Brain breaks are an integral part of a classroom environment and culture. For one, students need to build up their stamina toward the amount of time they can attend to one topic or subject. For another, they want to have fun. Lots of it. And of course we cannot forget that they’re active. So active. Brain break games can be the cure-all.
Whether your students are learning in-person or remotely, check out some brain break games that you can play with your students to provide them the brain breaks that they so desperately need!
Mystery Person
Give students clues to a mystery person. It can be someone famous, a character from a book, or someone in the school, including classmates!
Detective
Have the detective close their eyes. Assign an unknown person to be ‘it’. Have all of your students perform a particular motion (like clapping their hands). When the detective opens their eyes, the person who is ‘it’ changes the motion and the others follow suit. The detective tries to guess who was ‘it’.
Simon Says
Give students an action to perform after saying, “Simon Says”. If you give an action without saying, “Simon Says”, and a student still performs the action, they are out!
I Spy
Look for an object somewhere in the room. Give your students a clue using one adjective (ex: I spy something round). Students take turns trying to guess what the object is that you spy.
For distance learning: Show a collage of objects and have students try to find a specific object.
20 20 Questions
20 Questions
Choose a topic (ex: nouns). Think of something that fits that category. Students can ask up to 20 questions to guess the thing you are thinking of.
Mystery Sound
Have your students close their eyes. Make a sound (like shuffling cards). Students try to guess what made that sound.
Freeze Dance
Students dance while the music is playing. When you stop the music, students freeze. Once the music starts back up, they continue to dance.
Scattergories
Choose a letter of the alphabet. Students find an object that begins with that letter.
Memory
Put some objects on display for students to see. Then, take one (or more) objects away. See who can name which objects are missing!
Story Chain
One student (or the teacher) starts a story. Then, each student adds to the story one by one, until the whole story is told.
Last Word
Set a timer. Give a category for students to talk about (let’s say breakfast foods). When the timer is up, the student who gave the last word (breakfast food) wins!
Charades
Students act something out while their classmates try to guess what they are doing. It can be an action, an animal or even a a saying!
Have students who have already met the standard you are teaching?