Humour in the First YearWhat research found: What you can do:

From 4 months infants laugh when they are tickled, when you blow in their ear, or from

Try tickling your baby or blowing in their ear. See if they tickled, when you blow in their ear, or from

other physical sensations (1)blowing in their ear. See if they laugh.

Around 10 to 12 months they laugh when people do silly things, like when a parent sucks on a baby’s bottle, or plays peek-a-boo. (1)

Play peek-a-boo or walk on all fours and see if your baby laughs

From 8 months, many infants will repeat Wait for your child to do From 8 months, many infants will repeat silly actions if others laugh, e.g., making faces or walking in a silly way (2)

Wait for your child to do something funny and laugh. Then see if they do it again.

1. Sroufe, A., & Wunsch, J. (1972). The development of laughter in the first year of life. Child Development, 43, 1326-1344.

2. Reddy, V. (2001). Infant clowns: The interpersonal creation of humor in infancy. Enfance, 53, 247-256.

Humour in 1-Year-OldsWhat research found: What you can do:When 15-month-olds saw an experimenter laugh and say something in a funny tone of voice, they were surprised, and looked longer,

Laugh and then do something normal, like stroking a cat. Laugh and then do something silly, like stroking your voice, they were surprised, and looked longer,

at a normal action (stroking a cat) versus a funny action (stroking a cat on their head). (1)

something silly, like stroking your head with a cat. See how your toddler reacts. Are they confused? Do they laugh?

From 19 months, toddlers copy silly actions, like putting a boot on your hand, if you laugh. (2)

Do a silly action like putting a boot on your hand, and then laugh. See if your child will copy you. Try another silly action without laughing. See how your child reacts.

Between 20 and 23 months, if a parent jokes that an Take a familiar object, like a toy pig, and call it Between 20 and 23 months, if a parent jokes that an object is something else, e.g., that a toy chicken is a shoe, children are more likely to say words like “No” (3)

Take a familiar object, like a toy pig, and call it something else that is familiar, like a cup, while laughing, and see if your child corrects you.

1. Hoicka, E., & Wang, S. (2011). Fifteen-month-olds match vocal cues to intentional actions. Journal of Cognition and Development,12, 299-314.

2. Hoicka, E. & Gattis, M. (2008). Do the wrong thing: How toddlers tell a joke from a mistake. Cognitive Development, 23, 180-190.3. Hoicka, E. (in prep.). Joking, Pretending, and Disbelief.

Humour in 2-Year-OldsWhat research found: What you can do:Children copy wrong actions accompanied by laughter, e.g.,putting a haton over their eyes.

Do an action that kind of looks like a mistake, but kind of looks like a joke, like putting a hat on over your eyes, or putting a spoon into your cheek. See if putting a haton over their eyes.

However they’ll correct the samewrong action if the person says “Whoops!” (1)

your eyes, or putting a spoon into your cheek. See if your child copies you when you laugh, and corrects you when you say “Whoops!”

When joking around with their parents, 2-year-olds copy some of their parents jokes, and make up some of their own jokes. (2)

Joke around with your child and notice if they tend to copy your jokes, make up their own, or do both.

From 30 months, children make up their own jokes. Toddlers watched an experimenter always give the wrong object, e.g., a cup

Say you’re going to pick up a spoon, but instead pick up a dog and laugh. Try this with a few different toys. Then ask your child if they can make a joke, and ask always give the wrong object, e.g., a cup

instead of a bear. If the experimenter laughedwhen she did this, kids also gave wrongobjects (3).

Then ask your child if they can make a joke, and ask them for one toy when other toys are available. See if they give you the right toy or the wrong toy.

1. Hoicka, E. & Gattis, M. (2008). Do the wrong thing: How toddlers tell a joke from a mistake. Cognitive Development, 23, 180-190.

2. Hoicka, E., & Akhtar, N. (under revision). Humor production in preschoolers. 3. Hoicka, E., & Akhtar, N. (2011). Say the wrong thing: Toddlers joke with jokers, but correct foreigners.

Developmental Science, 14, 848-858.

Humour in 3-Year-OldsWhat research found: What you can do:

When joking around with their parents, 3-year-olds

mostly make up their own jokes instead of copying

Joke around with your child and notice if they tend to

copy your jokes, make up their own, or do both.

their parents’ jokes. (1)

3-year-olds make up their own silly words for objects.

Preschoolers watched an experimenter call objects

silly names and then laugh, e.g., calling a duck a

“wagga woo”. Children then made up their own silly

words. One child called a cup a “Goojooboojoo”. They

also laughed when they said silly words. (2)

Make up some silly words for some toys. For example,

call a banana a “moogaboo”, and call a car a “wappa

wappa” then laugh. See if your child can come up with

silly names, and if they laugh.

3-year-olds find nonsense jokes which are acted Ask your child which is funnier, and show him a

MOOGABOO

out (e.g., a puppet bouncing on his head) funnier

than normal actions (e.g., a puppet running

around waving) (3)

puppet running around waving, and a puppet

bouncing on his head.

1. Hoicka, E., & Akhtar, N. (under revision). Humor production in preschoolers. 2. Hoicka, E., & Akhtar, N. (2011). Say the wrong thing: Toddlers joke with jokers, but correct foreigners.

Developmental Science, 14, 848-858.3. Sinnott, J., & Ross, B. (1976). Comparison of aggression and incongruity as factors in children’s judgments of

humor. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 128, 241-249.

Humour in 4-Year-OldsWhat research found: What you can do:Children who are more humorous are also more prosocial (e.g., helping others) and less shy. (1)

Observe your child and their friends. Are the social ones more funny?

Some 4-year-olds start to use two forms of irony: Hyperbole (exaggeration) and Rhetorical Questions. While they do not normally respond to others’ irony, when they do, they are more likely to respond in a way suggesting they understand it’s ironic instead of literal. (2)

Say something ironic, e.g., that daddy’s the tallest person in your family, and that he’s as tall as a house. See how your child responds – do they think you’re being serious or funny? Does your child exaggerate or ask rhetorical questions?

Children find jokes that have a resolution, or make sense in a silly way when you think about it,

Ask your child which one’s funnier: 1A (a sense in a silly way when you think about it,

funnier than nonsense jokes, which are just about being absurd. (3)

one’s funnier: 1A (a joke which can be resolved) or 1B (a nonsense joke)

1. Sletta, O, Sobstad, F., & Valas, H. (1995). Humor, peer acceptance and perceived social competence in preschool and school-aged children. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 65, 179-195.

2. Recchia, H. E., Howe, N., Ross, H. S., & Alexander, S. (2010). Children’s understanding and production of verbal irony in family conversations. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 28, 255-274.

3. Pien, D., & Rothbart, M. (1976). Incongruity and resolution in children’s humor: A reexamination. Child Development, 47, 966-971.

Pretending in 1-Year-OldsWhat research found: What you can do:15-month-olds pretend with objects in a way that they are normally used. E.g., if pretending to pour a drink into one of two glasses, they will likely choose the correct glass to

Pretend to pour tea into one of two cups, and ask your child to drink the tea. See if they pick up the cup containing the tea, or the other cup.of two glasses, they will likely choose the correct glass to

drink from (1)up the cup containing the tea, or the other cup.

Almost all 16-month-olds will copy a pretend action with a real object, e.g. talking on a phone. About half will copy the same action with another object, e.g., banana or block. 75% of 23-month-olds will copy the action with another object. (2)

Pretend an action with an actual object, e.g., rolling a car around, or with a different object, e.g., a block. See if your child will copy you.

When pretending that one object (e.g., sponge) is another object (e.g., shoe) 20- to 23-month-olds will sometimes endorse the pretend actions (e.g., putting the sponge on

Pretend that a non-descript object (e.g., sponge, block) is something like a hat. See if your child will copy your actions, or do other types of actions.endorse the pretend actions (e.g., putting the sponge on

their foot) and sometimes not (e.g., rubbing their body with the sponge) suggesting they both believe and do not believe the pretend action at the same time. (3)

actions, or do other types of actions.

1. Bosco, F. M., Friedman, O., & Leslie, A. M. (2006). Recognition of pretend and real actions in play by 1- and 2-year-olds: Early success and why they fail. Cognitive Development, 21, 3-10.

2. Jackowitz, E. R., & Watson, M. W. (1980). Development of object transformations in early pretend play. Developmental Psychology, 16, 543-549.

3. Hoicka, E., & Butcher, J. (in prep.). Belief-Based Actions in Humorous, Pretense, and Literal Toddler-Directed Acts.

Pretending in 2-Year-OldsWhat research found: What you can do:28-month-olds build on pretend scenarios. E.g., if pretending to spill water, they will clean it up or comment on the spill. (1)

Pretend to knock over some “water”. See if your child makes a comment or cleans it up.comment on the spill. (1) cleans it up.

Most 2- to 2.5-year-olds engage in cooperative pretend play. This means children pretend together in complementary roles, e.g., playing families with different family members. (2)

Try to engage your child with another child in a game of families. See if theywill play together and take on different roles.

2.5-year-olds can tell the difference between reality and pretending. When one person pretended to eat (making eating noises, holding food longer than

Pretend to eat some food and ask your child if you were really eating. Eat some food for real and ask your child

usual) and someone else really ate, children were good at finding the container that really had the food. (3)

if you were really eating.

1. Harris, P. L., Kavanaugh, R. D., Wellman, H. M., & Hickling, A. K. (1993). Young children's understanding of pretense. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 58, i+iii+v+1-107.

2. Howes, C., & Matheson, C. C. (1992). Sequences in the development of competent play with peers: Social and social pretend play. Developmental Psychology, 28, 961-974.

3. Ma, L. and Lillard, A.S. (2006). Where is the real cheese? Young children's ability to discriminate between real and pretend acts. Child Development, 77, 1762-1777.

Pretending in 3-Year-OldsWhat research found: What you can do:From 3 years, children understand that people can do wrong actions in order to pretend. E.g., if leavingon a marker cap while pretending to colour. (1)

Pretend to colour with a marker cap still on. Does your child copy or correct you?on a marker cap while pretending to colour. (1) correct you?

When 3-year-olds are engaged in a pretend scenario, they take it very seriously. For example, if you pretend that a sponge is a sandwich, and then someone comes along and tries to clean the table with it, children will object. (2)

Use an object, like a sponge, in a pretend way, e.g., as though it was a rabbit. Then start clean with the sponge and see if your child objects.

Culture affects 3-year-olds’ pretend play. Anglo-American children act out fantasy roles, like batman,

See if your child prefers to dress up like batman and spidermanor American children act out fantasy roles, like batman,

while Korean-American children act out family roles. (3)

up like batman and spidermanor play families.

1. Rakoczy, H., Tomasello, M., & Striano, T. (2004). Young children know that trying is not pretending - a test of the "behaving-as-if" construal of children's early concept of "pretense". Developmental Psychology, 40, 388–399.

2. Wyman, E., Rakoczy, H., & Tomasello, M. (2009). Normativityand context in young children’s pretend play. Cognitive Development, 24, 146-155.

3. Farver, J. M., & Shin, Y. K. (1997). Social pretend play in Korean- and Anglo-American preschoolers. Child Development, 68, 544-556.

Pretending in 4-Year-OldsWhat research found: What you can do:

From 4 years, children engage in complex social pretend play with other children, where children play reciprocal

See if your child will play doctorand patient with you or another

roles in pretending, and talk about what they’re doing. (1) child, and listen to whether they comment on what’s going on.

Children who are more engagedin impersonating imaginary characters and who interact morewith imaginary companions havea better understanding of Theoryof Mind; that people can have beliefs separate from their own. (2)

Act out the Sally-Anne Task. Sally puts a ball in a box and leaves the room. Then Anne moves the ball to another box and leaves. When Sally returns, where will she look for the ball? Younger children will say the box where the ball really is. Does your child both pretend to be imaginary characters and pass this task?

Pretendingcan help children solve logic problems. If told Pretendingcan help children solve logic problems. If told “All fish live in trees. Tot is a fish. Does Tot live in a tree?” 4-year-olds answer “no” unless they pretend beforehand and are told topretend that all fish live in trees. (3)

Try some logic problems with your child, e.g., “All cats eat shoes. Fluffy is a cat. Does fluffy eat shoes?” either prefaced with “pretend that” or stating it as fact. See how your child answers.

1. Howes, C., & Matheson, C. C. (1992). Sequences in the development of competent play with peers: Social and social pretend play. Developmental Psychology, 28, 961-974.

2. Taylor, M. and Carlson, S. M. (1997). The relation between individual differences in fantasy and theory of mind. Child Development, 68, 436–455.

3. Dias, M. G., & Harris, P. L. (1990). The influence of the imagination on reasoning by young children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 8, 305-317.