1st Article of Faith: Sign language

Can your hands follow my hands?

I show the hand sign for God and say the word.  I repeat this twice.

I show the hand sign for eternal and say the word, repeating it twice.  (Click the word eternal below for a link.)

I show the hand sign for Father, say the word, and repeat it.

I show the hand sign for Jesus Christ and say the words, repeating it twice.

I show the hand sign for Holy Ghost and say the words.  I repeat this twice.

(These examples are taken from many different websites so that you have a variety to choose from.) 

I begin to sing the song, "We believe in God, ..." doing the hand signs we have just reviewed as we sing the song all the way through.

Ask the pianist to play the song slowly while we take the song "inside," only singing with our hands, no sung words.  Again, we sing the song with our hand signs, but no sound. The beauty of this way of learning is that it links the kinesthetic memory with the conscious memory of the words.  There is something sacred and beautiful about using your body (a temple) so sing about truths of the gospel.  In addition, when you sign without sound, often the words and melody of the song will run through the child's mind as they move, a very strong way to learn a song.