You may have heard of Brain Breaks from your child or your child’s teacher. These are short activities, often only 1-3 minutes long, that help kids get ready to learn or refocus on the task at hand. They often involve physical activity and movement though relaxing activities can also boost mental brain power.
Brain Breaks can help to energize and stimulate kids’ brains and can help them concentrate and relieve stress. And isn’t that something we can all use a bit less of these days? So in addition to encouraging your kids to participate in these fun breaks, join the kiddos and have some refreshing, stress-free fun yourself, too!
Every Monday morning we’ll share some fun, brain-boosting activities that you and your kids can do throughout the week or that may inspire you to develop some of your own. We suggest scheduling Brain Breaks into your day before fatigue sets in, and do them impromptu when you see your child’s attention is waning or they start getting the fidgets.
Younger kids may need breaks after 5-10 minutes of focused time while older kids can often focus 20-30 minutes between breaks. Keep in mind that the goal with Brain Breaks is to always refocus kids in the work so even if you can’t finish a brain break because they’re ready to get back to work, that’s ok! All kids are different and you know your child best – schedule and do what works best for your child!
Here are some Brain Break suggestions to get you started:
Take a dance break.
Play a favorite song or playlist. Even just a few minutes will help get the wiggles out and elevate your mood. Looking for some music? Check out hoopla for free music you can stream or download.
Pedal an imaginary bike.
Grab the pretend handlebars with your hands and move those legs! It gets even funnier when you lie on the floor and pedal your legs in the air! When your ride is done, settle back in with a silly story like “Duck on a Bike” available in BookFLIX .
Jump!
Bend your knees and swing your arms up high. How high can you jump? Repeat for 1-2 minutes. Can you jump as high or as far as a frog? Learn how a frog jumps at DKFindout.
Play an imaginary game of H.O.R.S.E.
Pretend you’re holding a basketball. Dribble it and make hoop shots. For each shot, shout out the next letter of the word “horse.” Bonus: Your child gets a short spelling lesson!
Breathe with bubbles.
Grab a bottle of bubbles. Gently blowing bubbles is playful and it helps kids breathe deeply. This might even inspire a science lesson on bubbles. Check out “Pop Goes the Bubble” on Explora.