Laugh the Night Away!

Looking for something different to do with the kids this weekend? Here's a fun activity from Fishful Thinking  that our family did together not too long ago. We had a great time!

Laugh Night - We can teach our children to value and savor positive emotions by creating a ritual that shines the spotlight on a positive feeling (love,humor, inspiration, interest, gratitude, joy, serenity, hope, pride or awe.) Positive emotions not only feel good, but they fuel creativity,contribute to resilience, and strengthen relationships. 

We kicked things off one Saturday laugh-afternoon by watching The Slumber Party episode from the first season of The Cosby Show (my favorite!) - the one where Rudy has EIGHT kids sleep over, and Dr. Huxtable does the Bucking Bronco thing on his knee with each one of them. Hilarious. Abby and Noah thought it was really funny too. Then we made giant pancakes for dinner and used all kinds of fruit to make funny faces on them.

Decked out in silly hats, we even had a bubble blowing contest with our milk! The kids were loving it - especially since I'm usually telling them not to do that. We also read some jokes from a kids' joke book and had a couple of laughs - pretty cheesy stuff.

After we finished our pancakes, it was time for a game. I wrote some silly things on index cards - do the chicken dance, make a fish face, pat your head & rub your belly, etc...- and we had to pick a card and do what it said. That probably got the most laughs of the evening...well, that and an online episode of Wipe Out. I tell ya,  the kids and their dad can't get enough of that show. They were cracking up.

All in all, it was a cool family night - easy, fun, and free! We'll have to do it again soon, but next time maybe watch a funny movie instead...'cause this mama can only take so much of Wipe Out.

*Originally posted in August 2010