Talking Hands: Learn Sign Language with an Interactive Flipbook

Talking Hands is based in Frankfurt am Main and was founded in 2020. The aim of the company is to promote inclusion. The young founders Laura and Maria want to give all children access to play materials, regardless of their abilities or resources. No one should feel isolated or misunderstood; Talking Hands aims to simplify communication between children with and without disabilities. The services are primarily aimed at daycare centers and schools.

Inclusion: learning sign language through play

Among other things, the young start-up develops flipbooks for sign language. The sign language flipbooks enable children of all ages to communicate with each other, regardless of whether they are hearing or not. Children learn the basic vocabulary in sign language in a playful way. The young company has produced a separate flip book for each word. The main categories are designed in different colors, for example, all flip books with animals are yellow, while objects are assigned the color green. In each flip book, a child presents a word in the respective gesture page by page. If a child wants to learn a particular word in the assigned gesture, they can take the corresponding flip book from the selection and flick through it with their hands.

With the "Finger Alphabet", children can spell words such as their names. With the help of a puzzle, the children place the corresponding letter with the matching symbol that is related to the word. This gives the children an additional impression of the alphabet and teaches them that putting letters together makes words.

Touch Memo "Tilo" trains children's sense of touch

The game "Tilo" is a touch memo and was developed together with the Frankfurt Foundation for the Blind and Visually Impaired. The children put on special glasses through which nothing can be seen at first. Objects are lined up on the table and the next step is to feel them. This trains the children's sense of touch and is excellent memory training. This game can also be played with children who do not have good eyesight.

Talking Hands is being used in more and more places of learning. Interested teachers can attend special workshops that introduce them to the use of the play materials. The young company not only inspires children. Talking Hands has already won numerous awards in its short company phase, including the Frankfurt Founder's Prize and the Hessian State Prize for Universal Design.