Research has shown that people remember more when they learn while laughing. It just makes sense. If you’re having a good time, you’re paying more attention. With children in your children’s church, it is especially true. Here are some thoughts on laughter from a
children’s entertainer who used to teach 5th grade.
When you are trying to come up with something funny for children, there are some tested methods that you may want to consider.
1. Exaggeration: The stand-up comic’s strongest tool is to start with a simple statement and then exaggerate it to make it funny. “My plant was looking bad. Someone said that it probably needed water. So I watered it.” Exaggeration samples: “So I stuck it in the shower.” “So I gave it a glass of water and a straw.” “So I threw it in the swimming pool.”
“God told Noah to build an ark. So he got a hammer, saw, and his three sons.”
Exaggeration: “So he got a hammer, chainsaw, giant crane, construction crew, and put it all on his Home Depot credit card because he knew that nobody would collect after the flood!”
Exaggeration is also the key to pantomime. Imitate and exaggerate to make something funny. Try acting out different reasons people come to church. (to sleep, to gossip, to pray, to sing, to get excited about the teaching)
2. Straight man, funny man: Think of all the comedy teams: Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis, George Burns & Gracie Allen, Rowan & Martin, Smothers Brothers, Abbott & Costello… The formula was that one person was the spokesperson and the other made silly comments. One was smart and one intellectually challenged. Here are some excerpts from a routine I do with a kangaroo about creation. I play it straight, as if giving a lecture, and the kangaroo throws in all the punch lines.
Tony: The kangaroo is a Marsupial.
K: That means I’m from Mars.
T: It means that she has a pocket.
K: I don’t even have pants!
T: Her ‘pouch’ is made of extra skin on her belly. And not too many animals have that.
K: You do!
T: God made her so that she can have more than one baby in the pouch and they can get different kinds of milk.
K: My son likes chocolate.
T: She has powerful legs.
K: I have my mother’s thighs! Etc.
3. Third Time is a Charm. The younger the child, the funnier something is when it is repeated. Have you ever seen a clown “accidentally” lose the hat from their head? The first time it looks like an accident. The second time it becomes funnier, because you realize it is part of the routine. The third time, done in another fashion, becomes very funny. For older kids three times is the limit. But for preschool or kindergarten it gets funnier and funnier the longer you do it!
4. Losing the hat is a form of comedy called slapstick. Physical humor. There isn’t much use for true slapstick, in which one person is hitting another in order to get laughs, but pratfalls, puppets falling, bumping into each other, etc. can add humor to a skit.
5. Voices: Use funny voices in your storytelling. Try curling up one corner of your mouth for a Southern accent. Push your lips forward as you speak for a French accent. Stick out your lower jaw and you have a reasonable British accent. Open your mouth wide with each word for a dumb animal sound. This adds animation to your face as well as your storytelling. (It’s also an easy way to get new puppet voices.) Try adding extra breath to a girl voice or an old man voice to exaggerate them.
6. Mixed up story: Last Sunday at my home church I had a puppet tell the story of Jesus calming the storm and the waves. The puppet was a little mixed-up. “Jesus was asleep in the bottom of the boat. So the disciples woke him up! Then they threw him overboard and a big fish swallowed him and the storm stopped.” The kids corrected the puppet right away and we learned what really happened. Other examples of mixed up stories: “And after 3 days, Jesus came out of the grave. And if he sees his shadow he goes back in and we have six more weeks of bad weather!” “And Moses put the ten commandments in the ark and then it started to rain for forty days and nights…” “And David picked up five stones and started juggling, and Goliath thought it was so funny he died laughing!” “David was an Israelite. That’s somebody from Israel…with only half the calories.”
7. Keep humor positive. Teasing, put-downs, or laughter at an individual are not acceptable and kids know it. Treat each other with respect in the skits, including the puppets.
It all seemed innocent enough. Monsieur Borders suggested one might find it valuable to write out all of one's show. Easy enough it seemed since the vent routines(4) are already in script form.
Then..bang..the hook...one need a common theme to unify the vent theme with the magic gimmicks capabilities.(yes, I know this is a beginner backward method.
Geez,Bruce..now we have to be elastic and creative!
So, I've shut down the whole operation for a while as I reequip and realize the every week nursery shows had their purpose.
Now it's time to recharge the batteries..think a lot about the routines and do them in my head.
Really..it all seemed innocent enough.
ron
So, you found that my advice at one point was the opposite of my advice at another. Are you surprised to find out that a ventriloquist is also a double talker?
I am finding out just how long it takes to write out what we have in our heads! One 45 minute show has taken me about 3 hours so far to type. Ouch! I'm still working on it.
That's a scary thought...writing everything down we have in our head. Too bad we can't just download it and free up the space. I've been keeping diaries of ideas for 30 years and up to about 10 years ago I had filled up about 100 notebooks...then I went about half and half notebook and computer...now it's more digital spread out between the computer, palm, and a very skimpy notebook. I wish I had just kept the paper diary going. But the idea of getting everything written down is just mind-boggling.
Although I have never met the ventriloquist from Montana, I had a mental image of what he may look like based on the way he writes. I was amazed to see the photo today and realize that I was spot on! (For other places..dead on, right on, hit the nail on the head, hit my head on a nail...)
I had you pictured correctly from the red outfit, to the white long beard! Amazing! What are the chances?
Thanks to Wanlu and Montana's Santa for the thank yous. I write on this forum because I get my ideas fleshed out by others. Thanks for turning my outlines into a full bodied program.
"Thanks to Wanlu and Montana's Santa for the thank yous. I write on this forum because I get my ideas fleshed out by others."
Ron Today Bernard we're going to talk about thank yous.
Bern Why pick on me? How about that Borders guy who doesn't thank us.
Ron Easy now. Mr. Borders is an ex teacher and he now forgets things.
Bern Sure. I heard he was a cross-eyed teacher who couldn't get control his pupils.
Ron Hold on old son, Mr. Borders taught the California kids many lessons.And he shares many jokes with world vents.
Bern Right,like to write with a broken pencil is pointless.
Ron That's a little harsh. Mr. Borders was an excellent math teacher.
Bern You means like when he asked" What did the triangle say to the circle? And then chortling replied, "You're so pointless!" Steve says Tony as a math teacher was average, but I say he was mean!(Moderator--"mean" rated a 9.8 score)
Ron I think that's enough. you're being a weapon of math disruption. What do you think Mr. Borders would say?
Bern To Santana Santa and Wanlu, thank you. To us sweet..
Ron and Bern, when it comes to gratitude for you two it goes without saying!
Actually, the reason I keep checking this site is for the Canadian input, sometimes chilling, often warm. Ron, you were very calculating with your figure in the math department! Unless Bern came up with those pointless jokes on his own. When Charlie McCarthy was asked about his ability to be so calculating I'm sure he responded, "Gee! I'm a tree!" I've never met Bern so I don't know if he's an old softie or if he's hard headed (at times). I do think he is witty.
So thanks, from a square. I'd write more but my pencil is broken, so further comments would be pointless. (That was my favorite) I also have to go out and trap a zoid. Nasty little things.
I need a script about "Healthy Habbits" I'm doing this kidshow for a pharmaceutical company on Saturday Taking Vitamins...doing excercise...stydying well etc etc etc.
Use the Drawing Board and make a sad looking character...feed him vitamins, clean water, good food and he starts moving around....talking, laughing, singing.
Use the Man eating Plant... have it GROW as you give it a few pills.
Use "OFF the METER" and measure the quality of various bottles of the companies competitor's medicines (point the sensor at their bottles of pills). then test the Pharmaceutical company's own product and it goes up...up...up 8-9-10....bang!
Use any puppet and have it be lethargic, tired, sad, listless. Use a stethoscope and listen to his heart beat, feel his head. Your not sick...you just need to exercise. Here sit up and breath in deep....breathe out..... shake it left....shake it right....etc. Add music a big song....get the audience clapping as he gains strength in his work out.
You can also use one of the Axtell "carnivores" to do food jokes with the kids.
V for vent F for figure
V: I want you to meet all the kids.
F: I can't eat all of them.
V: I said MEET!
F: Good. I like meat.
V: These are boys and girls.
F: I like boys and girls. They're delicious!
V: You're here because we want to talk about eating something healthy.
F: How many of you kids are healthy?
V: You need to eat good food.
F: How many of you kids are good?
V: But that isn't enough.
F: Where are your parents?
V: You need to take vitamins, too.
F: A?
V: Yes, Vitamin A. It's good for your eyes. Its found in carrots, so carrots are good for your eyes.
F: Don't listen to him kids. I put a carrot in my eye and it really hurt!
V: You should eat the carrot!
F: What if I don't like carrots?
V: You can also eat fish and get Vitamin A. Or you can take the vitamin every day.
F: What else is in a vitamin?
V: Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Vitamin
F: Wait! That's like the vowels! A, E,...Ummm A, E....ummm
V: I, O, U!
F: What do you owe me? (laughs silently) Hey, I need a victim.
V: You mean a volunteer.
F: I need a volunteer victim.
V: (choose someone) How about the little --with the red shirt.
F: Which one.
V: The one with the red shirt.
F: I'm color blind.
V: Well then you choose one.
F: How about the kid with the orange face?
V: (bring a child up) What did you want him for?
F: Dinner!
V: (then ask the boy if he has ever had a vitamin. What did he have for breakfast. Does he play sports. Interview him about healthy things.)
F: That sounds like a healthy kid! I wonder how fast he is. Hey, kid, will you run around in circles! I like fast food!
You can use the PB + J trick but put something healthy under the peanut butter.
Do an egg trick (egg bag, juggle eggs, or foo can with egg yolk vanishing) and talk about protein.
Coloring book trick. Every morning your body needs healthy vitamins. (show blank) Food gives it some (show drawings) But a daily vitamin gives your body what it needs. (show colors)
Silk blendo (four silks become one giant one) This fits with any theme. Have kids name different types of food that are the colors of each silk. Then when you put them together you have a square meal!
Flash paper: Sugar gives you energy, but it doesn't last long. (write the word sugar on the paper and then burn it.) Vitamins give you energy all day long! (If you have no tear paper that would be great!)(rhymes)
Multiplying pickle or foam banana trick.
Do you know the song, "I like to eat apples and bananas"? You could have one of the Amazing Apes sing that. If not, then do a regular routine with the ape and then talk about how strong it is because it exercises by playing. It also eats a lot of fruits and vegetables.
Steve mentioned drinking water. If you have the Axtell mouth puppet you can get a LOT of mileage out of putting GOOD things into your mouth. water, vitamins, fruits, vegetables, etc. The mouth could agree.
Also, the Lota Bowl is great for going back to at times during the show and saying, "Did I mention that you should drink at least 5 glasses of water each day?"
In the U.S. we have a saying. "Give me 5!" We put our hands up and clap someone else's hand. IF you do that already in the Philippines you could use Give Me 5 for 5 glasses of water each day and 5 helpings of fruits and vegetables a day. Just repeat it often during the show.
Pick 4 main points and your show will flow!
Water
Fruits + Vegetables
Exercise
Vitamins
Taking Vitamins...doing excercise...stydying well etc etc etc.