This post is all about the best brain breaks that you and your students will love!
Have you found that your kiddos start getting fidgety and struggling to focus midway through your lesson? As a teacher myself, I definitely noticed this in my class and so I set about finding strategies to help my students redirect their energies and get ready to focus again.
This is a roundup of the best brain breaks that your students will LOVE!
This post is all about the best brain breaks.
The Best Brain Breaks:
Brain breaks are a great way to give your students the space to burn off some energy or switch their brains off for a second. Because, let’s face, we expect an awful lot from our little kiddos! Whether we give them a chance to get moving with something active or find something calming for them to watch, keep reading for the best brain breaks.
1. Just Dance Videos
These have always been a hit with my classes! They are the perfect length of time and they get the kids up and moving.
Check out the YouTube channel for a huge selection of songs.
2. Mindfulness Meditation
For a calming brain break option, try some mindful meditation. You could either just put on some relaxing background music and have your students close their eyes. Or I like to put on a guided meditation video for my kiddos to follow.
3. Yoga
Cosmic Kids Yoga is one of the best brain breaks. With themed yoga adventures and a variety of time options, there really is one for every occasion!
Yoga is a great brain break because it gets kids moving but also keeps things calm too!
4. 5 Senses Noticing
Have your students sit down and see what they can notice with each sense. For example:
- I can smell the grass being cut outside
- I can hear my breath
- I can taste my strawberries still from recess
- I can feel my cardigan between my fingers
- I can see the carpet
Doing this just helps students to slow down and notice what is going on around them. No prep or technology needed and can literally take 30 seconds!
5. Sing An Educational Song
There are so many amazing educational songs on YouTube that literally link to all areas of the curriculum. Depending on what age you teach, I love to do some times table songs as brain break activities.
Just type times table songs (or whatever curriculum area you want) into YouTube and see what pops up! Warning: some of these songs will be stuck in your head for days 😉
6. Lego Stop Motion Videos
These Lego stop motion videos are so calming and satisfying to watch. Seriously, your kiddos will love them! The Lego cooking videos are also great!
7. Go Noodle Videos
These are the OG brain breaks for me and I still love to use them. Your kids will love dancing to these videos!
8. Would You Rather Game
Play a game of kid-friendly would you rather! Kids love playing this and it gives them a chance to practise their oracy and verbal reasoning skills at the same time!
You can either just think of your own would you rather questions, have your kids think of some, or watch a YouTube video like this one.Â
You could mix things up by asking your kids to shout out which they would rather, write it on a whiteboard and show you, or stand up/ sit down to show their answer. This keeps things fresh and interesting 🙂
9. ASMR Videos
Honestly, who doesn’t love a good ASMR video?! This ASMR slime video went down particularly well with my kiddos but there are so many great options on YouTube!
10. Growth Mindset Videos
Class Dojo has some great super short videos on growth mindset which are amazing to use for brain breaks. Kids love the characters and the messages in the videos are a great supplement to your teaching on growth mindset and being positive too.
11. Marble Music
If you don’t know about these marble music videos, you need to get to know! They are seriously so satisfying to watch!
This one with the Harry Potter music is one of the best!
12. Spot The Difference
This is a great way to keep your kids engaged whilst also having fun! You could split your class into teams, have them write the differences on a whiteboard or just have to kids shout out the answers when they see them.
There are loads of videos on YouTube but my class loved this Super Mario Bros one.
13. Wordle
Wordle isn’t just for adults you know! Depending on how old your students are, you could play worldle together as a class! Your kids will love seeing if they can keep their streak going!
If your students are too young for the real deal, you could make your own version on the whiteboard with a shorter word.
14. Guess The Sound
Play this video for your kids and see if they can guess what the sound is! There are lots of different version on YouTube including an animal one which is also good fun!
15. Emoji Quiz
These emoji quizzes are so fun! Kids have to use the emojis to guess the name of foods, movies, TV shows etc. This fruit one is a great one to start with.
If you choose a movie or TV one, just watch it first to check they are all suitable for kids!
16. Logo Quiz
This is another fun interactive brain break idea! See how many logos your students know! Some of these are really tricky but I bet you’ll be surprised by how many they know!
17. Flag Quiz
A flag quiz is a great educational brain break idea! See how many your kids know!
18. Bubble Bounce
This is a seriously therapeutic brain break! Watch the bubbles bounce and your kids will be calm and ready to learn. Check out the video here on YouTube.
19. Guess Who’s Talking
This is another great interactive brain break that your students will love! They will have to guess which Disney character is speaking. It’s a great way to spend 10 minutes at the end of the day or to switch off after some serious hard work!
20. Hydraulic Press
Okay, this one sounds weird, I know. But my students seriously love this and would say it is one of the best brain breaks we do! Watch different items get crushed by the hydraulic press – it’s honestly quite addictive!
My students like to rate each item out of 10 depending on how satisfying it is to watch it get crushed, ha!
21. Animal Webcams
Another great no-prep brain break is watching a zoo live feed! My students all know my favourite animal is a panda so we love to watch the panda cam. But there are loads of different options on YouTube you can check out.
22. Miniature Food
Okay, I don’t know why watching miniature cooking videos is so much better than normal cooking but it really is!! There’s loads on YouTube but this compilation has loads of different ones to get you started.
23. Dough Disco
If you work in Early Years or have Play-Doh in your classroom, Dough Disco makes a great brain break! Check out these videos on YouTube which your children can follow along with.
If you want to try this out but don’t want to invest in Play-Doh and don’t have the time to make your own, you could try giving each student a blob of blue-tac instead!
24. Sand Cutting
Another seriously satisfying ASMR video to try for your brain breaks is sand cutting. My kiddos say it is the best ASMR!
25. Directed Drawing
If you have a bit longer for your brain break, you could try a directed drawing video like Draw With Rob. You’ll be amazed at how good they look!
26. Felt Cooking
These Cooking With Wool videos are my absolute favorite!! They are so cute to watch and lots are about 1 minute long so they are great for when only want something quick.
27. Four Corners
Four corners is another great brain break for when you want your students to get moving. The idea is that you ask your students a question with 4 possible answers. Each corner of the room represents an answer. Then students move to the corner they think. This Disney movie one is a great one.
Sometimes, if I don’t want my kids to move around the room, they hold up their fingers instead to show corner 1, 2, 3 or 4.
28. Breathing Exercises
The Mindfulness Teacher has some great short breathing videos on YouTube which make for a super calming brain break.
29. Clay Cracking
Another one for the ASMR lovers is clay cracking videos! My students love guessing what color is hidden inside!
30. Marble Racing
Have your students pick a marble and let them see if there’s is the winner! This video is a good one because there are lots of shorter races – perfect for when you just want a quick brain break!
31. Ink In Water
Watching these ink in water videos is seriously therapeutic! And the calming music is great too. Your kiddos will be mesmerised!
32. Heads Down, Thumbs Up
Heads down, thumbs up is a classic game!
If you’re not familiar with the rules, you choose two or three children to be ‘it.’ They stand at the front of the class and say ‘heads down, thumbs up.’ The rest of the children put their heads on the desk and close their eyes but put their thumbs up. The children who are ‘it’ walk around the room and choose someone’s thumb to squeeze. They then stand back at the front of the class. Once all the children who are ‘it’ are back at the front, they say ‘heads up.’ If you had your thumb squeezed, you have to stand up and guess who it was that did it. If you get it right, you swap with the person who squeezed your thumb and become ‘it.’ If you get it wrong, you sit back down.
It’s a great no-prep game to play when you have a spare 5 minutes!
33. Riddles
Riddles are a great way of keeping your students’ brains engaged when you just want a quick break between lessons. There are loads of different videos on YouTube you can check out but this is a good all round one.
34. Play Simon Says
Simon Says is another great game that you can play quickly when you have a spare 10 minutes. If you don’t know the rules, you choose a leader to be Simon at the front of the class. When they say a direction that starts ‘Simon says…’ everyone has to follow it. If Simon says a direction without saying ‘Simon says…’ first, you mustn’t do it…if you do, you are out!
A great game to encourage good listening skills in your children!
35. Don’t Clap This One Back
This is another zero prep game that your kids will love! ‘Don’t clap this one back’ is a rhythm game. The leader claps a rhythm which everyone else must clap back. However, there is a ‘forbidden rhythm’ that, when the leader claps it, you must not clap back. If you clap back the forbidden rhythm you are out of the game!
36. Underwater Aquarium
Let your students lose themselves in an underwater world! These underwater videos are super relaxing and set to a beautiful soundtrack. Great for a calming brain break.
37. Will It Break?
Your students will love guessing whether the jars rolling down the steps will break or not. I know it doesn’t sound fun but it seriously is! Check out the video I use here.
This post was all about the best brain breaks.