Have you ever wondered what your baby is thinking? Or why your baby is crying? The Baby Signs® Program teaches babies to use simple, easy-to-do gestures for communicating with their parents and caregivers. These gestures or “signs” represent an item or concept, like “cat,” “eat,” or “all gone.” Using signs gives babies a way to "talk" with their parents, before they can talk. Babies can communicate about the world around them, long before they have mastered their verbal speaking skills! Babies and toddlers often use signs as a natural part of the communication process. Many babies know how to wave "bye-bye" or use a headshake to mean "no."

The Baby Signs® Program can help your baby use lots of other gestures to communicate just as easily as these more common "signs." The Baby Signs® Program helps children develop both language and cognitive skills. Studies show that babies who sign actually develop speech sooner and have larger vocabularies when they do start talking. The Baby Signs® Program is based on the groundbreaking research which began an international movement to teach hearing babies to use signs. After 20 years of careful study, researchers proved that using signs actually enhances language, cognitive, and social-emotional development.

Carol-Ann Cross Roen, children's librarian at the Medicine Hat Public Library, will be letting us know about the programs and resources available for everyone at the library, and Jen Grad, Kidsmart Toys representative, will demonstrate a variety of toys available through her home-based business.