“Red” points at the reddest thing on your face: your lips. A fingertip brushes down from the lower lip, and it is usually the first color sign toddlers learn.
How to Sign “Red” in ASL
Photos: Rodasmith via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Point: Extend your index finger.
- Touch below the lip: Rest the fingertip just under your lower lip.
- Brush down: Draw the finger down off the chin, bending it slightly as it goes.
The lips give the sign its meaning — several ASL color signs anchor to a body part of that color.
Step-by-Step Photos
Photos: Rodasmith via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
When to Use It With Your Child
- At red things: Apples, fire trucks, stop signs — sign it and point, every time.
- At snack time: Strawberries and tomatoes make tasty flashcards.
- In sorting play: “Find all the red blocks” with the sign as the instruction.
Tips for Success
- Teach one color at a time and let “red” be the only color sign for a few weeks.
- A finger bumped anywhere on the chin counts.
- Color recognition solidifies between 2 and 3 years — the sign can lead the concept by months.
Signs Related to “Red”
“Yellow” (a twisting Y-hand) and “orange” (a squeezing C at the chin) are good next colors. ASL color signs split into body-anchored ones like red and letter-based ones like yellow.
Red is consistently the first color name children learn in dozens of languages — the visual system simply finds red first.