LAUGH FOR THE HEALTH OF IT

Why making sounds is essential for health and happiness as well as communicating

 

You’ve heard the expression that laughter is the best medicine!  So is singing, humming and howling.  No one knows this better than young children.  That’s why they sing, hum, howl and laugh up to two hundred times a day more than adults.

Like great preschool teachers and aids, children seem to know intuitively that laughing, singing, humming and howling are some of the best ways to oxygenate and stimulate every cell in the body, as well as to relax the muscles of the chest, throat and abdominal areas.  This makes your mind and body work better and in turn makes everything feel better. 

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to sing, hum, howl or laugh when you are happy and in a good mood! Well, scientific research is proving that these vocalization activities will put you in a good mood by relaxing tight abdominal muscles, make you breathe deeper and increase the circulation of blood and energy.  That’s why it’s so important to direct children to use their voices and begin experiencing and practicing the variety of ways they can make sounds and express themselves.

I have been blessed to work with some great preschool teachers and child care providers. The children in their classrooms and child care centers seem to be more happy, imaginative, considerate and cooperative than children with less cheerful role models.

The one thing these teachers and providers have in common is a consistently gentle sounding voice mixed with lots of singing and laughter.  Their children are not subject to being irritated and over stimulated by loud overemotional vocal tones.  They are fortunate to experience the sounds of adults who realize that their voices can set the tone and vibration for creating a cool, calm and peaceful atmosphere.  

“Don’t let your negative emotions control your voice, let your voice control your negative emotions.”

If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then the voice is the sound of the soul coming out. You can try some of the following Funsical Vocalization activities with your children throughout the day to help them achieve the great benefits of being able to control their voice.

For example, you can teach your children to recognize letters and numbers by singing them in ascending and descending scales.  Show the letter A and sing the name of the letter going up five scales, then sing the soft sound of the letter coming down five scales.

Here are some examples of how you can illustrate this on a white board or worksheet to help your children follow along visually.       

        

        A a                       B b                       4 5                       6 7                      U u

       A    a                    B     b                   4     5                   6     7                 O     o

     A        a                B         b               4         5               6         7             I           i

  A             a            B             b           4             5           6             7         E              e

A                 a        B                 b       4                 5       6                 7     A                  a

You can try some Chuckle Jamming throughout the day by directing children to sing laughter sounds like ha, ha, ha or he, he he or ho, ho, ho. You can also try laughing to the melody of Jingle Bells or Beethoven’s Fifth? I often find that singing laughter sounds eventually turns to real laughter.

You can sing la, la, la like different types of people such as a giant, a princess, a baby or different animals like a dog – ruff, ruff, ruff, or a cat – meow, meow, meow. The possibilities are endless and making sounds is just another strategy to keep your children moving so they can keep improving and experience vitality.

For information on Scott’s Funsical audio CD’s, curriculum materials and training programs please visit www.funsical.com or call 303-902-4985. As a valued customer of SafeGard Classes Online, you are entitled to free shipping by entering the Coupon Code – Free Shipping when ordering from his website.

© Scott Liebler 2017

Scott Liebler has been researching, teaching and developing early childhood development programs for thirty years.  He is the creator of Funsical – www.funsical.com - a curriculum of music, movement and language activities that appeal to children’s natural desire to move and have fun while developing essential skills.  He is the author of Safegard Classes Online - Music, Movement and Language early childhood courses and How to Take a Chill Pill stress management class. He has served as an adjunct faculty member for Front Range Community College in Denver, CO, a seminar presenter for the Bureau of Education and Research (BER) and administers the Move to Improve program for early childhood communities.  For information on Funsical audio CD’s, curriculum materials and training programs please visit www.funsical.com or call 303-902-4985.