I love teaching sign language and wish every child had the opportunity to learn it. I’ve been wanting to create a Montessori-style sign language movable alphabet for quite awhile. I’m excited today to introduce printable sign language movable alphabets in print, D’Nealian, and cursive … in both American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL)!

Montessori-Inspired Printables at Living Montessori Now

My daughter, Chrissy (a former Montessori child), and I have partnered to bring you a series of Montessori-inspired printables. The printables are typically themed and use a number of Montessori principles (although you don’t need to be a Montessori teacher or homeschooler to use them):

• They use isolation of quality.
• They use photographs or realistic images to emphasize reality.
• They typically use traditional Montessori colors such as red for consonants and blue for vowels.
• They emphasize lowercase letters, which are what we introduce letter sounds with in Montessori education. (Children tend to pick up the uppercase letters without being introduced if they’re introduced to the lowercase letter sounds.)
• They often feature themed printable versions of Montessori materials.

American Sign Language (ASL) Movable Alphabet in Print, D’Nealian, and Cursive

This is a new product in our Living Montessori Now shop! In the American Sign Lanuguage Movable Alphabet pack with 217 printable pages, you’ll find printables to make American Sign Language print, D’Nealian, or cursive movable alphabet letters. Choose which type of ASL alphabet image you want, whether it’s white with black outline, one of four different skin tones, or a mixture of skin tones. There are images in both lowercase and uppercase. A variety of control charts are included as well.

24 pages of labels are included in a variety of fonts and ASL alphabet images for preparing an alphabet box.

There are also ASL alphabet signs without letters for advanced work with scavenger hunts and mystery words. All this is only $6.95!

Note: This does not include the supply cabinet. 

This is a digital download (printable product). There are no physical products included in this pack. 

British Sign Language (BSL) Movable Alphabet in Print, D’Nealian, and Cursive

This is a new product in our Living Montessori Now shop! In the British Sign Lanuguage Movable Alphabet pack with 194 printable pages, you’ll find printables to make British Sign Language print, D’Nealian, or cursive movable alphabet letters. Choose which type of BSL alphabet image you want, whether it’s white with black outline, one of three different skin tones, or a mixture of skin tones. There are images in both lowercase and uppercase. A variety of control charts are included as well.

Resources for Preparing a Storage Container for Your Sign Language Movable Alphabet

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links (at no cost to you).

I have two different types of storage containers. You could choose one or both, depending on how you want to use your sign language movable alphabet.

One option has drawers and has room to hold small objects for each letter along with the movable alphabet cards.

 

• ArtBin Store-in-Drawer Cabinet, White Art Craft Supply Storage (A variety of craft cabinets and tackle boxes would work, although I’m really happy with this particular one. The labels will easily fit on this cabinet, and it worked well for our small language objects.)
• A variety of small language objects can be added. I’ve used ones from Montessori Services (available as a starter set or individually), Montessori By Mom, Safari Ltd. TOOB figures, and Safari Ltd. Good Luck Minis. And some were just around my house.

After downloading the American Sign Language (ASL) Movable Alphabet in Print, D’Nealian, and Cursive or the British Sign Language (BSL) Movable Alphabet in Print, D’Nealian, and Cursive, just print the labels in your desired sign language image style and font on cardstock or photo paper, laminate if desired, cut out, and tape each label to a drawer.

The second option uses a 36-grid organizer box.

I used this to make a sign language movable alphabet container for green-series phonogram word spelling. I organized the black movable alphabet letters with the red ones behind the black letters. I use this to feature families of words with the same phonogram (the phonogram in red letters and the rest of the word in black letters). I removed a few of the dividers to make room for some objects, pictures, and control cards for the phonogram I’m featuring. I removed the lid to keep the organizer open on my shelf, although the cards will fit with it closed, too.

You can buy Montessori picture and phonogram cards in a variety of places, or you can get free phonics printables from MontessoriSoul (which I’ve featured here and typically feature in my monthly themed post). I simple reduced the size a bit to fit in the box.

Some Activities Using the Sign Language Movable Alphabets for Multiple Ages

The sign language movable alphabet typically works well for ages 3-9. Just individualize the work for your child’s age and phonics knowledge. Young children can just focus on learning some phonetic sounds and the corresponding sign language letter. You could add objects to match with the beginning sound as well. See my post with DIY alphabet box labels and resourcesDIY alphabet box multi-level printables and resources for examples (similar but without the ASL or BSL images).

A child who’s ready to build words can use some of the objects and the printable sign language movable alphabet in whichever font you prefer to build words. An older child could even build sentences. Capital letters and punctuation symbols are included for sentence building.

If you’d like help with introducing phonetic sounds, introducing object with sounds, or beginning phonics in general, check out my DIY Beginning Montessori Phonics with Preschoolers.

This is an example using the black and red letters to show word families of phonograms. I have a helpful post on how to introduce words that start with phonograms to young children. Again, an older child could build sentences or more difficult words. Capital letters and punctuation symbols are included for sentence building.

As I mentioned, There are also BSL alphabet signs without letters for advanced work with scavenger hunts and mystery words. 

The Living Montessori Now Shop

 

We have some wonderful products for you in our Living Montessori Now shop! Be sure to check them out while you’re there. The prices are very reasonable, and you’ll find lots of help for Montessori at home or in the classroom.