10 Silly and Superfluous Ideas to Keep Your Family Laughing

The old adage is true – you can either laugh or cry, so you may as well laugh. I am giving you full permission to cry, so please don’t hear me wrong, but I am also giving you all the permission to laugh. Recent events and circumstances have made us all a bit tired and a bit on edge.

Let’s also clown around a bit because endorphins are extremely necessary right about now.

1. Order hundreds of ladybugs and let them go in your backyard. You can make this educational or not… For just a few dollars, you can have a ton of ladybugs sent to your doorstep. Google is your friend, here.
2. Play the hotdog game. This is a family favorite of ours. Put a hotdog between your kids’ knees and transfer it from one person to the next down the line, and back again. That’s it. You will be rolling. If you have enough people, split into two groups and make it a race!
3. Have your kids make their own clothes. Give them some old clothing to cut up and tear apart. Maybe offer some fabric markers or puffy paint and encourage the fashion designer inside. Have a fashion show afterward. Your sanity is the limit.
4. Make up a holiday. Scrounge up some old party supplies and theme a day. You don’t have to beat it to death, but some ideas include “National Cloud Day” or “Raisin Appreciation Day.” It’s silly. It can be fun. Don’t think too hard.
5. Rainy day? Pull out some old video footage of your own childhood, or start from when your kid was born. As a child, we always watched home videos. It was an event.
6. Does everyone in your family sit in the same chair for every meal? Mix it up! Whoever’s chair you choose to sit in is who you impersonate for that meal. Just make sure no one’s feelings get hurt.
7. Find a hilarious movie to watch. Some of our favorites – The Emperor’s New Groove and Disney’s Rocketman.
8. Let the kids make dinner. Yes, you will probably cringe and you may need to make up for it with a filling snack later, but let them have control. Kitchen clean up is theirs, too!
9. Find a good hill, bring some cardboard and sled! We have a small hill in our front yard that we “sled” down pretty frequently.
10. Let the kids do your hair and make-up. Best part? You don’t even have to move.

As we settle into the normalcy that is social distancing and difficult conversations, let’s prioritize fun and laughter as well. Let us know, what are some of your favorite silly activities?