! We ended up spending WAY TOO much on those videos, but I’m sure we’ll be buying some more anyway, just because they are so great. They’re now doing a 2nd series just for older children.
Anyway those are just a few of the ways Rachael taught me what young children are capable of, and I’m constantly being reminded how I underestimate my children. The bottom line is this: if you and your child are having fun and spending pleasant quality time together, then you are doing what is right for your and her. I don’t believe there’s a WRONG way to teach your baby, so long as everyone is enjoying their time together!
Also, as Maddy said, their Little Reader program is really wonderful, and I’ve just posted 16 different files that do “sign language flashcards”. You see a word, hear it, see a picture of the object, then see me sign the word. so if you’ve decided to use Little Reader, check them out! Good Luck!