Squirt Guns

I was a little scared the other day. I was at a birthday party and everybody had squirt guns—except me! No fair! I was glad when they put their squirt guns down. I didn’t want my clown stuff to get soaked! My silk scarves would run, my coloring book would get soggy, and my magical Wiffle® dust would clump. That would not be good for the birthday guests or me!

Some people think it’s funny to be mean to a clown. Maybe they’re afraid the clown is going to play a trick on them. Some clowns are like that but I’m not. I believe in the “Golden Rule.” In case you forgot, that’s where you treat others the way you want to be treated. I do have a squirting flower but I’ve never used it on a person, only fellow clowns who know what it is.

Cooling off in this sweltering summer heat is important. Squirt guns are a fun way to cool yourself and others off when you and your friends are in bathing suits or play clothes and equally “armed.” But it’s not nice to squirt an unsuspecting, unarmed victim!

Do you think it’s fair to squirt a clown with a squirt gun? Why/why not? Leave me a comment below. Until next time…have fun!

Practical Jokes

Practical jokes can be fun for everyone but not when they’re mean. I don’t like pranks where someone can get hurt or made to look really foolish. I especially don’t like pranks where something gets damaged. Egging someone’s car might seem harmless and funny. But a raw egg can ruin the paint on a car. It is very expensive to fix.


I do enjoy a good April Fool’s joke. One time my fourth graders had worked really hard one March 31 on their MCAS test. The next day, April first, I told them that the state of Massachusetts had messed up and they had to retake the previous day’s exam. Boy, were they mad...until someone figured out the date! That was a pretty harmless prank but oh so funny! The entire class enjoyed a good laugh when they knew I was kidding. I still chuckle when I recall the looks on their faces!


What’s your favorite April Fool’s Day prank?

What's So Funny?

My favorite kind of humor is a play on words. The English language has so many synonyms and homonyms that it’s easy to make jokes. I like to use them with my fourth graders to enrich their vocabulary.

I first started with jokes when I got a set of joke books as a gift one Christmas. I read and memorized lots of jokes and riddles and then drove my family insane with my delivery. To this day I strive to see the humor in situations so I can provide funny quips to make my friends laugh. Here’s an example:

Me: Knock Knock

You: Who’s there?

Me: Radio

You: Radio who?

Me: Radio not, here I come! (Ready or not, get it?)

My least favorite kind of humor is put down humor. Put down humor is actually a type of bullying. To make fun of someone and then say that you’re only joking is not acceptable. Put down humor hurts! Here’s an example:

Mary: You don’t know fractions? You’re stupid.

John: That’s not nice, I’m going to tell the teacher.

Mary: I’m just joking, silly.

Another type of humor that can get “old” is a kind of put down humor that is directed at one’s self. When you make fun of yourself, it tells others that it’s okay to make fun of you as well. This is very negative and people will start believing it or even worse, you will!  Here’s an example:

Imani: Oops, I forgot my homework. What a dummy!

Juan: Maybe we should start calling you “Dummy Imani.”

Have you ever been put down and then told the person was only joking?  Leave me a comment.