# Feelings Chart for Toddlers Who Don't Have Words Yet > Toddlers feel big emotions before they can name them. A feelings chart bridges that gap. Here's how to make one and use it today. By Nora Hayes · June 20, 2026 · Rosy & Hush Source: https://rosyandhush.com/special-needs/communication/feelings-chart-toddlers-dont-have-words --- A toddler can feel furious, left out, or over-the-moon happy long before she can name a single one of those feelings. A [2023 study in Child Development](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10121903/) found that toddlers understand emotions internally well before they can label them verbally, which means the feelings arrive months ahead of the words. I'm Nora Hayes, a former preschool aide now home with my own two, and I've watched a simple feelings chart of four emotion faces give a wordless child a way to be understood, so here's how to start one at home tonight. **The plan in brief:** - Print a simple feelings chart with four to six clear faces and hang it at your toddler's eye level. - Model pointing to faces during calm moments: touch 'happy' when you smile, 'sad' when you frown. - Guide your toddler's hand to a matching face when emotions surface, then name it out loud. ## Why Toddlers Struggle to Put Feelings Into Words ### The Language Gap Between Feeling and Speaking By 18 months, toddlers comprehend about 80 words but speak only 20, per MacArthur-Bates [toddler emotional development milestones](https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Courses/Cerro_Coso_College/CHDV_C105_Infant_and_Toddler_Development/10%3A_Overview_of_Language_Development/10.09%3A_Charting_language_growth_in_infants_and_toddlers). Receptive outpaces expressive by months; emotional literacy trails further. Your child feels frustration long before they can name it. ![A frustrated toddler unable to express how they feel](./images/feelings-chart-toddlers-dont-have-words/a-frustrated-toddler-unable-to-express-how-they-feel-a88fb2c5.webp) ### How Emotion Pictures Bridge the Communication Gap A picture board of emotions is a shortcut. [Vallotton (2008)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2742424/) found preverbal children point to images to identify emotions like sad, scared, and happy before they can speak. Pointing turns an abstract feeling into something concrete, building [communication social skills](/special-needs/communication) and emotional awareness. ## How to Introduce a Feelings Chart to a Toddler Who Can't Talk Yet 1. **Model during calm.** Point, name, let them watch. 2. **Guide hand-over-hand.** Land on the face, name the feeling. 3. **Celebrate any try.** Even a look counts. Accuracy comes later. ![Parent sitting on the floor next to a toddler, pointing at a picture board mounted at child eye level](./images/feelings-chart-toddlers-dont-have-words/parent-sitting-on-the-floor-next-to-a-toddler-pointing-at-a-picture-board-mounted-at-child-eye-level-8bc43b05.webp) ### Step 1: Model It During Calm Moments Point to faces when your toddler is calm, not mid-meltdown. I modeled ours for a week at June's eye level before she ever touched it. ### Step 2: Point Together When Emotions Surface When a feeling surfaces, guide their hand to the matching face and name it. You're coregulating, not quizzing. Once pointing clicks, [12 communication cards every nonverbal toddler](/special-needs/communication/12-communication-cards-every-nonverbal-toddler) expand their vocabulary beyond feeling faces. ### Step 3: Celebrate Every Attempt to Communicate Respond warmly to any engagement: a glance, a grunt, a touch. [Joint attention research in early childhood](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3215880/) found that reinforcing any communicative attempt produced greater speech gains than correcting for accuracy. Emotions become reachable without a single word. Pictures do the work when words aren't there yet. The connection is the win. ## Choosing the Right Feelings Chart for a Pre-Verbal Child The right chart lets your child point at what they feel. ### Why Simple Faces Beat Complex Wheels Four to six faces (happy, sad, mad, scared) beat [the original Gloria Willcox feelings wheel](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/036215378198200411). [Nelson and Russell](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26319480/) found toddlers guess randomly with too many options. The [CAFE set](https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01532/full) validated six basic emotional expressions as most identifiable for young kids. ![side-by-side comparison of a simple 4-face toddler emotions poster versus a complex adult feelings wheel with 72 emotions](./images/feelings-chart-toddlers-dont-have-words/side-by-side-comparison-of-a-simple-4-face-toddler-emotions-poster-versus-a-complex-adult-feelings-wheel-with-72-emotions-44785e79.webp) ### Paper on the Wall vs. Apps and Cards A printed one at child height needs no unlocking, no battery, no fetching. The [AAP](https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/media-and-children/center-of-excellence-on-social-media-and-youth-mental-health/qa-portal/qa-portal-library/qa-portal-library-questions/screen-time-for-infants/) recommends zero screen time under eighteen months. You looking at one face together keeps joint attention; a screen fractures it. An Inside Out poster pulls in a reluctant kid. Once pointing sticks, [communication cards](/special-needs/communication/start-using-communication-cards-late-talker) carry it forward. ## Making Your Own Feelings Chart and Extra Resources for Your Toddler Pointing starts. Here's what to put on the chart and what else helps when your child is ready. ### The Six Faces to Include ![A one-page toddler emotion chart featuring six clear faces with labels in large text, mounted at child height](./images/feelings-chart-toddlers-dont-have-words/a-free-one-page-toddler-emotion-chart-featuring-six-clear-faces-with-labels-in-large-text-mounted-at-child-height-12aefd3c.webp) Draw or print six emotion faces on a blank sheet: happy, sad, mad, scared, surprised, tired. Label each in large text. That is genuinely all you need — a toddler reads the face, not the design. A circle arrangement adds range once the basics click. ### Bonus Resources: Emotion Cards, Coloring Pages, and Wheels The chart anchors you. Before you wonder [when do babies start talking](/special-needs/communication/pointing-talking), pointing comes first. Emotion cards go in your bag for carry-over practice. Coloring pages and sheets pull double duty: a 2023 study in [Child & Family Behavior Therapy](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38046575/) found coloring predicts emotional regulation. Emotion pictures make matching games. Any of these keeps the conversation going. ## Weaving Emotional Check-Ins Into Your Daily Routine A chart works if you use it. Anchor check-ins to the rhythm you already have. ![family sitting together at breakfast with an emotion poster nearby, child pointing to a face](./images/feelings-chart-toddlers-dont-have-words/family-sitting-together-at-breakfast-with-an-emotion-poster-nearby-child-pointing-to-a-face-ef22b2a3.webp) ### Making the Chart Part of Morning and Bedtime Rituals Point to it at breakfast and bedtime. Habit stacking: no new task, just a beat on a routine. Routines build self-regulation and emotional awareness, per [University of Wisconsin research](https://asset.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/QIFUU6YMELBQP87/R/file-27ea1.pdf). ### When to Move From a Basic Chart to a Feelings Wheel When your child points to the right face and names feelings, try a feelings wheel. Dr. Willcox's wheel adds rings to core emotions. An emotion sensation wheel maps feelings to body sensations. Keep a feelings chart for adults nearby to model the skill. See [our full communication and social skills guide](/special-needs/communication).