If you ask me, random acts of kindness are some of the best acts around. I am always encouraging my speech therapy students to do caring and “out of the blue” things for others for no reason other than the fact that it’s nice to make people smile. If there is one thing that I have learned throughout my time on this wonderful planet, it’s that there is no such thing as too many smiles.
Laugh tickets cause smiles!
One way that I enjoy promoting random acts of kindness in my speech therapy room is to have my students create laugh tickets. Don’t know what laugh tickets are? Well, laugh tickets are similar to a parking ticket in the sense that it is placed on top of a vehicle’s windshield, but laugh tickets have a positive twist to them.
Have you ever received a real parking ticket?
If you have, you would certainty agree that getting one often triggers a variety of some of the worst feelings imaginable. The goal of a parking ticket is to inform you of the bad news that you owe money to the town or city where the parking violation occurred. Bleh! But here’s the thing, the goal of laugh tickets are refreshingly different. Laugh tickets are made to share a silly joke with an unsuspecting car owner in hopes of causing a genuine smile and a hearty laugh.
Are you ready for laugh ticket fun?
Have your speech student take a piece of paper and fold it in a manner that resembles a parking ticket. Then, write on the front of the “ticket” that it is a laugh ticket. Click HERE for an example.
Pick a joke!
Open up the “ticket” and write your favorite joke inside of it. Click HERE for an example. Don’t know a joke? Simply jump on the Internet with your student and find one by typing “funny kid jokes” in the search bar of your favorite search engine!
Talk about the joke!
Once a joke has been written down inside of the laugh ticket, take the opportunity to ask your speech student to describe what the joke means. For example, if the joke read, “Why did the banana go to the doctor?” and the punch line was, “Because it was not peeling well,” you would want the child to explain that “peeling well” is a play on words with “feeling well,” so on and so forth. By actively practicing the ability to verbally express the ins and outs of a joke, the child is taking steps towards being a more effective communicator.
Find a car!
Get permission from your building principal to walk outside to the teacher parking lot. Have your student pick his/her favorite car. Place the laugh ticket on the windshield and walk back into the school. Click HERE for an example.
Talk about the emotions!
Have a discussion with your student about the emotions that they believe the person will feel once he/she sees the laugh ticket.
In closing . . .
I believe that random acts of kindness are a powerful catalyst for happiness and little things like laugh tickets can easily bring happiness to our friends, neighbors, and communities. Even the smallest gestures can make a difference in someone’s life. So please, give this speech therapy idea a try and as always, let me know how it goes. I look forward to hearing from you!
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