How to Teach Kids to Tell a Joke
There’s no way you can spend time with young children without noticing their love for jokes. Perhaps, I should say, “their love for a joke”. Most young children have a favorite joke which they constantly repeat. Of course, the rest of their family pretend to be hearing it for the first time and laugh over and over again. That is, until they just can’t take it anymore and just before they go bonkers they find another audience for the child’s joke (the poor unsuspecting neighbor, an audience of dolls, the dog…) and if all goes well they will be able to teach the child a new joke, if the kid is willing to give up his old joke and try a new one.
Why does this happen? Young children can’t yet grasp the concept of a joke. They see you laugh at the punch line the first time they tell the joke and they repeat it again and again because they want to make you laugh again. They don’t understand that the funny part of a joke is the surprise ending – the punchline. Small children believe that if the audience laughed at their joke the first time it will always be funny, even if they’ve already told it a gazillion times.
Don’t worry, once your child gets a little bit older and has a fuller understanding of the language and its different nuances he’ll become a much better story and joke teller, and probably will want to build up his repertoire of jokes. In the meantime enjoy your little one, even if they make you crazy with their repeated jokes, they won’t be small for long. Tell them lots of jokes of your own, you’ll be teaching them how to tell jokes properly and they will love laughing at your jokes. You’ll be lucky to have such an appreciative and responsive audience.
Let’s face it, your kids are probably going to come home from school with some strange jokes, its par for the course, hopefully, some might actually even be humorous. These elementary school jokes normally range from “why did the chicken cross the road” to silly puns and knock knock jokes. Enjoy the jokes together with your child and teach them some new ones which they can, in turn, teach their friends.
Telling jokes is not only a great opportunity for you to spend time with your child, it is also an opportunity to encourage your child’s sense of humor, help develop their self-confidence (just watch them once they know how to tell a joke well), and teach your child language through word play.
It might be long time since you last told a knock knock or similar joke, so here’s a list of 20 classic jokes to get you started with teaching your young children some new jokes:
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Ashe
Ashe who?
Bless you!
Knock, knock
Who's there?
Orange
Orange who?
Orange you even going to open the door!
Knock, knock
Who's There?
Police
Police Who?
Police let us in, it's cold out here!
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Little old lady.
Little old lady who?
I didn't know you could yodel!
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Lettuce.
Lettuce who?
Lettuce in, it's freezing out here!
Why did the chicken cross the playground?
-To get to the other slide.
What color socks do bears wear?
-They don't wear socks, they have bear feet!
Why was the boy sitting on his watch?
- Because he wanted to be on time.
Why can't you tell a joke while standing on ice?
- Because it might crack up!
Why is 6 afraid of 7?
- Because 7 8 9!
How did the barber win the race?
- He knew a short cut.
What do you call a fake noodle?
- An Impasta
What do you call cheese that's not yours?
- Nacho cheese!
Why couldn't the pony sing himself a lullaby?
- He was a little hoarse.
Want to hear a pizza joke?
- Never mind, it's too cheesy.
What goes tick, tick, woof, woof?
- A watch dog.
What do you call a story about a broken pencil?
- Pointless.
Why was the baker rich?
- Because she made a lot of dough.
Why do owls always get invited to parties?
- Because they're such a hoot!
How does the ocean say hello?
- It waves!
Humor is good for our health and it makes for great family quality time. Jokes are an excellent way to boost your child’s confidence while having fun and making lots of great memories in the process. Teach your kid to deliver a punch line and he’ll be the joke master of his class!
