Baby Signing Time 3 & 4 Reviews

Sally S.
West Valley, UT

The new volumes of Baby Signing Time are absolutely wonderful! My son loved the new songs and was up dancing around the room with Rachel. He absolutely loved “Opposites” song and game. We had to play that one over and over for him, and we’ve been singing it around the house ever since watching it. It’s great because it teaches him the opposites too! He was very excited for the new DVDs and really enjoyed them. They are great for my husband and I too; they are fun and easy to interact with. The “Strollin” song is also another favorite around here!  Another great set of DVDs from Signing Time!

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By LeeAnn M.
West Jordan, UT

I brought home Baby Signing Time Volume 3 to preview with my four year old. She loved it and signed right along with Rachel and the other children. We had to watch ‘Strollin’ three times so she could stroll like Rachel. Even though this is targeted to infants and toddlers, my older children enjoyed watching it with me. With a new baby on the way I am excited to add the Baby Signing Time Volumes to our collections.

By Tammy T.
South Jordan, UT

This past weekend I was lucky enough to be able to preview the new Signing Time DVDs.  I previewed Baby Signing Time 4, “Let’s Be Friends”. I was sitting on an exercise ball while I watched it and was bouncing like crazy and singing along. My three year old was dancing and singing right along with me. I really liked all of the songs, but I think one of my favorites was called “Can You Feel It?”  Some of the signs taught are: Feel, Happy, Sad, Laugh and Cry.

I love that at such a young age children can be taught and understand what feelings are and that through this beautiful language they can communicate that to us. I think this is a wonderful addition to BST 1 and BST 2. I can’t wait until they come out so we can watch it some more. I wish Signing Time was available when I had my second daughter almost 12 years ago. She didn’t talk until she was at least three. I couldn’t understand her and she threw terrible tantrums wherever we were at and they lasted for at least ½ hour. She knew exactly what she wanted; she just couldn’t communicate that to me. I’m so grateful to have access to such a wonderful tool now. My last two children have been able to communicate what they want before they could talk and it has been wonderful and amazing.

By Kei M.
Charlemont, MA

My family and I had the opportunity to preview Baby Signing Time Volumes 3 and 4! Rachel previously offered sneak peeks of the songs ‘Strolling’ and ‘Sunny Day’ from Volume 3 on the Wednesday night Signing Time chat and I have been anxiously awaiting the release of the new DVDs ever since. The new volumes are my favorites to date. The songs are upbeat, fun and catchy. I find myself singing them several times throughout the day. Sarah, 10, and William, 8, watched Baby Signing Time 3 with us. William, who has Down syndrome, loved it so much he wanted to watch it over and over again, especially when Rachel teaches the sign for ‘bug’. I really love the entire volume, but if I had to choose a favorite section, it would have to be “Sunny Day”; no matter how I’m feeling, when I think about that part and sing the song, it just lifts me up.

Sarah’s review of Volume 3: “I thought it was really cute and cheery. It was one of the best Baby Signing Time volumes so far! All the songs got stuck in my head~ in a good way! I started singing them everywhere.”

My husband and I watched Baby Signing Time 4 without the kids. We smiled, laughed and when it was over, we really wanted to watch it again. I enjoyed the “Opposites” song and know that it will be very helpful in teaching the concept of opposites to children. “That Tastes Good” is going to be a family favorite of all who see it. Volume 4 reinforces friendship and sharing with “Let’s Be Friends”.

My husband is amazed that having seen Signing Time from the beginning, Two Little Hands is continually improving the quality of the shows while maintaining the same proven instructional content in an extremely entertaining format.

1 thought on “Baby Signing Time 3 & 4 Reviews”

  1. Here’s the review from our blog:

    Two Little (and Four Big) Thumbs Up: Baby Signing Time: Volumes 3 and 4

    When not overworked by our day jobs or run ragged by our extremely active toddler, our entire family has been huddled around the DVD player watching the pre-release version of Baby Signing Time: Volumes 3 and 4 (A New Day and Let’s Be Friends, respectively) for the better part of two weeks now. Suffice it to say, we’re hooked. These are truly excellent resources, not to mention plenty fun for toddlers to watch.

    OK–so what makes these DVDs so great? All of you who have been following this blog already know that we’re big fans of the regular Signing Time series and that Hallie has been watching these over and over again now for more than a year. We credit Signing Time and Rachel Coleman with many of Hallie’s speech advances and her knowledge of the English alphabet, as well as with her acquisition of lots of ASL signs. So we were a bit unsure how Hallie would respond to ‘stepping down’ to Baby Signing Time. As soon as we put the DVDs on, all of our fears were allayed completely. If anything, Hallie seemed to like Baby Signing Time even more than the originals.

    Why?

    All babies love babies, and our toddler is no exception. Watching the slightly older children in Signing Time is exciting for Hallie, who loves to mimic whatever it is that they are doing (we now credit Rachel Coleman with teaching Hallie how to jump) but interacting with the babies captures her attention even more effectively. Presenting animations of Leah and Alex is not only a very smart way of dealing with the issue that both are no longer toddlers anymore, but the animations are also fun and friendly and resemble Leah and Alex sufficiently to appeal to a child who is familiar with what they look like now. Hallie was immediately able to tell who the characters were and referred to them by name.

    On balance, there is a nice mix here in terms of the use of animation and real people. The graphics–both those used in the animation and those used in the background scenes–are simplified ones. They are not very ‘busy’ in terms of what they contain, and colors more often than not tend to be muted. This probably helps avoid overstimulation and allows Rachel to highlight the important information about words, signs, and concepts that she is trying to convey to her toddler audience.

    The format of these DVDs really rock. The shows contain a wonderfully natural progression that reinforce learning at all stages. Rachel begins each sign with a very good description of how to make it that is quite precise. Then the sign is demonstrated in front of muted graphics. This is followed by a child acting out the concept (strolling in a stroller, for example) and finally children use the sign in the natural environment that a baby or toddler is likely to encounter. This makes the DVDs an ultimate teaching tool because they don’t just teach signs for words but the concepts themselves (for example, opposites) that every baby and toddler needs to know.

    The almost constant songs are stimulating and really capture a kid’s attention; there is a lot less speaking here than in the older-kid version of Signing Time and this makes it ideal for very young children who respond more quickly to songs than to any other medium. The medium of music is also very well suited to children with speech delays who often learn to mimic sung speech more quickly than its spoken variant.

    The lyrics on these programs are far less complicated than those featured in the original Signing Time series. The songs tend to build around the repetition of the central word being taught and reinforce the spoken word and the sign through consistent reiteration. This seems like a very effective way to teach the concept, sign, and word simultaneously. There is not a lot that is extraneous here both in terms of the signs and the words used in the songs. This works well because it avoids distracting attention from that which Rachel is trying to teach. And, as in the original Signing Time series, but at a more introductory level, the songs review the signs that Rachel has already introduced, once more underscoring the importance of the notion that repetition is the key to learning.

    Some of the signs/concepts/words featured in these DVDs are related to the weather (sunny, snow, rain, wind, clouds); motion (stop and go; strolling); times of the day (day and night, today; emotions (feelings, happy, sad). Once a child learns these, he or she will have ample opportunity to use them in his or her daily life. Watching these DVDs with our little ones–something that both Sharon and I believe to be essential–will allow us parents to learn the signs quickly, too, so that we can use them with our kids and further reinforce the ideas behind them. Just taking a walk outside with your little one in a stroller would allow you to use the majority of these signs in one fell swoop. And the catchy songs give a parent a great way of doing this musically; I, for one, never mind when Rachel Coleman’s lyrics colonize my brain.

    Anyway, to sum up—Hallie loves these, and we love them too. The songs are great, the format is great, and the content is fabulous. We credit Rachel Coleman with teaching our little one so much. Hallie has a great vocabulary — both ASL and English. Signing Time is a large part of why she is so excited about learning and finds it so much fun.

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