A moment of laughter
May 2, 2015
When was the last time you gave yourself permission to laugh out loud? Laughter is fun, makes us feel good and can bring out the best in people. I guess that’s why they say laughter is the best medicine, right?
Humor can brighten our lives on a daily basis. When children tell jokes, they are actually playing with language and vocabulary, making associations between words and concepts. This is an important component of literacy education, and that’s no laughing matter!
April 14 is a Moment of Laughter Day, and in honor of all things funny we gathered some great tips from Babble on bringing out the giggles with your family:
- Usually a laugh begins when something is funny. Making time for playful joking and laughing at home is a great starting point and creates a safe space for your kids.
- Create an environment that allows for humor. Having funny knock-knock joke books and movies on hand are a great excuse to laugh together while spending quality time as a family.
- Play with Words. Challenge your family to see how many related puns you can string together in a conversation. A pun-marathon is great fun for car rides, or even over dinner. Puns help children exercise comprehension skills such as reasoning, inference, and context clues.
- Not in the mood for a laugh? Try smiling, even for a moment. Smiling is the beginning of laughter. Like laughter, it’s contagious.
As with any good laugh, its only fun when it’s not at the expense of something or mean-spirited. You can help grow the healthy kind of humor by teaching your kids that jokes that are cruel are not funny.
Kiddie Academy helps children learn humor through our character education program. Humor can brighten our daily lives as we smile at amusing occurrences and laugh at silly situations. Having a sense of humor can also help children develop social skills and maintain emotional and physical health. For more information, visit kiddieacademy.com.
