Five Brain Breaks For Kids

Kids’ bodies aren’t designed for sitting all day! And really, either are adults’ . . . so we bring you 5 minute-mover breaks perfectly suited to give brains a little rest and re-energizing.

Dance in the Middle: A favorite at our preschool, we just put on a favorite song with a fast beat and have kids make a circle. Each child takes their moment to shine and show off their dance moves in the middle for about 20 seconds, and we keep going until the song is over! Encourage those in the surrounding circle to nod their heads or tap their feet to the beat to cheer on their friend who is in the middle.

5-4-3-2-1: Such a simple but great activity to get energy out! In this brain break, kids do a series of 5 different physical activities in descending repetitions. For example, you could start with 5 jumping jacks, 4 star jumps, three crunches, two push-ups and one squat or lunge. Try to be creative and even involve some equipment if you have it!

Keep It Up: A classic balloon activity! Start with one balloon for the entire group and set team goals for keeping it up. Once they have reached the goal, add another balloon. Add one more balloon each time a goal is reached! Or pair kids up with one balloon and have them play on their own teams!

Up, Down, Stop, Go (adapted from Playworks.org) : A game of opposites! Have kids stand up either by their seats or spread around the area.  Demonstrate the appropriate actions for “up”, “down”, “stop”, or “go”. Keep playing until kids get tired!

• • • On “Up”, players should squat or bend down.
    • On “Down”, players should jump or stretch up toward the ceiling
    • On “Stop”, players should move around in a specific movement, like running in place
    • On “Go”, players should freeze!

Play Dough Show: Give each child a ball of play dough and pair them up with a peer. For each round, give a theme for what to create. For example, the first one can be a shape, and then make it increasingly more challenging (the next can be a food, an animal, etc). For every round, each child has 3 tries to guess what their partner has made!