There is no better feeling in the world than watching your baby laugh. A baby’s laughter is contagious and can take the blues away. Every parent wants to know how to make a baby laugh so that they can cheer up their little ones more often and forge an everlasting bond. Laughing is also the best medicine to keep ailments at bay and keep you free from stress. In this post, we share some easy ways to make a baby laugh. Try any of the ideas and have a good time.
Key Pointers
- Babies start laughing at around four months and respond to anything absurd by five months.
- Ways to make babies laugh include blowing raspberries, playing chasing games, peek-a-boo, pat-a-cake, tickling, and making funny faces.
- Laughter provides physical and emotional benefits to babies, including bonding, brain stimulation, and activation of emotional, motor, and cognitive areas.
- Maintaining eye contact, smiling, and performing antics also make babies happy and laugh.
- Parents should observe their child’s behavior and stop if the baby seems distressed.
When Do Babies Laugh?
Babies first laugh around four months of age (1). It is unclear whether or not they can understand humor at this age. But by five months, they laugh in response to anything absurd.
They laugh independently of whether their parents are laughing or not. They seek everyone’s attention with their smiles and laughter. Laughing is good for your baby’s health and is the best way to bond with them. So, make them laugh as often as possible.
Here is a quick guide on how to make babies laugh at each stage:
- Newborns to 12 months: Blow raspberries on your baby’s belly, play peek-a-boo, pat-a-cake, make funny faces and voices.
- One to two-year-olds: Do funny antics, and play chase games or race games.
- Two to four-year-olds: Recite funny rhymes, sing songs, and crack jokes.
Ways To Make Babies Laugh
It’s easy to arouse amusement in babies through simple games, which will also help them develop cognitive, emotional, and social skills (2).
- Blowing raspberries: Gently blow on your baby’s skin, feet, or stomach. Also, smile and laugh following each raspberry. As per a study, infants are more likely to find blowing raspberries amusing when parents exhibit excitement by laughing or smiling (3)
- Chasing: If your tiny tot has started crawling, chase them saying, “mama bear is out to get you.” That can leave them roaring in laughter.
- Biting: Pretend as if you are nibbling on your baby’s hand or leg, and they will find it ridiculous. Repeat the prank on their stomach, fingers, and toes. Your attempt at bringing levity will certainly meet success.
- Physical games: Games that involve touch are useful for bonding with your baby and making them laugh. For example, you can play the ‘steal your nose’ game. Pretend you have stolen your baby’s nose and show your thumb (as their nose) through your fingers. They are sure to laugh!
- Peek-a-boo: As per a study, infants as young as 3.5 months grasp the concept of object permanence and have the ability to react to it (4). So, they will probably love the suspense and surprise element of peek-a-boo games. The moment you appear from behind the couch or screen, they burst into laughter. Using a bright-colored blanket to play peek-a-boo makes it exciting and fun for babies. It creates an atmosphere of playfulness.
- Pat-a-cake: Make actions while you sing the rhyme ‘pat-a-cake’. Clap your hands and alternately pat on your thighs and continue singing while laughing. Your baby is sure to respond with laughter. Your baby is sure to laugh with glee.
- Little piggy: Use your little one’s toes to play this game. Touch each one of your child’s toes starting from the big toe and tell him ‘the big toe went to the market’ and end the game with the little toe saying ‘the little toe says hee, hee, hee’ which might end up in your baby saying ‘ha ha ha’.
- Horse riding: Make your baby sit on your knees and move her up and down with a ‘horse galloping sound’ as if they are riding a horse. Your legs might hurt, but your baby will just want it more and continue laughing.
- Tickling: Whether it’s on their feet, stomach, or armpits, you can tickle babies to make them laugh. Additionally, laugh and maintain eye contact while tickling them, as studies have shown that such actions are more likely to elicit a reaction (5). However, do not go overboard when tickling your baby.
- Funny faces: Make funny faces by sticking your tongue out, making bunny teeth, using your hands to make imaginary figures, and talking in a humorous tone. Dance and sing with a funny tone. As per a study, absurd nonverbal behaviour, known as ‘clowning’, can elicit reactions such as smiling and laughing (6).
What Does Laughing Mean In Babies?
Laughing is an important milestone that indicates the baby’s cognitive, social and emotional skills. Laughing, just like other basic activities, seems to evolve as babies grow and that reflects their development.
Laughing In Babies At Various Stages
Let’s look at what makes babies laugh at the different stages of their childhood (8) (9).
- Three months: Babies learn by imitating. The mirror neurons in them imitate your actions, including your smile and laughter. So, they inevitably laugh out when you do. For example, when you play pat-a-cake, your baby imitates you and thereby learns from you. They also laugh when they are happy. Therefore, make gentle sounds and facial expressions when playing with them.
- Six months: Infants can independently assess absurd situations as humorous. Once your baby’s language skills start developing, they start understanding language and sounds and are amused when they hear funny words, noises, and actions. Dorky and silly faces elicit more laughter than a straight face.
Also, they laugh if the parent is laughing. Your laugh triggers happiness and a laugh in them. Therefore, indulge in games like peek-a-boo when playing with babies aged up to six months. - Nine months: Babies begin to understand when something is out of the ordinary, for example, when you nibble at the nipple of their feeding bottle or wear your hat on your feet. Babies know that it is unusual and burst out laughing. They tend to laugh repeatedly at the same thing; so make sure that you repeat the antics many times and they will laugh each time as if it is a new thing.
What’s more interesting at this stage is that the babies try to make you laugh with their tactics like “offering and withdrawing an object to a parent, or engaging a caregiver by using fake laughter”. - 12 months: As infants grow, they no longer depend on parents to assess funny situations. However, they still take their parents’ laughter as a cue to laugh. They particularly experience delight in odd sounds such as tearing a paper. You may try making silly sounds and funny faces to elicit laughter.
- 15-18 months: Babies display their cognitive and language skills once they cross the one-year milestone. They start understanding if anything’s absurd. For example, when you put a bowl on your head as a hat, the baby might laugh out loud. Also, they are now more interested in making you laugh, and when you laugh, they laugh along.
- One to two years: Children start understanding the ‘order of things,’ and anything out of order causes much mirth in them. They laugh when an adult tells a silly joke or makes up rhymes with nonsensical words. The child has also developed a bigger vocabulary than before and uses that to understand humor.