Did you know that regular brain breaks enhance attentiveness, concentration and focus?

Did you know that regular brain breaks enhance attentiveness, concentration and focus? It allows students to release energy and stress, while also promoting physical fitness and increasing circulation. Use the following brain breaks to re-energize your students:

• Catch with a Catch: Have each student toss a beach ball into the air and try to touch his nose or high-five the other players before the balls drop. Make the challenges harder as you go along!
• Seed-Flower Stretch: In a circle, students should start as a small seed, then slowly sprout and grow, eventually flowering toward the sun. Repeat, getting faster each time. On the final stretch, have students jump into the air and let out loud “ahhhs”!
• Conga Line: Form a line and grab the shoulders of the person in front of you. Take three steps and kick in this sequence: step right, step left, step right, kick left. Repeat starting with the opposite foot. Keep going until students break a sweat.
• Find It Fast: Clear an open space for students to move around quickly and easily. Call out a characteristic, such as something blue, round or made of wood, and students must quickly find an object in the room that fits that characteristic.
• Catch the Balloon: In this variation of Group Juggle, students stand in a circle and toss a balloon in the air. Call someone’s name, and that person must catch the balloon before it touches the ground. If successful, she then tosses the balloon up and calls the next name!
• Say and Catch: Choose a category, such as animals, food or countries. Have players toss a ball back and forth among the group. Each time a player catches the ball, he must name something from the category, or he is out!
• Follow the Leader: This classic game gets the entire group moving! Encourage the leader to incorporate lots of movement, such as marching, hopping like a frog, twirling in circles or flapping her arms like a bird. Switch leaders every few minutes so that each student has a turn to lead the group!
• Freeze Dance: Let students show off their best dance moves. When the music stops, they must freeze and hold the position they are in until the music begins again! See: 136 songs that kids love.
• Avoid the Octopus! Pick one student to be the octopus. Draw two lines on the floor at least 20 feet apart. The other players, the fist, then line up on either line. When the octopus shouts, “Hungry!” everyone tries to cross to the other side while the octopus tries to tag them! When a fist is tagged, he becomes a tentacle and holds hands with the octopus to help her tag the other fish. The last fish left wins!
• Hoop-Hut Relay: Challenge students to build a hut out of large plastic hoops and to crawl through it without knocking it down. The first group to make it through successfully wins!

For more brain break activities, visit www.gonoodle.com.