Make Your Baby Laugh

After all the things you do for your baby—changing, feeding, soothing, playing—there has to be some payback. And there is: Listening to a young child laugh is a beautiful thing, particularly if you’re the source of the humor. Luckily, you don’t have to be a stand-up comic to tickle his funny bone. A fake sneeze may be enough to trigger giggles, and making an apple roll off a table may send him over the edge—especially the third time you do it. If you’re stuck for material, the time-honored gags on the following page are sure to leave your kid drooling for more.

Do Silly Stuff
Try to put on your child’s pants or fit her shoes on the dog’s paws.
Place one of her toys on your head and pretend to look for it. When it falls to the floor, act startled.
Show her pictures of farm animals, but get their sounds wrong (“The cow says oink! The cat says moo!”).

Act Like a Baby
Put his pacifier in your mouth backward. Suck on it for a moment, and then spit it out in frustration.
While he’s having his bottle, try to drink from the other end.
Crawl around on the floor, and have your spouse chase after you.

Use Your Senses
Pick up your kid and pretend to eat her as if she’s a giant ear of corn (“Mmm … needs more salt”).
Smell her feet, make a disgusted face, and then push them away from you, saying, “Ewww, stinky.”
Curl your baby like a barbell, and when she gets close to your mouth, do a giant raspberry on her stomach.

Take One for the Team
Hit yourself in the head with an empty plastic bottle, then imitate Homer Simpson by saying “Doh!”
Purposely trip over one of your child’s playthings, and do a big pratfall onto the couch (“Whooah!”).
Hold a water gun or spray bottle in your hand. Point it at your face, look at the trigger, and say, “I wonder what this does.” Squirt yourself and scream. Watch your child burst into giggles.

Let Him Be the Boss
Build a big block tower. When your child knocks it over, pretend to cry.
Lie next to your toddler, close your eyes, and snore loudly. When he pokes you, lift your head up and say, “Hey! I’m trying to get some sleep here,” and lie back down. Repeat.
Hold a piece of your baby’s snack close to him, and pretend not to notice when he takes it from you. Then look at your empty hand and say, “Hey, what happened to my food?”

Go Animal on Her
Growl like a dog, and pull off your baby’s sock using only your teeth. Have her try to get it out of your mouth.
Pretend that your finger is a buzzing bee. Have it fly around before letting it land on your cheek and then on your child’s. Keep shooing it away.
Turn one of your hands into a lobster claw. Snap it at your kid and then at yourself. Make it latch onto your nose and not let go. Scream “Ouch!”

From Be Prepared, by Gary Greenberg and Jeannie Hayden. Copyright © 2004
by Gary Greenberg and Jeannie Hayden.
Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster Inc., N.Y.