Animal Signs ~ Make it Fun

Hello my fellow signing friends. It's been a long time, and I miss contributing to this wonderful signing adventure. We are expecting our fifth child, and I hope to continue to contribute ideas that will help engage new ideas in your individual signing journeys with your little ones!

Today, I wanted to write about animal signs and how we can make them fun. There are many animal books out there to read to your little ones. The first one that comes to mind is Eric Carle's Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Eric Carle has many other versions of this book, and there are many other animal board books out there that are engaging and fun for your children to learn their animals and their signs.

When learning animal signs, you can help your child remember the word and the sign by creating a fun visual with the sign itself. Here are just a few ideas below.

5 Tickle Animal Signs:
Tiger - tickle across the face
Zebra - tickle across the the tummy
Snake - make sign while going on towards neck or tummy and tickling
Giraffe - tickle the neck while going down
Bear - hug behind their back, crossing arms, tickle up by shoulders (bear hug)

5 Sound Animal Signs:
Cow - bring the sign towards the face and back saying "moo"
Horse - bring the sign up and down saying "nay, nay"
Pig - bring the sign under chin, moving fingers in and out saying "oink, oink"
Cat - bring the sign across the face saying "meow"
Dog - bring the sign on and off from your leg saying "rough, rough"

5 Description Animal Signs:
Bird - form the bird's beak with one finger, open and close
Duck - form a bigger bird beak with two fingers, open and close
Peacock - sign bird and then form feathers of a peacock
Goat - form the goat's beard and then horns
Panda - form a "p" circling around the panda's black fur eye

5 Water Animal Signs:
Fish - sign a fish swimming side to side, moving forward in the water
Dolphin - sign a dolphin coming in and out of the ocean water
Shrimp - sign a little shrimp swimming across the water
Shark - sign the shark's fin on top of the water
Octopus - sign the legs of the octopus moving in the water

Please add any other ideas you have. The options are endless as we can each create our own visual effects and sound effects that help children learn their animal words, signs, and sounds. Make it fun for the both of you!

Oh, and if you get a chance to visit a zoo this summer, have a wonderful time with the world of signs and animals!!


Written by Shawna Tran.