Brain Breaks for Distance Learning

Remote learning requires a lot of screen time each day for students. We all know it’s hard enough to keep kids on track and engaged under normal circumstances, it’s even more challenging when you are teaching from a distance. To combat screen fatigue, here are some musical brain breaks to help your students refresh and refocus. Some of these ideas are musical, some are not—use whatever works best for your group and the circumstances!:

• Limit brain breaks to five minutes or less.
• Find a timer (either physical or virtual) that kids can see to keep track of time.
• Create a master list of your favorite brain breaks (along with the necessary materials/links) so that you can use them at any time.
• Try letting students choose from three different brain breaks. Learn which activities they prefer.

Calming Brain Breaks

Musical Meditation: play a calming piece of music and ask students to simply sit, close their eyes, breathe, and listen.

Gratitude Journal: provide a writing prompt, then allow students three minutes to write. Have the students keep their responses so they can be compiled at the end of the year. Here’s an example to get you started.

Artistic Response: choose a piece of program music to play and ask students to listen and then draw a depiction of what they hear.

Coloring Pages: distribute one of these free coloring pages, then put on a soothing piece of music and color it in. Check out these books featuring coloring pages for kids: Color Me Mozart , Instrument Zoo , Music-Go-Round , and the Color By Note series. And for yourself, Mindfulness: The Piano Collection .

Breathing Exercises: here’s a compilation of some breath techniques to try with your students.

Learn Sign Language: teach a letter of the alphabet, a word, or phrase. Teach the title of a piece you are learning, a textbook, or a task you do each day so that you can silently transition between activities. (Bonus: this can carry over to the classroom when you return to in-person learning!)

Open and Shut: wiggly your fingers and shake out your hand. Next make a tight fist, then spread out your fingers as wide as you can. Repeat several times, alternating hands. Now try it with your face—close your eyes, mouth and nose as much as you can, then open your eyes wide, stretch your mouth open, and breathe in to the back of your throat.

Yoga: take time for a brief yoga practice. Here are some an examples to get you started.

Active Brain Breaks

Marching Band : call out the name of an instrument (or show an image). Students will march in place and mimic playing the instrument (either silently or imitating the sound the instrument makes).

Dance Party: play something with a good beat and allow students to just get up and dance!

Movement Songs: there are lots of classic children’s songs that include movements (Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, If You’re Happy and You Know It, The Hokey Pokey, etc.). Or popular music that has a dance associated with it (the macarena, the electric slide, etc.). If you’re ready for something new, try Ants in My Pants , Kids on the Move , and Hap Palmer Favorites .

Charades: this classic parlor game never goes out of style. Allow students to choose their own word, or save time by having a list ready to go.

Clap Back: clap (or snap) a four-beat pattern and have students repeat it. Choose a new leader to create a pattern and repeat. After a minute, increase to eight-beats, then continue to add beats until the group can’t remember the full pattern.

Crescendo/Decrescendo: have students begin by crouching down with hands touching the floor. As you count up from 1 to 20, students slowly stand and stretch their arms up straight (only becoming fully stretched at 20). Then reverse as you count down to 1. Repeat, decreasing by 5 counts each time, with the final count being from 1–5.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1: have a set of actions selected and call them out for students to complete as quickly as possible. For example: 5 toe-touches, 4 jumping jacks, 3 squats, 2 sit-ups, 1 push-up.

Just for Fun

Drop the Needle: play a snippet from a song and have students guess the title. Have a playlist ready to go for different themes: movie themes, Disney tunes, songs featuring a specific instrument, commercial jingles, etc.

Would You Rather: another classic game that can start some fun conversations.

Scavenger Hunt: call out an item or description and students have a set amount of time to return with an item from their home that matches. Try doing this with sounds: an item that makes a hissing sound, keeps a steady beat, or represents ABA form.

Is that My Ear?: a quick and quirky way to reset the brain! Touch your left ear with your right hand, and your nose with your left hand. Now switch so your left hand touches your right ear, and your right hand touches your nose. Switch back and forth, slowly at first, then increasing in speed.

Facial Gymnastics: call out funny instructions for various parts of the face (wiggly your eyebrows, alternate raising one eyebrow at a time, a “Joker” smile, a “sad clown” frown, move your ears up and down, etc.).

Tell a Joke: have some goofy or groan-worthy jokes at the ready for anytime the group needs a laugh.