Sing & Sign for Young Children

A Guide for Early Childhood Professionals

Anne Meeker Watson, Ph.D., MT-BC

Early Childhood

A unique and highly effective way to teach and practice key ASL sign vocabulary through music and play during everyday classroom routines—and support development, too.

Contains Companion Materials

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• Product Details
• Table of Contents
• Reviews
• Contributors
• Free Resources
• Companion Materials

Research shows that teaching sign language to all young children has a wide range of benefits, from enhancing social‐emotional and preliteracy skills to supporting positive parent‐child relationships. With Sing & Sign for Young Children, early childhood professionals will have a fun, easy, and highly effective way to teach and practice key ASL sign vocabulary through music and play during everyday classroom routines.

Packed with engaging sign language activities and original, kid‐friendly songs, this innovative program was created by a music therapist and early childhood specialist with years of experience working and playing with young children. Dr. Anne Meeker Watson, creator of the SING.PLAY.LOVE.® program, shows you how to transform your daily activities—including arrival, mealtime, shared book reading, free play, and departure—into joyful learning opportunities infused with music, play, and warm adult‐child connections. You'll get everything you need to implement the program when you purchase the book: original songs with lyrics and scores, guidance and tips for beginning the program, pictures of all the signs and hand formations, suggested activities and games, a list of additional resources, and videos modeling signs for each song.

BENEFITS:

• Strengthens skills essential for academic and social success: communication, social‐emotional, self‐regulation, and literacy skills
• Combines signing with music—a powerful, motivating, and neurologically rich experience for young children
• Helps children build positive, meaningful relationships with each other and with their educators and caregivers
• Infuses the school day with joy and fun, creating an environment that's conducive to sustained attention and engagement
• Gives children many chances to practice and demonstrate new skills across daily routines
• Helps support communication development for all children, including dual language learners and children with language delays

DOWNLOADABLE MATERIALS: Put Sing & Sign into action with a complete package of downloadable online materials, including 13 audio recordings, 18 instructional videos, and 18 printable pages of song cards, instructions, and photographs and illustrations of key vocabulary words. (Vocabulary word pages are available in both English and Spanish.)

See how this product helps strengthen Head Start program quality and school readiness

Reviews

Alice-Ann Darrow, Ph.D., Retired Irvin Cooper Professor of Music Education and Therapy, Florida State University

"Wow, just wow! Once again, Anne Meeker Watson skillfully combines children’s most motivating avenues of learning—music, sign, and play—to reinforce the skills all children need to be successful, socially and academically. The creativity embedded in her activities is brilliant! I can’t think of a better resource to promote young children’s self‐regulation, communication, social‐emotional learning, and cognitive development. Best of all, the downloadable materials—instructional videos, song files, and printable visuals—make this resource doable for any early childhood educator. The songs are vocally appropriate, repetitive, and catchy, and will undoubtedly appeal to the young child’s ear. How can I sign up for her next workshop?!"

Sonia Yoshizawa, MAE, Researcher, Center of Excellence in Early Childhood, Learning and Development, East Tennessee State University

"When we think music, we quite often forget about the most vulnerable population: the youngest of the younger children and those with hearing impairment or deafness. We also forget that there is more than one method of communication. This book, Sing & Sign for Young Children, brings creative and unique efforts to teach music to all children, and invites the readers to participate in a memorable journey: A journey to discover and nurture relationships and to “feel” music collaboratively with those you love. Practical, step‐by‐step pictures of sign language invites the readers to sing and sign, challenge, and reflect about the importance of reciprocal language done in a unique, musical way. A must-read!"

Pat Kern, Early Childhood Consultant

"Combining singing and signing creates a special love language to share with the youngest people in your life. Through catchy tunes, lively lyrics and step‐by‐step instruction in American Sign Language, Anne Meeker empowers children and caring adults to enhance early communication, encourage bonding, and experience the joy of learning. Meeker’s writing is a little bit academic instruction, practical teaching strategies, and story‐telling with a touch of folksy humor for good measure. Sing & Sign for Young Children is a blueprint for parents or Early Childhood Professionals to support learning throughout the day and across all developmental domains. The supplemental activity suggestions and videos are icing on the cake which emphasize relationship, self‐esteem, creativity and FUN. Reading this book will have you humming or singing all day long and you’ll be convinced of the power of music in young children’s lives."

Author: Anne Meeker Watson Ph.D., MT-BCForeword Author: Becky Bailey

Read an Excerpt

Introduction to Sing & Sign for Young Children
Watch a Webinar Recording
Sing & Sign for Young Children: Supporting Emerging Language and Attachment with Singing, Songs, and Play Home
Download a Sample Song

Fill the Basket Sample Song
Additional Resources

Get Started Singing and Signing
7 Positive Parenting Tips that Support Secure Attachment Blog Post
Download the alignment

How Our Early Childhood Products Help Strengthen Head Start Program Quality and School Readiness

This product has additional material available on the Brookes Download Hub.

Audio recordings
Instructional videos
Printable song cards and instructions
Printable photographs and illustrations of key vocabulary words (vocabulary word pages are available in both English and Spanish)
Pictorial dictionary