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Home › Articles › Development › Knock, Knock, Who's There?

Knock, Knock, Who's There?

Developing a Sense of Humor in Toddlers

By Beth Hering

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Likewise, what is it about burping and passing gas that cracks kids up?

"Children (and a good many adults) love the shock factor and surprise from an unexpected noise," Dr. Shu says. "After all, a burp kind of sounds like a loud frog and not something you'd expect to come out of a big brother or baby's mouth. Getting a reaction, such as a laugh or even a frown, from a nearby grownup is likely to cause repeat performances."

This brings up another point about developing humor in children – teaching them the proper time and place, especially by example. "It is important to remember that not everything is funny and that there are times when being funny is not appropriate," Hannert says. "This balance needs to be kept in mind. Also with the development of humor is the importance of sensitivity. Children will experience others laughing at moments that are not funny and will hear people making jokes at the expense of others. Many children are quite intuitive about the feelings of others. If we model appropriate humor and guide comments and behavior in that direction, we can help our children develop into the kind of adults we like to be around."

Laughing for a Lifetime

"Developing a sense of humor is part of a long spectrum, starting from Baby's first smile to laughing at tickles or blowing raspberries to later being able to understand puns and sarcasm," Dr. Shu says.

As anyone who has ever heard a toddler try to tell a joke can attest, humor takes some time to develop. But by relaxing with our children, recognizing moments that bring our children joy and looking for the humor in situations, we can help them develop an appreciation for the lighter side of life, as well as create some hilarious family memories.

Crack Them Up!

Want to get a good chuckle out of your toddler? Here are a few ideas to please a young audience:

  • Do something the child knows is obviously wrong, like pretending to brush your hair with a toothbrush or putting a hat on your foot.
  • Ignore the obvious. Pretend not to see the child right in front of you and instead search under the bed, in the closet and under a stack of books while asking, "Where is my little boy? I don't see him anywhere."
  • Have ordinary objects talk or make funny sounds. Yell "plop" as a scoop of mashed potatoes is put on her plate. Ask her teddy bear for advice on what to wear. Pretend the towel is a drying machine that makes different odd noises as each body part is dried off after a bath.
  • Play along with his silliness. If he is pretending his shoe is a telephone, take your own off and talk into it like it is the most normal thing to do. Make comments related to the situation such as "Is this a telephone or a smellyphone?" or "I have to hang up now. My foot is cold."
  • Try some physical humor such as pratfalls, silly dances and funny faces.


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