The Powerful Giggle-Stress Busters for Students

He sneaks up behind me with a grin.

“Hey mom,” he whispers. “wanna see something funny?

SWHOOSH!

Out comes the phone with the goofy picture, corny joke, or hilarious video.

Laughter.

Science knows its benefits , the Bible declares its power, our kids love its affect, and by-golly, we all need a good healthy dose of it.

Did you know that the funny bone is connected to learning retention, relieving stress, thinking creatively, and is a magic wand to teaching students?

Bekki Sayler

“But I’m not funny,” you say.

You can change that!

Start studying and collecting good, clean, goofy jokes, images, and videos. If you want to be a super hero start surprising your kids/students with jokes every day.

But there are rules.

Here are some research-supported tips for using humor to increase retention, from Sarah Henerdon

Do

• Use humor to enhance classroom joy
• Use humor to develop a sense of community
• Use content-related humor
• Use age-appropriate humor
• “Sandwich” humor between instruction and repetition

Avoid

• Sarcasm
• Cruel or inappropriate humor
• Forced humor
• Off-topic humor
• Too much humor

Weaving laughter, smiles, and giggles into teaching and learning is an unfair advantage in the hands of a homeschool mom, classroom teacher, or professional eduator.

Laughter disarms resistance and allows information to get catapulted directly into the center of the memory.

It’s why Crash Course videos are so powerful for students. While we do not agree with all of the facts or view points, we do lean heavily on them for science and history because of the perfect blend of valuable vocabulary and processes with unsurpassable and surprising humor.

Kids and their parents need a daily dose of laughter to combat stress. Because stress is so bad. Science says so and we KNOW so.

Physical Symptoms of Stress

• Sweating
• Increased heart rate or blood pressure
• Vertigo
• Shortness of breath
• Muscle tension
• Headaches and stomachaches
• Fatigue

Emotional Symptoms of Stress

• Hostility, irritability, and other mood changes
• Increased worrying
• Helplessness
• Loneliness

Behavioral Symptoms of Stress

• Binge or reduced eating
• Drug or alcohol misuse
• Erratic sleep habits

Cognitive Symptoms of Stress

• Memory loss
• Loss of concentration
• Negative outlook
• Dissociation (i.e., disconnection from your thoughts, feelings, and identity)

Why Add Laughter to teaching?

Short-term benefits of laughter

• Cools down your stress response
• Decrease your heart rate and blood pressure
• Gives you that “ahhhh” feeling afterwards

Long-term effects of laughter

• Improves your immune system
• Relieves pain
• make it easier to cope with difficult situations
• helps you connect with other people
• lessens your stress, depression and anxiety and may make you feel happier

An Unfunny Mom’g guide to Adding Humor to Teaching

1. TRY. Hold fast to the FACT that humor can be learned. In fact, developing or refining your sense of humor may be easier than you think.
2. Turn on your humor radar. Look for funny appropriate humor everywhere: shows you watch, music you listen to, greeting cards, memes, videos.
3. Laugh. Don’t hold in your giggles. Let it out to play. Be like these quintuplets.
4. Find funny friends and spend time with them. Teach your kids to do the same. (Just teach the rules above!)
5. Add eye rolling humor into your kids’ day with notes, goofy learning activities, and jokes.

How to Seamlessly add Humor to Math Lessons

1. Get a set of joke filled math lessons that reenforce core math skills.
2. Print them out.
3. Select 1-3 joke pages for every few days.
4. Sit back and watch the smiles creep in.

Important: Know what isn’t funny. 

Don’t laugh at the expense of others. Some forms of humor aren’t appropriate. Give your kids some grace as they work this out in their lives! You may need to set some boundaries. I have five sons- we definitely have joke boundaries.