Signing Savvy, Your Sign Language Resource

Sing it or sign it, either way the Beatles knew what they were talking about when they said, "All You Need is Love!"

We thought it would be appropriate with Valentine’s Day this week to share our blog covering all the different ways to show LOVE... in sign language that is!

Signing Savvy Member Feature: Download this image / flyer as a printable PDF page.

Many people know and use the sign for I LOVE YOU. This sign is used universally throughout the country and the world. We see it all over television, at sporting events and during "shout outs" to our mothers. The sign is actually the combination of the fingerspelled letters I, L and Y.

I have had people ask why the sign looks similar to the one that some people hold up at rock concerts, where the thumb is held down and the pointer finger and the little finger are held up. It is NOT the same. Remember, the thumb of the Y hand has to be present in order for you to be signing the I LOVE YOU sign.

Another sign that gets confused with the I LOVE YOU sign is the Hawaiian "shaka" sign meaning aloha, hang loose, or right on. Interestingly, this is also the ASL sign for YELLOW. Again, this is a different sign, as it leaves out the pointer finger. It is basically just shaking the Y hand.

The actual sign for LOVE is both arms folded across the chest. That is to show love or have love for another person or animal, etc.

Another sign for LOVE that you will see on the site is the kissing of the back of the S hand, then pulling it away from the mouth. This is a sign that is generally used to show a passion for something, like a certain type of food or a type of music.

Some people have asked why we don’t list the I LOVE YOU sign under the sign for LOVE on our site. It is because they are different signs and we don’t want new signers to confuse the single I LOVE YOU handshape with the general meanings and uses of the word LOVE. We don’t want you to confuse the signs and use the I LOVE YOU sign in a place where you really mean to just say LOVE.

An example of this would be this sentence: My mother loves to travel. You wouldn’t want to say: MOTHER + MINE + I LOVE YOU + TRAVEL (It just doesn’t make sense.) You need to use the sign LOVE there.

Another example sentence: I love to eat deep dish pizza! You wouldn’t want to say: PIZZA + THICK + I LOVE YOU + EAT. You need to use the kissing the back of the hand version of LOVE in this instance.

I hope that clears up some of your LOVE issues! Spread the LOVE and Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us here at Signing Savvy!

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published February 12, 2012. It was updated with new graphics and edits on February 14, 2019.

We are celebrating 10 years of business, 10,000 Facebook Likes, and 10 Amazing Reasons to become a Member with our 10/10/10 Sale! Take $10 off 1-Year (or $30 off 3-Year) INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIPS and GIFT MEMBERSHIPS.

We are very excited to be celebrating 10 years of Signing Savvy. For more information on why we created Signing Savvy and our growth in the last 10 years, read our article on Signing Savvy Anniversary - A Lot Can Happen in 10 Years! In these 10 years, a lot of people have used Signing Savvy! How many?

Over 22 million people have used Signing Savvy!

People from every state in the United States use Signing Savvy.

Most people (close to 90%) who use Signing Savvy are from the United States and Canada… which makes sense because we are an American Sign Language (ASL) resource and ASL is the sign language most used in the United States and Canada.

Signing Savvy has been used in close to 200 countries and territories across the world!

Although the majority of people who use Signing Savvy are in the United States and Canada, there have been millions of people from other countries use Signing Savvy as well. Signing Savvy has been used in close to 200 countries and territories across the world! We’re always curious to learn why so many people in other countries are using Signing Savvy and learning ASL. We’ve heard stories from educators, missionaries, and interpretters who use Signing Savvy to work with deaf individuals throughout the world.

10 Amazing Reasons to become a Member with our 10/10/10 Sale

Although many people have discovered Signing Savvy in one way or another, many have still not fully realized the benefits of becoming a full member, and all the additional features full membership provides. Check out our list of 10 of our most-loved member features.

In addition to these 10 most-loved features, we are always adding signs and new features to Signing Savvy - there are some great things in the works for this year!

We hope that those that love to use Signing Savvy and want to take advantage of the more advanced features would become full members in order to help support us and our continued growth so we can keep adding more sign videos, content, and features to the site. We would not be able to offer these features and maintain them (or even have the Signing Savvy website) without charging for membership. There is a cost to creating, maintaining, and growing the website - equipment, software, hardware, and staff costs. With the support of our members, we aim for Signing Savvy to be the best sign language learning resource.

The cost of Membership is something we have worked hard to keep at a reasonable price, at just $49.95/year since our inception 10 years ago. That works out to $4.17/month or 13.7 cents a day. If you go with a 3-year membership, the price goes down to just $3.61/month or 11.9 cents a day... and our current promotion ads an additional discount to those prices!

For our 10/10/10 celebration! We are offering $10 off a 1-year (or $30 off 3-year) individual and gift memberships!

Sale valid Sunday, February 10, 2019 12:01 AM through Tuesday, February 19, 2019 11:59 PM. Use promo code: CELEBRATE10 for individual or gift memberships for 1-year and 3-year terms (if you currently have a membership, the new membership time will be added to your account in addition to any membership time you already have).

This article is part of our “Signing Children’s Books” series, which highlights children’s books and pairs them with pre-built Signing Savvy word lists to help you get started with learning and signing the vocabulary in the book. Reading and literacy is so important. By sharing these pre-built word lists, we hope to cut down on prep time for families that are just beginning to learn ASL and hope you can find more comfort in sharing literacy with our young deaf children.

The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and THE BIG HUNGRY BEAR is another really cute book by Don and Audrey Wood that has become a classic in children's literature. Its amazing illustrations, coupled with its simple vocabulary, and the fun concept of a cute little mouse thinking of ways to hide this big beautiful strawberry from a big hungry bear, makes it irresistible for young readers.

Extension Activities

Concepts that can be expanded and covered from this book range from math and science to language and cooking.

• Math: Talk about math concepts by discussing how to cut the strawberry in half, thirds, quarters etc. (or create an activity using paper or real strawberries and let the kids divide them).
• Language: Talk about ways to disguise something.
• Science: Discussions and activities involving the senses (look, hear, smell, taste, touch). For example, discuss how the bear could smell the strawberry hidden in the woods.
• Cooking: There are many different tasty recipes involving strawberries on Pinterest. I choose to make chocolate brownies with chocolate covered strawberries as my baking activity and the children loved them. They also liked the activity of cutting the strawberries in half using butter knives and drizzling the melted chocolate over the top of the strawberries and brownies! It's a simple yet delicious way to celebrate the book!

If you are looking for ideas for more extension ideas, check out the Scholastic book guide for the book. There are also a lot of ideas that go with the book on Pinterest. Check them out and have fun!

Get the Pre-Built Word List for this Book!

I hope through The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and THE BIG HUNGRY BEAR word list you will feel confident to share this story with your children. You can also bring up signs on the Signing Savvy Member App using the pre-built word list as you go through the book. 

Word List for The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and THE BIG HUNGRY BEAR

Signing Savvy is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking signingsavvy.com to Amazon properties. That means Signing Savvy may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking on an affiliate link, your cost will be exactly the same regardless, but Signing Savvy will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated and helps us continue to improve Signing Savvy!

This article is part of our “Signing Children’s Books” series, which highlights children’s books and pairs them with pre-built Signing Savvy word lists to help you get started with learning and signing the vocabulary in the book. Reading and literacy is so important. By sharing these pre-built word lists, we hope to cut down on prep time for families that are just beginning to learn ASL and hope you can find more comfort in sharing literacy with our young deaf children.

The Snowmen at Night is a wintery classic that explores the reason why our snowmen look different when we wake up in the morning. It is a fun fantasy of how our snowmen meet up and play while we are all fast asleep.

Watch the snowmen play with their snowman buddies and play throughout the night.

Extension Activities

There is also a sequel, Snowmen at Christmas that is equally as fun and loved by children and adults alike!

For a great recipe that goes with the theme of this book, see my article Cooking Up Language with Signs: Melting Snowman Cookies.

Get the Pre-Built Word List for this Book!

I hope through the Snowmen at Night pre-built word list you will feel confident to share this story with your children.

Word List for Snowmen at Night

Related Books: 

Signing Savvy is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking signingsavvy.com to Amazon properties. That means Signing Savvy may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking on an affiliate link, your cost will be exactly the same regardless, but Signing Savvy will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated and helps us continue to improve Signing Savvy!

This article is part of our “Cooking Up Language With Signs” series, which features a recipe and accompanying sign language word list to get you started on an interactive cooking activity that is great for spicing up language learning at home or in the classroom.

What’s cookin’?

Today I’m cooking up Melting Snowman Cookies. I chose this recipe as I was working on the article and word list for Signing Children’s Books: Snowmen at Night. This is a great recipe to pair with the book The Snowmen at Night. These are really easy cookies to make and are really cute. Let the kids get creative with how they decorate them and make each one look different.

You can make the cookies from scratch (any sugar cookie recipe) or you can do like I did here and buy the tube of sugar cookie dough from any grocery store and simply cut them, place them on a cookie sheet, and bake them according to the directions on the package.

Once the cookies are out and cooled, melt your white chocolate / crème and pour that over the top of them. Put the melted crème on the cookies with uneven edges so that it looks like the snow has melted. Place a marshmallow on top of the creme' while it's still warm. Place the cookies in the refrigerator until the creme' has hardened back up.

Once cooled, remove from the refrigerator and using small colored tubes of decorative frosting to personalize your snowmen.

Who doesn't love sugar cookies frosted with white crème and marshmallows?

Recipe

Enjoy making these cute Melting Snowman Cookies. Use the pre-built word list created to go along with the recipe to help you as you make this tasty recipe.

Melting Snowman Cookies

Ingredients:

• Sugar Cookie Dough (make your own or purchase pre-made dough)
• cooking spray
• white chocolate / crème
• large marshmallows
• multiple, small, colored tubes of decorative frosting

Tools:

• knife
• cookie sheet / pan
• bowl
• tube
• oven
• microwave
• refrigerator

Directions:

1. You can make the cookies from scratch (any sugar cookie recipe) or you can do like I did here and buy the tube of sugar cookie dough from any grocery store and simply cut them, place them on a cookie sheet, and bake them according to the directions on the package.

2. Once the cookies are out and cooled, melt your white chocolate / crème and pour that over the top of them. Put the melted crème on the cookies with uneven edges so that it looks like the snow has melted.

3. Place a marshmallow on top of the crème while it's still warm.

4. Place the cookies in the refrigerator until the crème has hardened back up.

5. Once cooled, remove from the refrigerator and using small, colored tubes of decorative frosting, personalize your snowmen. Give your snowmen eyes, a nose, mouth, arms, a scarf, and buttons.

Get the Pre-Built Word List for this Recipe!

I hope through the Melting Snowman Cookies word list you will feel confident to cook up some language fun with your children. You can also bring up signs on the Signing Savvy Member App using the pre-built word list as you go through the recipe.

Word List for Melting Snowman Cookies

Signing Savvy is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking signingsavvy.com to Amazon properties. That means Signing Savvy may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking on an affiliate link, your cost will be exactly the same regardless, but Signing Savvy will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated and helps us continue to improve Signing Savvy!