Once Upon a Mattress

Activity — American Sign Language

While King Sextimus the Silent uses pantomime to communicate, there are other ways of communicating without using your voice. One of these ways is sign language, visual-manual (meaning to use one's hands) languages developed by d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing (HoH) communities. In the United States, the most commonly used form of sign language is American Sign Language, or ASL.

At your performance of Once Upon a Mattress, you may notice someone standing in front of the seats on the right side of the house, signing throughout the performance. This is an ASL interpreter—you can learn more about what that means by reading our Career Spotlight.

Activity Section

Part I: When learning ASL, most people start with fingerspelling — using the ASL alphabet to spell out English words. Take a look at this chart of the ASL alphabet and practice the different letters. Once you’ve tried them all, practice spelling your name. Once you’ve mastered that, try spelling out different things you see and use in your classroom.

Part II: Practice some of the signs shown here, which are all related to Once Upon a Mattress. If you haven't seen the performance yet, watch the ASL interpreter during the show and see which signs you recognize! If you've already seen the performance, do you remember seeing any of these signs throughout the show? Are there other signs you remember seeing that aren't on this list?

Print this activity

Back to top

Table of Contents