Idioms, Punning and Slang, OH MY!
“Let’s Not Be Boring On Purpose”
Joe walks into the room with a bounce in his step and a twinkle in his eye—the kind of twinkle that says, “Today’s going to be fun, so buckle up, creative geniuses.”
“Alright,” he says, clapping his hands once. “Today’s a fun one. Energy’s high, stories are sharp, and your characters are just about ready for their close-up. You've shaped real plots. Tested real ideas. You’ve earned the right to move forward.”
The class leans in.
“We’re almost ready to build our sets and animate. But before we grab scissors and cameras—”
He pauses dramatically.
“—we’ve got to give our characters something very important.”
A student guesses, “Shoes?”
Joe grins. “Close. But nope. Dialogue. Words. Their voices!”
The room is buzzing.
“Not just any words,” he says, “but dialogue that shows who your characters really are. Words that bounce, twist, joke, jab, and mean more than they say. Puns, slang, idioms, irony. That’s where the magic happens. That’s how we animate who they are.”
Joe gestures to the whiteboard. “Let’s start with something simple.”
He writes “Good Morning” in huge letters.
“Okay. Good morning!” he says brightly. “What’s wrong with that phrase?”
One student squints. “Uh… nothing?”
“Exactly!” another yells.
“True,” Joe nods. “But if that’s all a character says, we’ve wasted an opportunity.”
Pause.
“If we’re being creative—if we want to grab attention, entertain, surprise—are there better ways to say ‘Good Morning’?”
He turns ready to scribble in dry erase marker.
“Give me 'good morning' in different languages! Go!”
They shout.
Spanish:Buenos días!
French:Bonjour!
German:Guten Morgen!
Italian:Buongiorno!
Japanese:Ohayō gozaimasu!
Chinese:Zǎo!
Portuguese:Bom dia!
Russian:Dobroye utro!
Arabic:Ṣabāḥ al-khayr!
Joe nods, writing like lightning. “See? Already more colorful than just ‘hi.’ Now—what have you heard at home? Weird ways your parents say good morning?”
The kids erupt:
Mornin’!
Wakey wakey!
Rise and grind!
You alive yet?
Time to adult!
What’s crackin’?
'Sup, sunshine?
Look who joined the land of the living!
Morning, buttercup!
“YES!” Joe says. “Now we’re talking. Language isn’t just functional—it’s fun. These are the kinds of things that make characters feel real.”
He paces the room, pointing like a director. “Let’s take the turtle movie. If one turtle says ‘Good morning’ to another turtle, how could they respond?’”
“Shell-o, slowpoke!” says one.
“Sun’s up—time to bask!” says another.
“BOOM!” Joe jumps in the air. “That’s it. You’re not writing dialogue. You’re writing personality.”
“Now,” he says, “each group, we already nailed your story’s basics. Now let’s brainstorm what your characters might say—based on who they are. Even if it’s not in your scenes yet.”
Someone calls out: “What would a bowling ball say if it went in the gutter?”
Laughter. Then:
“I meant to do that!”
“I blame the shoes!”
“Get a grip—literally!”
Joe is delighted. “Exactly! Write it all down. Idioms, puns, weird phrases—anything that sounds like your character. Rockets, turtles, texting diapers, guttered bowling balls! Fill the page.”
Another student yells from the turtle group: “What the shell?!”
“Yes! That’s what I’m talking about. Scribes—be fast and at least… legible. Go!”
Pandemonium erupts in the best way. Pencils fly. Laughter fills the room. Bits of wordplay, accents, and bad impressions bounce off the walls.
After 20 minutes, the storm settles. Each group has a wild, brilliant page of random phrases.
Joe steps to the front. “Alright. Here’s the deal. We’re not using these lines yet. We’re going to set them aside.”
The kids groan.
“But not forever,” he says. “These ideas are now incubating. Like eggs. Or popcorn. Or suspicious leftovers.”
A giggle rolls through the room.
“Later—when we animate—some of these will hatch. They’ll be the perfect line. Or the perfect joke. But only because we wrote them down now. Out loud. On purpose.”
He taps his head. “That’s how creativity works. Get it out of your brain so it can start doing weird stuff on its own.”
The kids nod.
“Now,” Joe says with a grin. “Let’s put the dialogue pages somewhere safe. Don’t wrinkle them. We’ve got baby ideas growing in there.”
They carefully tuck their pages into folders, already looking at their stories with new eyes.
“Playing with words on purpose will get and keep your audiences attention. It will break their normal patterns of thinking!”
“That’s it for today! Toodleloo!”
Meet Joe
Animating Kids is a family affair
Founder of Animating Kids and executive producer of the Animation Chefs webseries, Joe turns filmmaking into a team sport for the content creator generation. Starring his own kids as the “Animation Chefs” with his wife, Holly, as production designer and script supervisor, Animating Kids uses a by kids, for kids cooking-show format to inspire young creators worldwide. Out in the real world, live hands-on workshops with 25,000+ students and educators trained in 20+ countries, Joe equips kids with the storytelling framework and creative vocabulary they’ll need to thrive in the digital age—whether directing a film or prompting an AI. His work proves that visual media literacy is reading and writing with sound and motion—complementing traditional literacy and making media production relevant for the todays kids.
More Testimonials:
"I am impressed by...these programs, providing young people with the skills to become creative and critical thinkers...this shares my dedication to nurturing the next generation of filmmakers and visual storytellers." — Steven Spielberg - Referencing the work of Joe Summerhays“
"Joe (Animating Kids Founder) has turned the art of movie making for kids into a science.” — Jonathan Demme - Academy Award-Winning Director
“I absolutely love Animating Kids...you have no idea how amazing it is for a span of K-9. I’ve got the whole building covered and my planning was done for me. The kids LOVE the Animation Chefs. Win, win!!” — J. Tuttle - Media Specialist
"When I found Animating Kids it changed everything. Small and not so small humans became masters of sound and motion on any subject via small group PBL dynamics." — Rachel - Tech Coach - Quebec
“Animating Kids has changed everything! Fun, relevant media-making lessons for kids, and total P.D. for my non-film making teachers. A complete solution!!” — Principal - Bronx NY
"Animating Kids really helps focus our students during remote sessions…it keeps them so engaged. Your secret recipes are a life saver." — Marisol - Sacramento Ca
"The kids love the demonstrations and it is P.D. for me as I tee it all up. Animating Kids makes me the coolest educator in their lives!" — Charlotte - London UK
"This is the most important skills-based content for today’s kids. I don't think primary educators get how impactful this approach can be. It respects media content creation as the basic literacy it is for today’s kids. — Monique - White Plains NY
“We went through the entire process (PD workshop) of learning animated filmmaking with our tablets and smartphones. We could barely keep up. In the end we came away exhilarated rather than exhausted.” — Cathy S. - Librarian“
"My head was spinning. It involved: math, writing, science, team building, art, language arts, engineering, improvisation, innovation, acting, etc. Along with another dozen areas I can’t recall. Sneaky comprehensive. Mind blown. Can’t wait to use it in class.” — Marcia - 4th Grade Teacher
“Animation Chefs have created a really inspired program! My test group of (hardened gang members) like to laugh at the videos, and they love the simple clear explanations. They just have a blast...”
— G. Zucker Austin TX
"Thank you SO much for sharing your wealth of information and opening this world to every kid! I first learned about you when my husband introduced our daughter to you. Now I am bringing it into my after school program. I’m so psyched!" — Joy H. Retail After School Specialist
"Kids sign-up for robotics, coding, and stop motion sessions. After taking all three, they rate stop motion as their favorite track BY FAR. Animating Kids is key to our success." — Shane V. After School District Lead