There are so many fun and interactive brain break videos you can find online today. YouTube channels, GoNoodle, CosmicKids – The students love them and they’re relatively simple to prepare, IF you have your tech equipment hooked up and the video already bookmarked.
From time to time you’ll have scenarios with your students that aren’t quite that perfectly planned. Sometimes you’ll be learning outdoors, waiting in the gym, or sitting in the library. We all know our kids don’t always have the most patience for waiting, so I want to share with you 20 no prep brain breaks that will be perfect for when you’re waiting for the bell to ring, or have an extra 5 minutes to kill!
1 Just Jump
Not only is jumping up and down great for getting out some energy, but it also develops mental clarity and alertness in the right and left hemispheres of the brain. Just have your students pretend they’re bouncing on a mini trampoline. This is a great way to let loose some energy, while also keeping the kids’ movement on a vertical plane instead of running into one another!
2 Pattern Clap
Kids love working with rhythm and repeating patterns! As the teacher, create a 4-beat pattern by clapping, slapping your knee, or stomping your feet. The kids will then repeat the pattern back to you. After that, create another 4-beat pattern with the same actions. Your students will continue to repeat you!
3 Crossbody Twist
Cross-lateral exercises are great for the brain! Have your students put their hands behind their head and their elbows pointing out as if they were laying on the floor. Next, have them touch their right elbow to their left knee, and then their left elbow to their right knee. Encourage them to move slowly at first, as this will be tough for them to balance. In addition to the elbow twists, try windmills! Your students should stand shoulder-width apart with their arms stretched completely out beside them. Have them then bend at the waist and connect their left hand to their right toes, and their right hand to their left toes, standing up in between each time.
4 “Focus Ball” Breathing
This brain break can be done standing up or sitting down! Have your students first press their fingertips together in front of their chest, pressing the right and left hands against each other. Next, while keeping their fingertips touching, have them focus on forming a shape of a ball in their hands. Keep pressing the fingertips together until they can feel their core start to tighten. Have your students close their eyes and as they breathe in, picture the “ball” they’re holding to be inflated. As they exhale, “deflate” the ball by putting their palms together. Repeat this process for as long as you’d like!
5 Ear-Nose Switcheroo
This is one of those challenges that is so simple, but so challenging for the mind! 🙂 Your students will need to touch their left ear with their right hand, while also touching their nose with their left hand. Then have them switch so that their right hand is touching their nose, and their left hand is touching their right ear. You can finish this activity by having them close their eyes and focus on their breathing.
6 Stir the Pot
Have your students close their eyes and envision themselves standing in front of a ginormous cauldron. Ask them what they’re cooking! Soup or a secret potion? 🙂 Have them pretend they’re holding an enormous stirrer and need to stir what’s in their cauldron. Have them stir with their whole bodies in a clockwise motion, and then switch directions.
7 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Energize!
Your students will love the action and speed of this one! Choose 5 different exercises for your students to complete. They can be anything in the amounts of 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Such as 5 tuck jumps, 4 squats, 3 push-ups, 2 jumping jacks, and 1 star jump. You can switch up which actions you do in which amounts, too!
8 Facial Gymnastics
Have your students make as many facial expressions as they can for 30 seconds. They can raise their eyebrows, scrunch their nose and lips – as much as they can do with their faces. They will find this hilarious when facing a partner!
9 Doodle Break
Giving your brain a break doesn’t always have to mean physical exercise or movement. Sometimes what your students’ brains need is just to relax and let their minds wander! Give each of your students a piece of paper and pencil and let them doodle for 3-5 minutes. You can also play some calming background music to help put their minds at ease.
10 Skip/Jump Rope
Another way to incorporate jumping is to have your students pretend to jump rope. I suggest playing fun, upbeat music and encouraging them to skip or jump rope to the beat! This is a great way to get their blood flowing and increase their energy.
11 Play Popcorn
Have your students sit at their own chairs or in a circle on the floor. Any student can decide to “pop!” by just standing up. Once that student pops, they stay standing, waiting for the rest of the class to pop. If multiple students try to “pop” at the same time, everyone has to sit back down and the game starts over. It’s exciting to see how quickly the entire class can “pop” without having to start over!
12 Hit the Wall
Line your students up facing a wall and have them stretch their arms out so that only their palms are touching the wall. Next, have your students push against the wall with their palms as hard as they can while you count aloud to 10. They can relax for 5 seconds, and then have them push again.
13 Cat/Cow Poses
To have your students correctly perform the cat/cow positions, have them start on the floor on their hands and knees. Have them position their shoulders directly above their wrists, and hips should be aligned right above the knees. To do the cow pose, encourage your students to lift their hips, drop their belly, and tilt their head up to look forward. To do the cat pose, have your students press their hands down into the ground and round their backs.
14 Balance Break
Having good balance can improve coordination and help prevent lots of injuries! Have your students start by standing on one leg and then hopping up and down. You can make this more challenging by having them bend their other knee out in front of them.
15 Freeze Dance
Choose some fun music to have your students dance around to. Every few moments, pause the music. When the music is paused, your kids must freeze in whatever dance move they were doing at the time. Anyone who moves is out!
16 Hot Potato
Use a bean bag, stress ball, or even a small stuffed animal to have your students toss around to one another while music is playing. Whoever is holding the object when the music stops is out!
17 Rock-Paper-Scissors
Of course you are familiar with rock-paper-scissors. 🙂 Kids will always enjoy a quick “best 2 out of 3” match, but if you have enough time, set up a bracket and have an entire tournament in your class!
18 Simon Says
I love choosing random students to be Simon! Sometimes it’s your quiet students that secretly want to be Simon the most! 😉 Being a leader is fun!
19 Telephone
Have all of your students sit in a large circle or sit next to one another, making a straight line. Choose a phrase to whisper to your first student. It can be something as simple as, “My favorite food is pizza!” Next, that student will whisper what they heard into the ear of the student next to them. This repeats until every student has heard the phrase. At the end, the last student says aloud what they believe they were told. It’s pretty amusing to hear how the phrase changes from ear to ear!
20 Pop
Pop is a perfect way to practice skip counting with your students. As the teacher, choose any number between 1 and 10 to be the magic number. Each student will take a turn counting, but when it gets to the magic number, or a multiple of that number, that student has to say pop! For example, if 2 is the magic number, the class would count 1, pop, 3, pop, 5, pop – and so on!
I hope you can take all of these ideas with you to your classroom this year, and have lots of fun with your students as you give your brains a break! What are some other no prep brain breaks you love to play with your students?
