11 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 E. Loizou, S. L. Recchia (eds.), Research on Young Children’s Humor, Educating the Young Child 15, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15202-4_2 Chapter 2 Young Children’s Play and Humor Development: A Close Theoretical Partnership Doris Bergen Mom says, “Are…. you…. (long pause) the cutest baby in the world????” while tickling A. (9 months). A. laughs uproariously and sometimes she even falls over with laughter. Mom: During feeding B. (12 months), I tried to remove the spoon from his mouth, but he grasped the spoon with his teeth and would not let go. While I was trying to remove the spoon, he began to laugh (and so did I). Mom: G. (age 3.5) informed me that he had changed his name. When I asked him what his new name was, he frst replied “California Beef Stew.” After I called him that a few times as a joke, he changed it to “Beef Stew with a Forklift on his Head” and laughed. Mom: B. (age 3.6) frequently laughs when objects or animals talk, in movies or books. Specifcally, she laughs at Mrs. Pots and Chip talking in the Cinderella book. Mom: We asked N. (age 3.7) if there was anything special she would like for dinner and she made an exaggerated face and exclaimed, “Pickle, peanut butter, asparagus, za’atar, spaghetti sandwich.” She played this game for about a week and we reinforced this by trying to be even more silly, suggesting, “apple, ice cream, watermelon, pancake soup?” Dad: When I asked M. (age 4.2) to tell me a joke, she said “I don’t know.” I asked again and she said “Happy birthday to you... No birthday for you!” She paused and then she started laughing. Mom: L. (age 5.4) told me this riddle and laughed: What do you call a cow with no legs? Ground beef! Then he told this joke: Knock, knock; Who’s there? Broken pencil; Broken pencil who? Never mind. It’s poinless. (Then he said, “mom, what’s poinless?” and I had to explain the word was “pointless” and what it meant.) Teacher report: A boy and girl in the playhouse initiated a series of “Pour coffee on your head; pour coffee on your cheek, poor coffee on …..etc., laughing after each new remark.” (The teacher allowed this playful humor escalation to continue.) Teacher report: The boys were making play-do cookies for Mrs. W. After she “ate” them, they laughed and said, “We tricked you – they had a bomb in them!” Mrs. W. reacted in “horror” and then the boys said, “Just a joke!” These various examples, taken from parent and teacher records of young chil- dren’s humor (Bergen, 2007, 2017), clearly show how early humor is closely con- D. Bergen (*) Miami University, Oxford, OH, USA e-mail: bergend@miamioh.edu