Downtime is essential for brain health, especially during a rigorous academic day.

With the shift from in-person instruction to remote learning for most students, the incorporation of intentional downtime, or brain breaks, allows students to reset their energy levels.

That reset improves their ability to focus, process better and stay on task. Brain breaks also reduce levels of stress and frustration that may hinder students from performing at their best. Brain breaks are short, usually 3-5 minutes, but effective and should be consistently scheduled throughout a school day.

Check out these brain break activities below:

• Dance Party: This is very popular with in kindergarten through third grade. Choose some fun, up-tempo music and let them dance away. There are also some great songs and videos on YouTube, specifically for a kids dance party. Songs such as the “Freeze Dance” and “Go, Go Banana” are great for enhancing listening skills, improving hand-eye coordination and getting rid of the pesky wiggles.

• Doodle Break: Set a timer for 3-5 minutes and let your student(s) silently doodle with pencil and paper or a dry erase board and marker while soft, calming music plays in the background.

• Yoga: Teaching mindfulness activities like yoga, will benefit students for the long term. It allows students to learn peaceful ways to channel their energy. Utilizing yoga sequence cards or YouTube channels such as Cosmic Kids Yoga can provide a variety of daily yoga poses.

A great, free resource to use for incorporating brain breaks into your child’s day is www.gonoodle.com. This site provides brain break videos that focus on students’ physical wellness, academic success, and social-emotional health.