Title: Sign, Sing, and Play!: Fun Signing Activities for You and Your Baby
Author: Monta Z. Briant
Publication Year: 2006
Website: babysignlanguage.net
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Review: I think the usefulness of this book depends on how early into your signing attempts you find it. I bought it when my first child was about 15 months old and already signing quite a bit. I was a little disappointed. It has tons and tons of suggestions for how to teach your child to sign. It doesn’t really have that many suggestions that are fun if your child is older and already signing.
However, now that I’m starting to sign with my 5 month old, I realize that what this book is really great at is inspiring ideas to sign with your child before and as your child is learning to sign. It has a nice discussion on getting your baby to see your signs which obviously was irrelevant with a 15 month old, but I’ve realized is challenging with a 5 month old. It has very interesting and creative ideas on ways to teach babies signs (such as tickling your baby or ringing the doorbell to teach the sign for “more” instead of the standard mealtime approach).
As I learned with my first child, the signs that are useful for prolonging the baby’s enjoyment are way more motivating than those that are useful to the parent. Overall, this is the most thorough, helpful book on signing with your baby I have found (even more useful than the author’s first book, Baby Sign Language Basics, which is also a good book.) (Personal Rating: 9/10)
Michelle has a PhD in Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelor's Degree from the California Institute of Technology. 
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