TeachersFirst's Brain Breaks for Students
Regular brain breaks are a simple but powerful way to boost student focus, engagement, and retention in the classroom. These short periods of physical activity or mental rest re-energize young minds when they start feeling tired or restless. Brain breaks improve how students think by increasing blood flow and brain connections. They also provide a much-needed reset when students feel overwhelmed or have checked out of the lesson. This collection highlights brain-break ideas, exercises, and activities that easily fit into lessons. Discover ways to get students moving, laughing, reflecting, and re-centering their attention. Using these resources will create a more active and focused learning environment in your classroom.
30 Results | sort by:
Room Escape Maker - doctorfou.com
Grades
8 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): game based learning (172), gamification (71), makerspace (41)
In the Classroom
Increase student engagement in any subject through this form of gameplay! Create games to introduce main concepts within the escape room. Ask students to create a game using the information they have learned to share with fellow students. Before creating a game, have students map out information and strategies they will include in a blog format using a tool like edublogs, reviewed here. Ask fellow students to share comments describing their problem-solving process as they try to escape the room.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Puzzle Prime - Puzzle Prime
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): logic (165), problem solving (225), puzzles (143)
In the Classroom
Share a link to Puzzle Prime on classroom computers and your class website for students to access on any device. Consider having a "puzzle of the week" activity for students to complete on their own or in groups using activities on this site. Ask students to demonstrate their thinking process in completing puzzles by demonstrating on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector. Take this a step further and ask student to create a video explanation using a tool like Screencastify, reviewed here, and share them on a site such as TeacherTube reviewed here. Use these puzzles as examples and encourage students to create their puzzles for others to solve. Have cooperative learning groups create podcasts sharing problem and puzzle solving tips; for this, use a site such as podOmatic, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Ultimate Camp Resource - Ultimate Camp Resources
Grades
K to 12tag(s): back to school (63), crafts (54), family (53), makerspace (41), seasonal (18), songs (44), sports (78), summer (29)
In the Classroom
Bookmark this tool for the first week of school or any time that you want to experience some "team-building" in your class. Use this site to find games and activities for classroom icebreakers. Find ideas on this site to build relationships among students. There is even an Art Project section (scroll to the bottom menu to find it) that has lots of crafts for your makerspace! Share this site with parent helpers to find ideas for classroom parties.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Teampedia - Seth Marbin
Grades
K to 12tag(s): back to school (63), creativity (91), firstday (22), problem solving (225)
In the Classroom
Use this site to find Icebreaker activities and options for the first week of school community building. Bookmark this tool for the first week of school or any time that you want to experience some "team-building" in your class. Use this site if you have weekly classroom meetings to build relationships among students. Share this site with students and have them create their own games based on research projects or as a review for major tests. Share this site with parent helpers to find ideas for classroom parties.Comments
So wonderful to develop creativity using tech. Love the idea of creating games based on research.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12
Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Chatzy - Chatzy.com
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): chat (41), communication (136)
In the Classroom
Use this site to connect to other classes to open up discussion between your students in one convenient place. Safety is not a concern with this site, since only those with an email invitation/link can participate in a chat. (Your students need not have email. You can simply email the link to yourself and share it with students to enter into their browsers.) Teach good digital citizenship of chat etiquette while using this activity to learn. Connect with other classes to learn about other locations, learn various perspectives, find animals that are similar yet different, learn about the different books others are reading, or survey students on various economic, political, or environmental topics. Be sure to plan content ahead of time, so students have the opportunity to think through the material and formulate a response. Discuss appropriate ways to communicate to others prior to connecting with another classroom. Use Chatzy as a place for students to brainstorm and share ideas about a topic. Use as a simple help forum for students to ask questions of each other and of you. Share a chat room with parents once a month for a question and answer session at a scheduled time.Use backchannel chat on laptops during a video or student presentations. Pose questions for all to answer/discuss in the backchannel, or ask students to pose their own "I wonder if..." questions as they watch and listen. Keep every student engaged and THINKING as an active listener. The first time you use backchannel, you will want to establish some etiquette and accountability rules. The advantage of backchannel chat is that every student has a voice, no matter how shy. Use this in world language classes, ESL/ELL classes, or autistic support classes for backchannel chat. Challenge students to use their new language skills by acting out a scene from a video or describing the feelings of the actors. When studying literature, collaborate with another class to have students role-play a chat between two characters. In a history class, create fictional conversations between soldiers on two sides of the Civil War or different sides of the Scopes Monkey trial.
Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
GoNoodle - Abby Pecoriello, John Herbold, Scott McQuigg
Grades
K to 5tag(s): classroom management (128), fitness (38), logic (165), preK (257)
In the Classroom
Share these short activities on your projector or interactive whiteboard for your entire class to view together. Bookmark and save GoNoodle as a before class (or before the bell) activity, perfect for those long winter days inside. These would be great activities as you head into high stakes tests. When your class needs to refocus, use GoNoodle as a short brain break. Use GoNoodle to motivate and reward class accomplishments. Share with learning support teachers (or emotional or autistic support) for use in motivating and reinforcing behaviors with their students.Comments
My students and I love using GoNoodle for brain breaks. GoNoodle tracks your minutes for you and your mascot "grows" as you use the site.Paula, LA, Grades: 3 - 5
Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Drama Resource - David Farmer
Grades
K to 6This site includes advertising.
tag(s): acting (18), back to school (63), bullying (49), digital storytelling (143), stories and storytelling (41)
In the Classroom
Use this site as the starting point for individual or group projects. If you are looking for ways to get students more involved with history lessons, drama may be just the thing. Take advantage of the free lesson plans included on the site. Use lessons and activities as part of your storytelling unit, for beginning of the year activities, or to promote higher level thinking skills. Have students create their own mini-drama moment: upload a photo they have taken and add voice bubbles for dialog using a tool such as Phrase.it, reviewed here. Have students create animated movies online demonstrating different drama techniques using invideo AI, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Activity TV - activitytv.com
Grades
K to 8tag(s): air (105), comics and cartoons (54), cooking (30), dance (26), easter (10), origami (15), preK (257), thanksgiving (24)
In the Classroom
Share the video clips on your interactive whiteboard or projector to accompany curriculum topics in science, art, physical education, language arts, health, or family/consumer science. Or show the videos to a class as examples for writing how-to (demonstration) speeches and/or videos done in language arts classes. Challenge students to create their own videos using a site such as Adobe Creative Cloud Express Video Maker, reviewed here. Look here also for ideas of holiday craft projects. Share the link on your class web page for students to try activities at home during breaks.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Energizing Brain Breaks - Dave Sladkey
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): back to school (63)
In the Classroom
"Brain Breaks" is a Learning Focused Schools buzzword, but we all know students sometimes just need a 5-minute break with a built-in way to refocus at the end. Brain Breaks can be especially helpful when teaching on block schedule with longer classes. Here are some ideas to do that. Share one of the examples on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Take a 5-minute "brain break" and have cooperative learning groups brainstorm additional "brain break" ideas to use within your classroom.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Icebreakers, Games, and Fun Group Activities - icebreakers.ws
Grades
K to 12tag(s): back to school (63), firstday (22), newbies (14), remote learning (59), substitutes (27)
In the Classroom
New or veteran teachers who want students to get to know each other as they enter a new school (starting middle school, for example), want to observe them so YOU get to know them, or need to build better team skills with a challenging class or club, will find ideas to try. Mark this one as a Favorite so you can find it again, since "first day" activities tend to get lost in the flurry ---and in the fading memory-- during the year.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
Use the form at the top of the page to log in, or click here to join TeachersFirst (it's free!).
Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
Close comment form