There is just something so wonderful about teaching sign language to preschoolers. They seem totally open to this new skill because it gives them a chance to show-off some stuff that others might not know. It also gives young children the opportunity to understand that there are real people who need to speak using American Sign Language (ASL), and you can be an important part of teaching them in your Sunday School class.

There are a plethora of useful resources that you can use to teach ASL to young children. One particularly good site on the web is Deaf Missions. They have a dictionary of religious signs, such as for Jesus, Bible, minister, and many more. The neat thing about this site is that they have an animated cartoon that shows the sign language in action. Another great resource is the book, “My first book of Sign Language” Illustrated by Joan Holub (ISBN 0-8167-4033-X). And, if videos are your thing, you will want to check out “Sign Songs: Fun Songs to Sing and Sign” Aylmer press (ISBN 0-932314-45-7).

Sign language games are a lot of fun to play in Sunday School class, and give preschoolers plenty of practice using it. Have children stand in a circle. Start with one child signing the letter “A” to the person to her right. Then that person will sign “B” to the person to his right, and keep going until the whole alphabet has been done. Starting with the alphabet is usually the best course to learning ASL.

Bingo is a fun game to play as well. You can make your own cards and use round cereal pieces as markers. Place a different sign language motion in each square of the card. You be the call-out card by making a motion, and the students need to find that motion on their card and mark it. The first child to find three or five in row (depending on how big you want the cards to be) will win a small prize. You can make all the cards the same for an easy way to play, or place the motions in different squares on each card for a harder version.

Once you have taught and practiced some ASL with your students, consider inviting a deaf person into your class to see what your children have learned. This could be someone in your congregation, or perhaps parents of your class might know someone who would be willing to come in for a few minutes on a Sunday morning. In fact, you might even have a few deaf people that you could invite for a party. Your class could sing a few songs and talk to the person, although it would be very limited. Seeing a real person who uses ASL will amaze your students.

See how fun teaching ASL can be. You will feel a huge sense of accomplishment, your students will enjoy the process, and it is a skill they could grow upon, if they really like it enough to do so. Get started with your teaching ideas today because there is no better time than the present.

Denise Oliveri has been a Sunday school teacher for the past 13 years. She has taught children between preschool through 5th grade in this time. She is the owner of Preschool Sunday School Central – a site designed to help preschool Sunday School teachers find the best resources for helping with Bible lesson planning. There are tons of free resources just waiting for you to use.

Denise is also a homeschooling mom of three wonderful boys for the past seven years! She has taught electives for a local homeschool co-op, as well as taken many facinating field trips with her children and husband. Homeschooling is a journey all in itself.

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