Signs of Life
While your baby doesn’t yet understand that plants are living things that change and grow, she is probably awed by their distinct attributes, such as the impressive height of the trees and the bold colors of the flowers. Use her awe to your advantage. When you see her gazing up at a tree, or attempting to pluck a flower, model the corresponding sign for her. You can also use these signing opportunities to incorporate lessons about nature, colors, and many other things that relate to plant growth.
FLOWERThe sign FLOWER (
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1. Draw the tips of all of your fingers and thumb together as if operating a hand puppet with its mouth closed, as you did with the sign for EAT (page 79).
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2. Touch the tips of those fingers first to one side of your nose and then to the other.
When you first introduce this sign, try to expose your child to as many types of flowers as possible. This will prevent her from understanding the sign to mean one specific type of flower. And be sure to let her see you sniffing the flower. Let her know how good it smells, and hold it up to her nose. This will help her to see a correlation between the flower and her nose. That, in turn, will help to reinforce the sign.
GRASSThe sign for GRASS can be confusing. Check carefully (
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1. Touch your open palm to the underside of your chin.
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2. Pull your hand out and away from your face. Your hand should not go straight out, however, but rather make a slight arc.
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3. Bring your palm back to your chin and repeat the motion.
E-FACT
In 2005, 7.7 million children in the U.S. were reported to suffer from hay fever, an allergy caused by exposure to grass and other pollens. If your child is afflicted, keep her indoors during the morning hours when pollen is at its worst, and keep your grass cut short.
At first, your baby may only see the grass as ground covering and may not have any interest in signing it. But as you and she spend more time playing in the grass, she will begin to take notice of it, and you may notice her examining the blades and picking it, like a flower.
TREEThe sign for TREE, as shown in Figure 15–2, is fun to form and is a great representation of an actual tree.
FIGURE 15–2
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1. Hold your left arm in front of your body, palm downward.
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2. Rest the elbow of your right arm on the back of your left hand. The fingers of your right hand should be extended.
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3. Twist the right hand a few times.
