Brain Breaks Can Be Quick!
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Do you use Brain Breaks with your students? You should! This amazing guest post about why kids need to move from pediatric occupational therapist Loren Shlaes was so popular that I decided to follow it up with a list of Brain Breaks for kids! These are great to use anytime your students are feeling restless and are struggling to pay attention, and easy to slip into your lesson plan. Most of these will only take a few minutes, and then you can get back to the lesson with your students ready to focus on the lesson at hand. Check out all our Games!
20 Brain Breaks You Can Use Today!
- 5-4-3-2-1 In this simple game, students stand up and the teacher (or leader) has them do five different movements in descending order.
For example the teacher would say: “Do five jumping jacks, spin around four times, hop on one foot three times, walk all the way around the classroom two times, give your neighbor one high-five (pausing in between each task for students to do it).
- Trading Places Have students stand behind their pushed-in chairs. Call out a trait, and everyone who has that trait must change places with someone else (students who do not have the trait stay where they are). Examples: “Everyone with curly hair.” “Everyone who ate cereal for breakfast.” “Everyone who is wearing stripes.”
- Six Spots Number six spots around your room from 1-6. Have students each go to a spot of their choice. Choose a student to roll a die (if you can make a big one out of foam, it adds to the fun). All the students at the number rolled must go back to their seats. Students that are left go to a new spot, and the die is rolled again. Continue until only a few students are left. You can click here for a digital dice you can project! Here’s another way to roll a brain break!
Have you tried Minds in Bloom Unlimited? Sign up for a free trial and choose 3 Brain Break Activities of your choice!
Be sure and check out our new blog post: Brain Breaks for the Online Classroom
TAG: Brain Breaks
- Mingle, Mingle, Group! In this game students mill about the classroom saying, “mingle, mingle, mingle” in soft voices until the teacher says, “Groups of 5,” at which point the students must quickly group themselves into groups with the correct number of people. Students who are left over must do three jumping jacks before the next round starts. The teacher can call out any number for the group size. You can also add rules such as: as soon as a group is complete, all members must sit down in a line.
- Dance Party! Put on some rockin’ music and dance! If you can make the room semi-dark and have a black light or other special effect, your kids will love it!
- Freeze Dance! Similar to Dance Party, except that every so often the music stops, and students must freeze and hold the position they are in until the music begins again.
- Name Moves Students stand behind their chairs. In turn, each student says his or her name accompanied by a special movement. For example a student might say, “Kayla!” while dramatically dropping to one knee and doing Jazz Hands. After the student does his or her move, the rest of the class says the student’s name in unison and imitates the move. Then it is the next student’s turn.
- Keep It Up Students must keep a beach ball from hitting the ground. Add two or three balls to make it even more fun.
- Simon Says An oldie but a goody!
- Movement Songs Sing a song with whole-body movements, such as, “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes,” “Father Abraham,” “Toe-Knee Chest-Nut,” “Shake Your Sillies Out (Raffie),” “Grand Old Duke of York,” “My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean,” etc.
- Recorded Movement Songs Older students might enjoy a simple Zumba routine, YMCA, or the Macarena. Littler ones will love Sesame Street’s A Very Simple Dance to Do.
- Animal Pretend Younger children will enjoy pretending to be various animals (or even objects such as lawn mowers or airplanes). Call out a few in sequence.
- Would You Rather Ask a “would you rather” question and have students show their choice by moving to one end of the room or the other. Have a few kids share why. Here are 20 free “Would You Rather” Questions to get you started.
- Find It Fast Call out a color or other trait (e.g. something round, something made of wood), and students must find an object in the room that fits the trait and get to it quickly.
- Physical Challenges Challenge students to do something physically difficult, such as standing on one foot with arms extended, or this one: Grab your nose with left hand, and grab your left earlobe with your right hand, and then quickly switch so that your right hand is on your nose and your left hand is grabbing your right earlobe. Yoga poses could also be a good variation.
- Plates Give each student a paper plate. Students must walk around the room balancing the plates on their heads. If a student drops his or her plate, the student must freeze until another student picks it up and places it back on the student’s head (while keeping his or her own plate in place, of course).
- Line Up! Have students line up using a specific criteria, such as age (use day and month, not just year), height, alphabetically by middle name, hair length, etc.
- Limbo All you need is a long stick and a pair of kids to hold it. Music is nice, too.
- Human Knot Divide students into groups of about eight students. Have students each grab right hands with someone who is not directly next to them. Then do the same with left hands. The challenge is to untangle and become a circle without releasing hands.
- Jump Skip Counting Have students count by twos, fives, tens etc. while jumping with each count. You could also practice spelling words this way.
Looking for more Brain Breaks for Kids? You can get 60 of them in both a convenient card format right here and a digital Google Slides format! Just click here!
RANDOM Brain Break Chooser!
Brain Breaks to the Rescue!
Whether you’re teaching 5th grade or kindergarten, brain breaks belong in your daily routine and can significantly boost students’ mental health, focus, and overall classroom experience.
These short, engaging activities are perfect for providing a much-needed mental break, especially during long periods of instruction. With a wide range of ideas (I mostly used 4th grade brain breaks!) available, it’s easy to find activities that cater to different interests and energy levels.
As educators, it’s essential to keep our classroom ideas fresh and engaging, and incorporating these brain breaks can be a game-changer for indoor recess or as a quick pick-me-up during the school day.
By making time for these rejuvenating exercises, you’ll create a positive classroom environment that helps your students develop healthy habits for managing stress and maintaining focus.
So go ahead, give these brain breaks a try, and watch your students flourish both academically and socially!
What’s your favorite Brain Break? Leave it in the comments!
Another great resource, Rachel! I have a group that needs lots of brain breaks, and I'm always looking for new ideas!
Sally from ElementaryMatters
Thanks so much Sally! It was a fun post to write!
I am doing a presentation on the importance of brain breaks in a few months and these are great examples!
Rachel I liked these ideas so much I tweeted them! Thank you so much! Much needed in this time of testing!
Great ideas! I also use movements with sight words ~ as I display the sight word, students jump, shoot a basketball, wiggle on down, etc. while saying the word. I'd much rather have active learning happening in my classroom, and I can't wait to try some of your tricks! (Found them on Pinterest.) 🙂 Thanks for posting! 🙂
This is just what we needed to break up our routine. I have some busy littles this year who will really benefit from these breaks! Thanks so much!!
I do not suggest using a strobe light. Many people are prone to seizures from strobe lights and if your students are 10-16 years old they're even more prone to it.
I had not considered that about the strobe light. Good point. I edited the post and took the strobe light out.
Thanks so much for posting!
I've used some "cross-body" exercises as brain breaks also, where students have to touch right elbow to left knee, etc. It's supposed to help the brain make connections more easily.
As a special needs prek teacher I have used "Smart Moves" and "Brain Gym" for years and once I was back in regular education I realized that the same activities work for them as well. So we always do a Brain Gym activity before learning something new or a review! Love these three minute brain breaks and I am going to have to start something like this for next year.
Deb at Fabulously First
As a former student and a lifetime introvert, I find most of those games to be daunting. Maybe you should also come up with some of these games for the more demure students.
I recommend the following CDs (found on Amazon) which incorporate some great musical movement brain gym aspects
Catch A Brain Wave Fitness Fun -Ronno & Liz Jones-Twomey
Brain Boogie Boosters -The Learning Station
Jumpin' & Jammin' -Greg & Steve
All of these have movement/actions in the lyrics and are fun for preschool/elementary age children. We have homeschooled preschool and find that doing a brain dance as a transition really helps our kids focus for the sitting and writing practice.
Kelly
Thanks for posting such a usable list! Got it printed and making my cheater cards as we speak! :)) A new fan here! :0)
Love this list! Such great ideas that really bring the energy back to where it should be.
Thanks for the idea compiling. This is so helpful!
Laurie
Chickadee Jubilee
Thanks! i got some really great ideas! I love brain breaks in the classroom!
Hilary
Second Grade is Out of This World!
Great ideas! Thanks for sharing.
The Six Spot activity is similar to Four Corners that I have done with kids. It occurred to me when reading this that having kids sit down when their number came up kind of defeated the purpose of a brain break. Maybe two dice could be rolled, one with the spot numbers and one with six different movements: jumping jacks, touch toes, etc. The kids in the numbered spot would have to do that number of the movement. Nobody sits down but the break 0nly goes on for about 3 minutes. Keeps all engaged.
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I've used some "cross-body" exercises as brain breaks also, where students have to touch right elbow to left knee, etc. It's supposed to help the brain make connections more easily
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Hi,
I really liked your list. Is it okay if I share it with a first grade teacher?
Of course, feel free to share!
I’ve used some “cross-body” exercises as brain breaks also, where students have to touch right elbow to left knee, etc. It’s supposed to help the brain make connections more easily
Sepatu Kickers
Brain break is must do thing for everyone. you can do this also by playing games you love.
all dbz games
Thank you! This is amazing! So helpful for students and teachers!
It looks awesome. Can’t wait
THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR IDEAS !! YOU ARE AWESOME!!!
Thanks so much! 🙂
My Favourite brain break is this one:
The class forms a circle holding each others hands. Now hand in a hula hoop which is to wander the whole way through the circle without letting go of the hands. Students usually have extra fun if the teacher times the process. My class record so far is 1 minut and 2 sec. with 21 students, so there’s room for progression:)
The class forms a circle holding each others hands. Now hand in a hula hoop which is to wander the whole way through the circle without letting go of the hands. Students usually have extra fun if the teacher times the process. My class record so far is 1 minut and 2 sec. with 21 students, so there’s room for progression:)
My Virtual class has used the 54321 Brain Breaks every day since September. They have come to love the routine and have asked repeatedly if there are any new ones! We would LOVE to see you put out a version 2.0 with different moves, and a new music track!
Does such a thing exist (maybe for older students?)
Hi 🙂 Ask your students to make a list of what they’d like to have on it and I’ll try and throw a new version together for them. 🙂 You can email me at [email protected] 🙂
Hi I’m Eric.a I have been trying to download your free cope of the brain break interactive game. It is for my students to use whilst at school. I am unable to access it so is there any help you could give?
Much appreciated, Erica.
Hi 🙂 You can email me at [email protected] 🙂
Hello! I am currently studying to become an elementary teacher. I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on when it is appropriate to allow your students a movement or brain break. I appreciate your responses!
Hello current teachers! I am currently a college student studying elementary education. I am looking for some ideas and tips when it comes to movement breaks inside the classroom. All thoughts are helpful! Thank you.
As a first grade teacher myself, I understand the importance of brain breaks and giving students frequent and safe opportunities to get their wiggles out. It has been shown that student performance improves when students are given these opportunities. When you think about it, they are only 6-7 years old. Their little bodies are not meant to be constantly sitting. I also love how this blog post has multiple brain breaks that are appropriate for my students and that they are readily available for immediate use!