Laughter—It’s Good for the Soul

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Laughter is good for the soul

 

When was the last time you laughed at yourself? Better question— when was the last time your children laughed at themselves?

Humor is a fundamental item in the world of drama and especially useful in our Drama Kids International programs. Not only is laughter good for the soul, but being able to laugh at yourself also has many practical benefits, including boosting leadership skills and aiding mental and physical health!

According to Lifeway’s Selma Wilson, there are three excellent reasons that leaders should be laughing at themselves: It makes them real, it makes them reachable, and it helps gives others the freedom to laugh at themselves as well.

These three things can also translate for children, especially those who are interested in leadership or performing. Often, those in leadership roles can seem disconnected from the population, but by realizing that laughing at themselves is 100 percent OK, it helps them seem no different than you or me. We are all human, and funny goof-ups happen. Being able to laugh at those is what helps us keep our humanity intact!

Laughter truly can be the best medicine where our physical and mental health is concerned. According to NBC News Better, not taking ourselves too seriously has excellent benefits for mental health. Laughing at yourself is a sign that you’re more resilient and able to handle life when it doesn’t go your way. The news station also referenced a 2009 study by the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore that found how an active sense of humor can help protect against heart attacks and prevent heart disease. Laughing at yourself can also help boost short-term memory and aid in pain management.

According to Lifehack, laughter has nine excellent benefits for our whole person.

Laughter can:

1   Stimulate the full body

2   Make you feel better

3   Increase your immunity

4   Promote heart health

5   Help you stress less

6   Increase connection with others

7   Burn calories

8   Boost mood and confidence

9   Help you get through difficult times

At Drama Kids International, we know the value of comedy and laughter and are careful to include it in all facets of our drama programs. We love to laugh and love to see children benefit from the joys of laughter.

Interested in finding out more about how laughter can help your child develop leadership skills and confidence? We’re ready and waiting to discuss it with you, as are any of our Drama Kid International locations!

The Many Benefits of Improv for Children

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At Drama Kids International, we are continually seeing the benefits drama classes can have for children. You may not know it, but our fun, fast-paced, developmental curriculum consists of more than 450 unique lesson plans – which feature various activities that aid your child in very specific ways.

From class plays, scene starters and mini-snippets (just to name a few), rest assured that each activity is helping your child continually work on speech development and communication skills, creative movement, self-confidence and other important life skills. Our favorite activities at DKI are those that focus on improvisation. After all, what better way is there to encourage creativity and imagination than by doing improv exercises?

You’ll be happy to know that there are many benefits of improv for children, and not just in the creative realm, but in the academic world, too!  Improv is most commonly found on college campuses, but some high schools have picked up on the benefits it can provide students. At Drama Kids, we’ve long acknowledged the impact improv can present. Think of it as helping boost the four C’s: creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and communication.

There’s no right or wrong answer in improv, which goes along with creativity, but you surely have to be able to think quick on your feet (critical thinking). Also, with improv, the children must work together to make things flow (collaboration) and then clearly communicate their ideas and antics.

Improv can help children learn in many different ways, including having a mutual respect for others and their ideas and building confidence that will pay dividends in the educational classroom. Improv can also be used by instructors to learn their students’ various strengths and weaknesses! For those children who are on the autism spectrum, improv can be an excellent way for them to learn how to better read body language and pick up on others’ emotions.

There is even a place for improv in your very own home! We know this may seem less than ideal, after all there are just some things that shouldn’t be improvised on. It’s more the “yes, and” aspect that applies. By utilizing this one improv rule, you can become an agreeable and active participant in your child’s life – and by listening, you can truly discover what your child wants or the motives behind his or her actions!

If you’d like to know more about the benefits that improv can have in your child’s life, our Drama Kids International team would be happy to discuss them with you! Explore our various programs online and reach out to the Drama Kids location near you – it’s time you found out why the “difference is dramatic” with DKI!