From Giggles to Growth: What Kids’ Jokes and Laughter Tell Us about Development

Words by: Ashely Taira

Bath time isn’t just about getting clean, it’s also an opportunity for play, bonding, and laughter. A common theme we have found throughout the transcription process across families is humor during the bath time routine, with jokes and silliness often taking the center stage. As parents know, children’s humor can be very clever, and can take all sorts of unexpected twists and turns. Whether it’s a playful pun, a made-up song, or a silly splash, humor during bath time helps children experiment with language, understand social cues, and strengthen emotional bonds with caregivers. Here are a few ways in which laughter contributes to overall cognitive and socioemotional development.

Social Competence

Children’s humor does not develop in isolation – it is deeply influenced by their social environment and interactions with others. As children go through their lives and see different aspects of the world around them, they observe and engage with caregivers, family members, and peers, informing them of what proper social communication and interaction looks like. Through these interactions, children use these cues to understand what kind of jokes are or aren’t socially acceptable in different situations, and how humor can be used to connect with others.

Within this study, a lot of the laughter we see stems from splashing in the bathtub, and social competence is facilitated by the caregiver. Here is an excerpt from a family that really enjoys splashing:

% CHI splashing in the water.

*MOM: Kadunk.

% CHI splashes again, laughing.

*MOM: That makes a funny noise doesn't it?

*MOM: Kadunk.

*MOM: Kadunk.

*MOM: Oh my.

% CHI laughing.

*MOM: Is that funny?

*MOM: You’re so funny.

*CHI: Kadunk.

Through playing with their child, the caregiver here is signaling to their child that splashing in the water is humorous and appropriate for the context, which is reinforcing the child to continue splashing.

Humor’s prosocial aspect is also an important way to learn social norms and successful peer acceptance. As children refine their sense of humor, they learn to adapt their playful behavior based on their audience. For example, experience and social feedback helps children recognize that what may be funny to their friends may not be appropriate in the classroom or around teachers and other authority figures. This ability to tailor humor to different social contexts demonstrates an increasing awareness of social norms and expectations, which is a key component of social competence.

Vocabulary Skills

Children’s humor also helps build their vocabulary through imitation. If children are attempting to repeat or extend a funny joke they heard from a peer or adult, this requires a memorization and encoding of new words that they may have not been previously familiar with. The more this joke is recalled and repeated, the more these newly learned concepts and words are reinforced and applied in different situations.

In terms of extending beyond things they have heard, children are also remarkably creative with rhymes. Rhyming and generating new rhymes adds to one’s vocabulary repertoire by encouraging children to experiment with language, identify patterns in words, and discover new word associations. By playing with sounds and structures, children enhance their phonological awareness – a critical skill for reading and language development.

Here, we can see a parent and a child singing a funny song that involves rhyming. This song was repeated throughout this bathtime recording and several ones after, reinforcing the learning of the words in the song:

*MOM: I had a tiny turtle.

*MOM: His name was Tiny Tim.

% CHI laughing.

*CHI: Ahh.

*MOM: I put him in the bathtub to see if he could?

*CHI: Swim.

% CHI laughing.

*MOM: He drank up all the water.

*MOM: He ate up all the soap.

*MOM: And now he’s sick in bed.

*MOM: With bubbles in his?

*CHI: Throat!

*CHI: Womp womp womp womp.

% CHI laughing.

*MOM: Womp womp womp.

*MOM: Good job buddy.

Problem-solving and Creativity

Humor encourages kids to think flexibly and abstractly. Crafting jokes and finding clever ways to express humor requires cognitive effort and helps develop problem-solving skills, which become more refined with practice and experience. Additionally, things like humor and wordplay often require making connections between seemingly unrelated ideas, fostering divergent thinking.

Humor is also central in storytelling and role-playing. Children often invent imaginative scenarios, exaggerate situations for comedic effect, or create absurd solutions to everyday problems – all of which stimulate creative thinking. By engaging in playful humor, children practice thinking outside the box and exploring novel perspectives, which can help them approach challenges with more innovation and adaptability.

Here is an example of a family playing pretend while using soap in the bathtub:

*MOT: There, let's split the soap.

*SIB: I’m going to have a beard.

*CHI: I have a beard.

*SIB: Oh look.

*SIB: It’s on me.

*SIB: I’m George Washington.

*MOT: You’re George Washington.

*CHI: Ah hahaha.

*SIB: Hey, you got my beard!

*MOT: It’s okay, we can have two George Washingtons.

Conclusion

Laughter during bath time accomplishes much more than creating a fun environment – it fosters social, emotional, and cognitive development in your child. Next time you hear a burst of laughter from the bathtub, know that you’re witnessing a moment of growth, learning, and joyful connection.

Speakers & Notes

*CHI = The child of focus in our study

*MOT = An adult female speaker presumed to be the child's mother

*SIB = A sibling of the child

All names changed for anonymity.

Citations:

Piotrowski, C. (2014). Children and laughter: A winning combination. MSU Extension. Retrieved from https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/children_and_laughter_a_winning_combination

Semrud-Clikeman, M., & Glass, K. (2010). The relation of humor and child development: Social, adaptive, and emotional aspects. Journal of Child Neurology, 25(10), 1248-1260. https://doi.org/10.1177/0883073810373144

Venkatesan, S. (2022). Developmental trajectory of humor and laughter in children. World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 15(2), 217-224. 10.30574/wjarr.2022.15.2.0810

Zhou, Z., Wu, J., Luo, H., Guo, Y., Tu, M., Yu, Q., & Zhang, L. (2021). The effect of humor on insight problem-solving. Personality and Individual Differences, 183, 111105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111105