Hey signers! Do you love all things outdoorsy or are you one of those
who like to watch nature from your computer screen saver? Personally I'm up for a good
hike but you'll never see me roughing it. Well, regardless I'm going to teach
you 21 signs about land and nature, so let's start learning signs about nature.
Before we begin let me share a cool cultural lesson. Did you know that ASL has a whole
world of Deaf art? Well, if you didn't now you do. Chuck Baird is an American Deaf artist who
has many pieces celebrating Deaf culture. He is also known for his pieces that incorporate
signs within his art, specifically in nature. Here are a few of his pieces.
I highly suggest to check them out for yourself. Now let's get to our signs.
'Mountain, mountain' it's the sign rock going up 'mountain'. 'Lake or lake'
it's the sign water with area or water and showing a shape of a circle 'lake, lake'.
'Ocean or ocean' ocean with water and the waves or showing the waves themselves 'ocean, ocean'.
'Desert or desert' it's the sign dry with land and can also be done with two hands
or dry with a flat land of space or side by side a flat space 'desert or desert'.
'Canyon, canyon' you're using these 'flat' hands to show the depth of a canyon 'canyon'.
'Plains, plains' you're showing the land and then how flat it is 'plains'.
'Forest, forest' the sign tree but many of them 'forest'. 'Jungle,
jungle' it's like the sign forest but with a 'J' jungle'. 'Tree, tree'
you have the flat ground with your non-dominant hand and your dominant
hand is making the shape of the tree the trunk and then the branches 'tree'. 'Earth,
Earth' your non-dominant hand is a fist with your dominant on either side like the Earth on its axis
'Earth'. 'Land or land' you're showing the sweeping area of the land 'land, land'.
'Sand or dirt' you have flat O-shaped hands pointing up
moving it around like you're feeling the dirt or the sand 'sand, dirt'. 'Rock,' rock'
you're doing fist-shaped hands with your dominant going on top like it's a hard rock, 'rock'.
'Grass, grass' you have a 'bent 5' hand up at the bottom of your chin coming out 'grass'.
'Sky, sky' you're just moving your arm across the 'sky'.
'Clouds, clouds' you're making the shape of the fluffy clouds in the sky 'clouds'. 'Rainbow, rainbow'
rainbow is taking your four fingers and bringing them across the sky like a rainbow 'rainbow'.
'Sun, sun' it's a C-shaped hand coming out from your eyes and you can even show the
sun shining down or a circular motion and then it shining down on your face 'sun'. 'Moon, moon'
you have a partial C-hand that is moving up; think of a crescent moon in the sky 'moon'. 'Stars, stars' you
have two index fingers pushing out and out into the sky think of shooting stars 'stars'. 'Flower, flower'
it's a flat O-shaped hand coming up to your nose like you're smelling the flowers, 'flower'.
Now let's put these signs into sentences. One day I want to visit a jungle.
'Future me want visit jungle me.'
It's beautiful when the trees change colors in the fall. 'Season fall tree color change beautiful.'
I love going to the mountains and star gazing. 'Mountains me go stars look at love it.'
We hope you had fun learning some signs about land and nature.
Let us know down in the comments if you're a nature lover or would
rather be snuggling up inside. Until next time keep learning how to sign 🤟