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Serious Learning Can Happen in Playful Moments!
An Excerpt From The Learning Power of Laughter
By Jackie Silberg
Did you know that laughter plays an important role in the learning process? A giggling child is not only enjoying himself, he is exercising his brain. "Humor is a vital part of ... children's educational experience," says early childhood expert Jackie Silberg, author of The Learning Power of Laughter: Over 300 Playful Games and Activities that Promote Learning With Young Children (Consortium, 2004).
Young children have a special propensity toward silliness that, according to experts (Christian Parenting Today, 2002), has important developmental benefits for building social skills, cognitive thinking and creativity. Laughter helps children retain more information, while making learning an enjoyable experience for all involved.
Laughter also creates bonds between people. "As children grow and their social world expands, they will use the link of silliness and laughter to solidify other friendships," says Silberg.
Stretching the imagination, thinking outside the box and learning to look at a situation from different angles are other long-term benefits of developing a sense of humor. "Laughter, fun and humor serve an important developmental function for young children as a way to express their growing powers of reasoning and creativity," says Silberg. "The educational value of this bond is inestimable."
Silberg suggests trying the following activities to stimulate laughter and learning with young children:
- Make up silly rhyming jingles to accompany children's names. "Because language is supposed to be logical and orderly and sentences don't usually rhyme, it seems funny to children when they do," says Silberg.
- Try tongue twisters, such as "Double bubble gum doubles bubbles." "Tongue twisters develop language fluency, alliteration skills and letter recognition," says Silberg. "[They're also] ... amusing and fun."
Tell children jokes and riddles. "Knock-knock jokes are delightful, fun ways to develop social skills because they require more than one person to play the game," says Silberg. - Do something out of the ordinary, such as wear shoes backwards or put clothes on inside out. "Children ... enjoy the implausible or incongruous – a cartoon of a fish wearing glasses or the sight of the family dog licking the dinner plates, for example," says Silberg. "Almost anything that goes against what children consider normal and predictable can tickle their funny bones."