Helpful Brain Breaks for Students!

Are your students perfect angels all day long, sitting straight in their chairs and quietly transitioning from one task to the next? If they are, please let me in on your secret because my kiddos sometimes have trouble spending more than 5 minutes without wiggles and chatter. Don’t get me wrong, my students are adorable, and fun, and sweet as can be, but silence and sitting still, just are not in their vocabulary. This is why brain breaks are a must in my room. I’ve been teaching for 13 years and I love to incorporate music and getting my kids moving, but this year I really made it a point to incorporate brain breaks where my students can move and have a little fun, before moving on to the next task. So when I found GoNoodle I felt like I hit the brain break jackpot.

Before GoNoodle I was on Youtube trying to wade through inappropriate videos, ads, etc. Now GoNoodle is my one stop shop for all our brain break activities. Besides, it’s so easy to sign up and once you’re registered you get to pick your very own classroom mascot. Your kiddos will love these cute little monsters and their funny quotes. My kids also love filling up the little meter with their minutes. They get so excited to see our minutes add up. See that purple slime as my kiddos call it. When it grows, my students jump for joy.

We use GoNoodle once or twice a day. I simply pull out the projector and pull down the screen. Often we take a quick GoNoodle break between math and reading, and every once in a while we take

another break in the afternoon when needed. Remember, my people like to move!

GoNoodle has a ton to choose from. From exercises, to dancing and music, to calming activities. Often we’ll get our wiggles out with a fun fast paced activity and then end with a calming minute or two. You can see there is an easy search on the side. Here are just a few activities in the K-2 section.

You can also search for activities that calm your students down before moving on to more important learning.

Below is one of our favorites, Go Bananas! Peel, Peel, Peel the banana!

And we often end with Maximo and his yoga moves. My kids love Maximo and his fun accent. I love Maximo, because he calms down my kids and it’s too darn funny watching first graders do yoga and stretching. You want a laugh, turn on Maximo!

Here are some of our favorites when we are GoNoodling:

GoNoodle is a great way to get the wiggles out, promote movement and exercise and calm students down before getting them back on task. It’s perfect for getting your students focused for the next important learning task in your classroom. And the best part, IT’S FREE! If you want to try out GoNoodle, just click the cute GoNoodle Champs below.