Baby signing - class duration

[DebsA]

Am considering booking a Sing and Sign class for my 7 month old son, but having a problem with it only being 30 minutes each session - it doesn't seem enough time and add to the fact that it's by far the most expensive of signing classes I'm weighing up whether its convenient location should outweigh cheaper alternatives with longer session times. Does anyone have experience of S&S?

[kittyfish]

I am taking my 9mo daughter to Tiny Talk UK which is 30 mins singing & signing and 30-45mins chat with the other mums & babies. I think any longer than this and the babies will get bored as they have v short attention span. I paid £20 for five sessions (half a term) which seemed pretty reasonable. We get coffee and choccy biccys thrown in too. How much are you going to be charged? By the way, it is great fun if a bit weird.

[biglips]

same here too as i take my baba to tinytalk class too and only goes on for half an hour and the rest is 30 - 40 mins having a gab.

you can buy DVD to teach the little ones at home too

[DebsA]

It's £70 for 10 ssessions - not sure if there's any social stuff going on as an extra, nice if it does - I'm basing the non additional on the fact there's another class 45 minutes before

[biglips]

what!!!!! thats steep!!! mine is £48 for 12 lessons

find your tinytalk class here

[amyjade]

I go to sing and sign classes with Dd2 who is also 7 months. The class i go to lasts an hour and Dd2 loves it it costs me around £5 per session which i suppose is quite expensive but well worth it if she can communicate with me through sign at 10 months!!

[DebsA]

we're a tiny talk black hole in sutton, am investigating another company session in ashtead, but if 30 minutes is enough time to learn something then at least dh can come too

[kittyfish]

£4/session here in Glos. Agree £70 is alot.

[kittyfish]

DebsA - you could become a Tiny Talk sing and signer for your area...

[DebsA]

sorry for delay...email went wonky. Great idea but can you make a decent living from it - maybe my ds could be my demonstrator!!! (he's 7 months at the moment!)

[kittyfish]

Well the lady who organises the TT I go to has a 6mo daughter and we are a group of around 25. She does two groups a week so 50 x £20 per 5 week course. You do need to be super confident and a reasonable singer.

[nannyme]

30 mins is average for singing classes. no experience of signing classes (bit too much of a subtle word difference there methinks - I could confuse myself!) think it is similar for most baby kind of classes like swimming and gymboree, etc. (?)

30 mins would be age appropriate too imo!

[mcmudda]

I went to Sing and Sign with ds (now 3) when he was 7 mths - I think it was about £5 a session and we got coffee and biscuits afterwards (v important )

I thought it was well worth the money - there were no other franchises operating near me at the time - and we got hand outs every week which were v useful.

My classes were taken by Sasha ( I forget her surname) who started Sing and Sign donkeys years ago and she was excellent.

30 mins is more than long enough for a 7 mth old to sit through IMO. Any longer and it stops being fun for them I think.

[1michele]

My classes last for 1 hour: 15 mins social, tea/coffee, biscuits etc followed by 45 mins of continuous activity. 1 hour being just about right really. Classes cost £25 for a 5 week course & further £25 for another 5 week follow up a few months later. With handouts including the signs on, given out at the end. Do you have any Sign & Rhyme classes near you?

[joanna4]

I did sing and sign and i would say 30 mins is about right 45 mins absolute max.If you bombard them with too many signs in one go it can get a bit confusing at first an hour is probably stretching it too much.
I became so interested i got a job that required makaton training and i use it every day so i learned basic and advanced too so beware signing is very addictive lol.