ASL Animal Signs: Learn Them With Video

Animal signs are a friendly place to start in American Sign Language. Many of them show something you can see about the animal, so they are easy to picture and to remember. The sign for giraffe slides up the neck, the sign for camel traces two humps, and the sign for frog flicks two fingers out from under the chin.

Each sign below has a short looping video by a Deaf, fluent ASL signer. Play it, slow it to half speed, and copy the handshape, the location and the movement. Then try it with your camera in AISA School and get instant feedback on your signing.

Some animal signs have more than one common version, the way spoken words can differ from place to place. Each page tells you when the video shows one of several versions. New animal signs are added to this page as the app adds them.

The signs

A Deaf signer signs CAMEL in ASL

Camel

A Deaf signer signs FROG in ASL

Frog

A Deaf signer signs GIRAFFE in ASL

Giraffe

A 5 minute practice plan

  1. Minute 1: watch each sign at half speed and notice what the hand shows about the animal.

  2. Minutes 2 and 3: sign each animal three times, checking your handshape and location against the video.

  3. Minute 4: sign them in a random order without looking at the videos.

  4. Minute 5: practice one sign in AISA School with your camera and get instant feedback.

Practice these signs in AISA School

Start free. Sign in front of your camera and get instant feedback on your signing.

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