Did you know that Japanese artist Shigetaka Kurita invented emojis when he was only 25 years old? However, he was not the one who created World Emoji Day. It was created in 2014, by Jeremy Burge, the creator of Emojipedia. He organized this celebration to pay tribute to the common emoji and the impact that these expressive icons have on our online life. As the date shown on the 'Calendar' Emoji, July 17 was selected as the official date for World Emoji Day.
Here are some fun facts about emojis:
The most commonly used emoji is the Face with tears of joy.
The word emoji was added to the Oxford Dictionary in 2013.
There are now over 3,000 emojis to choose from.
The first emoji ever created was the 'Heart' emoji in 1999.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the 2017 film The Emoji Movie (rated PG) currently has a score of 7%.
More than 80% of all adults use emojis in their text messages on a regular basis.
The Oxford Dictionary named “face with tears of joy” emoji their "Word" of the Year for 2015.
Here are some family-friendly activities that you can enjoy on World Emoji Day.
Bake some sugar cookies and decorate them like emojis.
Decorate small squares of paper with matching sets of emojis and play the game Memory with them.
Make a scavenger hunt with all of the clues in emoji form.
Play pictionary using only emojis.
Try to have a conversation using only emojis.
Play emoji telephone:
Rules
No talking, use only phones.
The first person picks a phrase, famous person, movie, etc. (like in charades).
They text it to the next person in emoji form.
That person must text what they think it is in WORDS to the following person.
The next in line must use EMOJIS.
It then goes back and forth for however many people you have. See if you get it right!
Another fun thing to do is to create your own emoji riddles. These can be as easy or as difficult as you make them. Here are a few ideas.