The most essential baby sign language signs for emotions include happy, sad, angry, scared, and hurt””and teaching these signs can begin as early as six months old, though most babies start signing back between eight and twelve months. These five core emotion signs give babies a way to communicate feelings before they have the verbal skills to say “I’m frustrated” or “that scared me,” which can dramatically reduce the crying and tantrums that stem from being unable to express internal states. For example, a ten-month-old who learns the sign for “scared” can communicate fear of the neighbor’s dog without dissolving into inconsolable tears, allowing a parent to address the actual problem rather than guessing.
Beyond the basics, there are dozens of emotion-related signs that families can introduce as their child’s signing vocabulary grows, including signs for tired, excited, surprised, love, and frustrated. This article covers which emotion signs to teach first and why, the specific handshapes and movements for each sign, common mistakes parents make when introducing emotional vocabulary, and how signing about feelings supports long-term emotional intelligence. We will also address realistic expectations””signing does not eliminate all meltdowns, and some children take to it faster than others.
Table of Contents
- What Are the Core Baby Sign Language Signs for Emotions?
- How Babies Learn to Connect Signs with Internal Feelings
- Teaching Emotion Signs During Everyday Moments
- Comparing Emotion Signs: ASL, Baby Sign Language, and Homemade Signs
- Common Mistakes When Teaching Baby Sign Language for Emotions
- Expanding Emotional Vocabulary as Babies Grow
- Long-Term Benefits of Early Emotion Sign Language
- Conclusion
What Are the Core Baby Sign Language Signs for Emotions?
The foundational emotion signs most families start with are drawn from American Sign Language, though simplified versions are common and perfectly acceptable for pre-verbal communication. The sign for “happy” involves brushing both open palms upward against your chest repeatedly, as if joy is bubbling up from inside. “Sad” is signed by drawing both open hands down in front of the face, fingers spread, mimicking tears falling. “Angry” takes the form of a claw hand pulling away from the face, as if rage is radiating outward. For “scared,” both hands start near the chest and open suddenly while the body pulls back slightly, mimicking a startle response. “Hurt” or “pain” involves pointing both index fingers toward each other and twisting them, often done near the body part that hurts.
These signs were selected as core vocabulary because they address the most frequent emotional states babies experience but cannot verbalize. Research into early childhood development has consistently shown that emotional distress in infants is often exacerbated by the inability to communicate””a baby who cannot tell you something hurts will cry harder and longer than one who has any communication tool available. One practical example: a daycare provider in Oregon reported that after introducing just these five signs, incidents of biting among toddlers in her room dropped noticeably, because children could sign “angry” instead of acting out physically. However, these signs are not universal. Families who use sign language from Deaf communities outside the United States may use different signs entirely, and that is equally valid. The goal is consistent communication within your family, not adherence to a specific system.
How Babies Learn to Connect Signs with Internal Feelings
Teaching a baby to sign “sad” is fundamentally different from teaching a baby to sign “milk,” because emotions are invisible and internal rather than concrete and external. A baby can see milk, touch a bottle, and connect the sign to a tangible object. Sadness has no physical form to point to, which means parents must rely on narrating emotional experiences as they happen. When a baby cries after a toy is taken away, a parent might say “You seem sad””that made you sad” while signing “sad,” creating a connection between the internal feeling, the external event, and the sign. This process takes longer than teaching object-based signs, and parents should expect a lag of several weeks to months between introduction and independent use.
Interestingly, many babies first use emotion signs to describe other people or characters before applying them to themselves. A child might sign “sad” while looking at a crying baby in a picture book weeks before signing it to communicate their own sadness. This is developmentally normal””recognizing emotions in others often precedes the metacognitive skill of identifying one’s own emotional states. One limitation to acknowledge: some children are what researchers call “low signers” and may never take to signing, preferring to wait for verbal speech or using pointing and gestures they invent themselves. If a baby shows no interest in signing after several months of consistent exposure, it does not indicate a developmental problem.
Teaching Emotion Signs During Everyday Moments
The most effective way to teach emotion signs is embedding them into daily routines and naturally occurring emotional moments rather than drilling them in formal practice sessions. When a baby laughs during peekaboo, sign “happy” and say “You’re so happy! That’s happy.” When a child falls and cries, sign “hurt” near the injured area while comforting them. When a toddler expresses frustration at a puzzle piece that will not fit, sign “frustrated” and verbalize: “That’s frustrating. The piece won’t go in.” Bath time, mealtime, and book reading offer especially rich opportunities.
Many children’s books feature characters experiencing emotions, and pausing to sign the feeling”””The bear is scared, see?”””provides low-pressure practice. One mother in a parent education program described her breakthrough moment: her thirteen-month-old, who had been exposed to signs for two months without using any, suddenly signed “scared” during a thunderstorm. The child had been absorbing the signs silently and produced them when genuinely needed. A specific strategy that works well is the “name it to tame it” approach, where you sign and verbalize the emotion you believe your child is feeling even when they cannot confirm it. “I think you’re feeling angry right now””angry””because I said no cookies.” This narration helps children begin to differentiate between emotional states that might otherwise blur together into generalized distress.
Comparing Emotion Signs: ASL, Baby Sign Language, and Homemade Signs
Parents often wonder whether they need to use “official” American Sign Language signs or whether simplified or invented signs work just as well. The honest answer is that consistency matters more than authenticity for the specific purpose of pre-verbal communication. If your entire household consistently uses a thumbs-up for “happy,” your baby will learn it just as effectively as the ASL sign. However, there are tradeoffs worth considering. Using ASL signs has the advantage of connecting your child to an actual language with millions of users, which could prove beneficial if you later want to continue language learning or if your child encounters Deaf individuals.
Simplified “baby sign language” programs often modify ASL signs to accommodate less developed fine motor skills””for instance, simplifying handshapes that require separating individual fingers. Homemade signs offer maximum flexibility but zero transferability and may confuse caregivers who were not present when the sign was invented. The practical middle ground most speech-language pathologists recommend is starting with ASL-based signs but not worrying if your baby’s production is imprecise. A baby who signs “sad” by patting their cheeks instead of drawing hands down their face is still communicating effectively. Over time, motor skills improve and signs naturally become more accurate.
Common Mistakes When Teaching Baby Sign Language for Emotions
The most frequent mistake parents make is expecting emotion signs to work like an off switch for difficult behavior. A toddler who knows the sign for “angry” will still have tantrums””they have simply gained one more tool in their communication repertoire, not a bypass for normal developmental behavior. Unrealistic expectations lead to parental frustration and sometimes abandonment of signing altogether, which is unfortunate because the benefits are real, just more modest than some popular books suggest. Another common error is signing only positive emotions while avoiding negative ones. Parents who enthusiastically sign “happy” and “love” but never model “angry,” “sad,” or “scared” inadvertently communicate that negative emotions are not speakable.
This can backfire by removing precisely the vocabulary children most need during distressing moments. A child who has no sign for “scared” cannot use signing to communicate fear, which defeats much of the purpose. A third pitfall involves inconsistency among caregivers. If one parent signs “tired” one way, a grandparent uses a different sign, and daycare uses no signs at all, babies receive mixed signals that slow acquisition. Before introducing emotion signs, families benefit from a brief conversation with all caregivers to agree on which signs to use and commit to consistency.
Expanding Emotional Vocabulary as Babies Grow
Once a child masters the core five emotion signs, families can introduce more nuanced vocabulary such as “excited,” “worried,” “surprised,” “calm,” “jealous,” and “proud.” This expansion typically happens naturally as children approach eighteen months to two years, when they begin understanding that emotions exist on spectrums and that “a little sad” differs from “very sad.” For example, the sign for “excited” involves alternating circular motions of both hands against the chest, as if energy is spinning inside. “Worried” can be signed by twisting the hand in front of the forehead.
As children approach the age when verbal language typically overtakes signing, these expanded emotion signs often become supplemental rather than primary communication””a child might say “I’m mad” while also signing “angry” for emphasis. This multimodal communication is developmentally beneficial and should be encouraged rather than discouraged as unnecessary.
Long-Term Benefits of Early Emotion Sign Language
Studies on baby sign language””though limited in scope and often criticized for methodological weaknesses””generally suggest that children exposed to signing show no long-term verbal delays and may demonstrate slightly earlier emotional vocabulary acquisition. The more robust finding is qualitative: parents consistently report feeling more connected to babies who can communicate emotions before speaking, and this strengthened parent-child relationship has its own downstream benefits.
Looking forward, families who sign about emotions often find that the practice establishes a foundation for ongoing conversations about feelings throughout childhood. The habit of naming emotions, once established, tends to persist even after signing stops. Children who grew up signing “scared” and “angry” often become preschoolers and elementary schoolers who can verbalize emotional states with unusual precision, which supports self-regulation, conflict resolution, and mental health.
Conclusion
Teaching baby sign language for emotions begins with five core signs””happy, sad, angry, scared, and hurt””introduced through consistent modeling during naturally occurring emotional moments. The key to success lies in patience, realistic expectations, and buy-in from all caregivers who interact with the child. While signing will not eliminate tantrums or guarantee emotional genius, it offers babies a genuine tool for communicating internal states months before verbal language develops.
For parents ready to begin, the next step is selecting the specific signs your household will use, demonstrating them during daily routines, and narrating your child’s emotional experiences out loud while signing. Many families find that watching videos of native ASL signers helps them learn accurate handshapes, though imperfect baby approximations should be celebrated rather than corrected. The investment of a few minutes daily can yield a more communicative, less frustrated baby””and a more confident parent.