Baby Signs Review *Giveaway Closed*

This giveaway has been extended one day for the MckLinky Giveaway Blog Hop - I'll draw the winner tomorrow!

The prospect of signing with my baby has long fascinated me, even before I knew I was pregnant. I looked over the "mommy and baby" signing classes in the college catalog and thought it sounded like a lot of fun - if it really worked, it would be awesome!

Then when Emma was about six months old, I started signing with her. She was old enough to sit in her high chair and eat soft foods so I taught her the sign for "eat" and "more". And I was delighted to see that she was getting it! Her signs weren't perfect, of course, (her sign for more was more like clapping) but whoever said communication had to be perfect? We were communicating, that was enough!

From then on, I was sold. I think teaching your baby sign language is a great idea - I've seen for myself that it reduces frustration (not having to scream for food, etc) and it's super easy to teach. And it works - as long as you're consistent.

Thanks to Baby Signs with Elizabeth, I received some great products from Baby Signs to review. I want to note here that in comparison to many other baby signing programs, Baby Signs carries products that are affordable! You can get a set of six cute and helpful board books for less than $16, a DVD fun pack (including board book, DVD, and chunky flashcards) for $20, and the complete starter kit is $39.99. Great prices! I'm extremely happy about this - it makes it a lot easier to recommend when I know anyone can afford it. I don't have to say, "You probably won't be able to afford groceries for a month, but it's worth it!" lol

Now on with the review:

The Baby Signs Bath Time DVD Fun Pack contains the Bath Time Signs DVD, My Bath Time Signs Book, and six chunky (durable cardboard) flash cards. The flash cards are, of course, double-sided, with the word to be signed and a picture of a baby signing it on one side and the picture that the word represents on the other side. My 14-month-old daughter loved the DVD, which features a teddy bear, animated babies signing and singing, and plenty of music to keep her entertained. There is also a fun bath signs book to read with her - this was a hit as well! This pack teaches the signs for bath, bubbles, water, toothbrush, frog, and duck. To my delight, we learned "bath" in the first two days! Check out this video in which Emma demonstrates her newly-learned sign:


At $19.99, I think this is a great value for all of these learning tools!

The Signs at a Glance Flip Guide is, in my opinion, an invaluable tool when you're teaching your little one to sign! It's sturdy, easy to flip through, and even has a magnet backing so you can stick it on the refrigerator. I love this because I know I would be losing it all the time if it wasn't at an easy-access place like the kitchen. It contains 86 signs and 14 tips for signing. It comes as part of the Baby Signs Starter Kit and Baby Signs Parent Kit, and is also available in Spanish.


The Baby Signs Cloth Book Set is simple and fun for babies and toddlers - and you don't have to worry about them being chewed up! ;-) This set includes First Fun Signs and More Fun Signs and teaches Eat, Dog, Hat, Book, Shoes, Ball, and more. As you can see in the example to the left, it shows a picture of the baby signing a word, then puts the word in a sentence on the next page. This set is $9.99.

My Impressions:

From what I've seen, Baby Signs is a great program that is fun for little ones. There are instructors like Elizabeth from Baby Signs With Elizabeth all over the US who love it and faithfully teach others. I think it would be very beneficial to have the one-on-one sessions with other moms who are teaching their children to sign while you are teaching the Baby Signs program - I personally haven't had a chance to do this but I think it would be awesome!

I do have to say that the videos aren't my favorite "sign with your baby" DVDs I've come across. I prefer Signing Time myself, but if you're looking for something more affordable I think Baby Signs is the place to go. Also, the Baby Signs DVDs are more cartoons than sing-a-longs - some children will probably prefer that.

*Edited 07/29/09 to add* I've had some more time to play with the DVD and items and I want to change what I said above because my opinion has changed. My daughter has been watching "The Bath Signs DVD" for a little over a month and she LOVES it just as much as she does Signing Time. BUT there is more of a learning atmosphere in Baby Signs, I think. It's meant for little ones and has a lot of repetition, repeating the words and the signs. Now whenever Emma watches the DVD and sees them signing bath she does the same along with them! Something I hadn't seen her do with Signing Time. So now I want to buy all of the Baby Signs DVDs, lol.

Find out more about the benefits of signing with your baby and the Baby Signs program here!

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Giveaway!

One of you will receive a DVD Fun Pack of your choice! US Only, please.

Mandatory Entry:
To enter to win, visit Baby Signs With Elizabeth and follow her blog, then come back here and leave a comment telling me you did it. (In case you don't know how to follow, here's an article on how to follow a blog)

Extra Entries (Optional) (Please leave a separate comment for each extra entry)

• Tell me in a comment which DVD fun pack you would choose (+1 extra entry)
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• Follow Elizabeth on Twitter (@elizabethsigns) (+1 extra entry)
• Comment on Elizabeth's Baby Signs Guest Post (+1 extra entry)
• Add my blog to your Technorati Favorites/stumble this post (+1 extra entry each)
• Follow/Subscribe to this blog (+1 extra entry each)
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Winner will be drawn on August 7 and notified by email - good luck, everyone!

See complete rules and disclaimers regarding giveaways here.

Thank you sooo much for sharing this post! :-)