32+ Fun and easy brain break activities for kids

Recently updated on March 8th, 2024 at 04:22 pm

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Key Takeways

3 Best brain break activities: Dance Parties, Secret Handshakes, and Sensory Bins, offering a mix of physical activity, social interaction, and sensory exploration to rejuvenate and refocus young minds.

To optimize the effectiveness of brain breaks, avoid screen-based activities to reduce screen time, set clear rules and duration with your child in advance, and keep breaks short as younger children may lose interest after 10 minutes.

With kids spending more time online, it is always good to encourage them to take a break from the screen. Brain break activities can help children take a quick break from their routine.

Here are some fun brain break ideas for children.

Brain Break Ideas for Younger Students (Elementary)

Dance Party:

A great way to increase blood flow and energy levels is to throw a quick dance party.

Turn on a favorite song and let the students show off their dance moves for a fun way to break up the school day.

Secret Handshakes:

Teach the class a few secret handshakes. This simple game encourages social interaction and can be a quick brain break to include in your daily routine.

Have each student pair up and create their own handshake, using the right hand, left hand, and even the right elbow and left knee for a much-needed break and a boost in social skills.

Sensory Bins:

For younger kids, sensory activities are a great idea. Create sensory bins filled with different materials to explore.

This is an easy way for the entire class to get a break and meet sensory needs while still engaging in critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Check out the post here to learn how to create your moon sand recipe that can be included in their sensory tray.

Brain Break Ideas for Middle School Students

Movement Breaks:

Introduce movement breaks where students can stand up and follow a series of movements like touching their right knee with their left hand and vice versa.

It’s a quick and fun brain break that helps with attention span and gets the blood flowing.

Mindfulness Exercises:

Deep breathing or a short guided meditation can be a great way to give students a much-needed break.

These exercises help reset the mind and prepare students for the next task, enhancing cognitive function and attention.

Tongue Twisters and Brain Teasers:

These are fun brain breaks that challenge students’ minds. Have a list of tongue twisters ready, or present a brain teaser for the whole class to solve.

This encourages critical thinking and provides a good idea for a quick brain break that doesn’t take up much time in the daily routine.

Brain Break Ideas for High School Students

Beach Ball Discussions:

Use a beach ball with different questions or topics written on each section.

Toss the ball around the class, and wherever a student’s right hand lands, they answer the question or discuss the topic.

This gives a physical movement element to the break while also encouraging critical thinking and social interaction.

Cha-Cha Slide Plank Challenge:

A fun way to incorporate physical activity and a good laugh is to have students do the Cha-Cha Slide in a plank position.

They’re in plank position on exercise mats, smiling and laughing as they try to keep up with the dance moves.

It’s a quick brain break that gets the heart rate up and increases blood flow, providing a much-needed break from work time.

Problem-Solving Relay:

Set up small groups for a relay that involves different types of brain breaks, like solving a riddle, completing a physical task, or working out a critical thinking puzzle.

This provides variety, encourages teamwork, and fits perfectly as a fun way to break up the lesson plan.

Indoor brain break ideas

Here are some activities your children can do inside the house. This is particularly useful when the weather is cold or rainy outside.

Exercise

Get your child to get some quick cardio or exercise. This can even include doing a set of jumping jacks or plans.

You can use some kid-friendly videos on YouTube to help them out with this. Here are some fun indoor apps you can use with your kids.

Brain hacks

These are games that would trick your child’s mind. For example, getting them to pat their head while rubbing on their stomach.

Another one would be to get them to blink one eye while clapping their hands.

This is a fun coordination activity for kids.

Acting game

As the name suggest the purpose of the game is to get your child to work on their acting skills.

Have a set of scenarios prepared for them. For example, act like a diva, act like a bee flying on flowers, act like you are blowing bubbles and more.

Hula Hoop

Depending on the space you have in your home this can be an absolute fun when done with some nice tune in the background.

Set a timer for how long your child can spin then make it more competitive by getting them to spin using only some body parts.

brain break

Ping-pong

It is great if you have a ping-pong table. Otherwise just get a net and some bats and you can use your dining table to play ping pong or any flat surface.

Play a few rounds of it and you will discover how exciting this game can be not just for children but also for adults.

Mini golf

Invest in a small putting green or convert your home to a mini-golf area. You can use a cup or boxes as a hole for the golf game.

Bounce on the bed

This is something all children love to do regardless of the age. If you have a mini trampoline then you can get them to jump on that. Otherwise even the bed can be fun.

But get your child to clean up the bed after they are done bouncing on it.

Simon says

This is a classic game that is a fun brain break activity which involves having good listening skill.

Balance test

Take a book and try to balance it in your head. This game can be challenging and also fun. Make it trickier by having a few challenges on the path. For example, place some pillows.

Draw blindfolded

Give your child an image, possible a commonly known image, for example, butterfly. Then blindfold your child and get them to draw the image.

Indoor scavenger hunt

Create a fun indoor scavenger hunt. For example, find something that is red, that is rounded, that makes you feel warm, that you love and more.

Not only this activity will encourage your child to be physically active but it will help them discover things around the house that they love.

Yoga

Few minutes of yoga can be good for your child. They will get the chance to stretch and get their muscles moving.

You can use the screen for guided yoga for children. For example, Cosmic kids yoga on YouTube is highly popular among children.

If your child is not into yoga then you can check out the fitness apps here. There are plenty of fitness options for kids.

Coloring

Prepare a few coloring sheets and get your child to fill them in. It can be incredibly calming and relaxing

Check the Growth Mindset Kit designed to raise confident kids growing up with tech

Homemade playdough

Encourage your children to create their own homemade playdough. The process is therapeutic and fun even for older children.

The best thing about this recipe is that it uses ingredients you most likely have in your kitchen.

It also takes only 10 minutes to make homemade playdough.

Learn to juggle

This can be a new skill they can learn while taking brain braks.

They can use this skill to show off to their friends on Zoom even.

This requires hand and eye coordination.

Indoor bowling

Yes, you can actually play bowling inside. You will need recycled bottles and a ball.

Create a makeshift bowling lane at home and place the recycled bottles or cans in one of the lane.

This can even be a fun competition at home

Journaling

This can be a good way for children to reflect on their emotions and express their feelings. You can even using exciting writing prompts into their journal.

Here are some writing prompts that will tap into their imagination

Outdoor brain break activities for children

If the weather is pleasant outside then going outside for some fresh air can help your kids feel recharged.

However, outdoor activities may take a longer time than indoor activities. Hence, it is suitable to do outdoor brain breaks if your child is not working on a tight schedule. For example, not in between classes.

Cycle

If your child knows how to cycle then even taking few rounds around the neighbourhood can be refreshing for your child.

Short walk or a run

If your child has a dog then bring the dog alone. Encourage your child to complete certain number of steps within a time frame.

Outdoor scavenger hunt

Write in a piece of paper the things you want your child to find. They don’t need be so difficult. It could be simple things like rocks, trees, yellow flowers, etc. Get them to look for those outdoors.

You can turn it into a competition by telling them to collect a small piece of those things and who can find it faster. This is suitable for kids who have siblings.

psst, don’t forget to :Download the THE GROWTH MINDSET KIT helping children to set goals and build a growth mindset attitude

Go to the playground

It is always fun for children to go on the slides and swings. Playing in the playground is the perfect brain break activity for young children. Especially if there are other children they can socialise with at the playground.

Draw outdoors using a chalk

Brain break activities for the classroom

Atom Fun

This is a fun game that should be done with a few children. If your child is alone then this may not be a fun game.

The purpose of the game is to move around the room by imitating different sounds or actions. For example, cat, mouse, old man, or anything else. Then someone shouts the word (Atom four) and everyone must join a group of four.

Anyone who does not join a group will then be out of the game. It is similar to musical chair except instead of chairs they will be doing funny movements or sounds.

Silent ball

This is a fun game that has little physical activity while still encouraging students to have fun. This is a good game if you have limited space.

To play this game you need to have a soft ball and everyone can be seated in a circle.

Everyone should pass the ball in the room without making a single noise or sound.

Whoever drops the ball will be out of the game.

While this sounds like an easy game, it actually is quite challenging. Everyone be reliant on each other’s body language.

You can add a rule, for example, not allowed to pass the ball back to the next person.

Would you rather…

would you rather questions

This is a fun game that can be played even with young children. Prepare a list of “would you rather…” questions and have children to answer them.

For example, would you rather swim with a shark or dine with a tiger? You can use the list of would you rather questions we have made here.

You can make this game more physical but getting students who choose option A to move to one side of the class and option B to the other side of the class. Then get them reconvene in the middle for the next set of question.

Statue dance

This is a classical game that can never go wrong with children. Play a nice tune and get children to dance to the tune.

Once the music stops they must stand like a statue. For older children you can make this more exciting by adding a rule to the game.

For example, they must stand in whatever position they are in while having one leg up.

You get the idea of it. Children have lots of fun playing this game.

Mental break activities

This can be a good game for students who are not so interested in a physical break rather needs a calm mental break.

For example, by solving a sudoku puzzle, coloring activities or doodling.

Sometimes children just need some quiet time and these kind of activities can help calm them down while giving them a mental break.

The quiet game

This is a fun game to be played with younger children. Get them to lie down quietely and you as the teacher will try to catch anyone making a movement.

The game requires children to be very still and quiet.

For older children, you can make the game more exciting by asking them to line up in orders of their birthday or height. They can use hand gestures to explain their age but cannot make a single sound.

It can be a challenging and fun game while giving them the brain break that they need.

We hope you enjoyed the brain break ideas in this blog. Do share it with your friends and home.

Additional rules and duration for each game

The firs rule is that the activity should not involve screen. The purpose of this is to get children away from their screen.

However, if you think screen works better for your family then do look for some exciting activities online.

It is important to set rules with your child to make it effective. Let them know in advance how long the activities will last.

Inform them it won’t be taking too much of their time. It is always good to set expectations from the start.

This will also give them structure that will make learning and playing more fun and exciting.

Shorter blocks of breaks are also more effective. Young children can get bored after 10 minutes of the same activity.

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Parven founded Kids N Clicks after obtaining her MSc in Corporate Governance from the London School of Economics. She worked as a business studies and digital marketing lecturer. Internet Matters recognizes her profound knowledge of online safety, dubbing her an Internet safety expert. At Kids N Clicks, Parven keeps abreast of the newest apps. Drawing from her teaching background, she fervently promotes screen-free activities for students and encourages introspective thinking through journaling, games and writing prompts.

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