Brain breaks are a crucial aspect to early childhood education. Young students have a shorter attention span compared to older students and they have a harder time sitting and controlling their bodies for long periods of time. In between every lesson that I teach, I incorporate some kind of brain break. This time allows students to be silly and get all of their wiggles out so that they can get ready to focus for the next lesson. Here I will be sharing some of my favorite brain breaks that I use in my classroom.
On YouTube, one of my favorite creators for brain breaks is Danny Go. Check out his YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@DannyGo Danny Go makes creative interactive movement breaks for kids. The videos are usually around 3:00-3:30 minutes which I find to be the perfect amount of time. Some of my students favorite Danny Go videos include “In The Mood For Food”, “Bouncing Time”, “Dance Like an Animal”, and “The Millipede March”. I am a big fan of Danny Go as the songs are catchy, the videos can be educational, and he gets my class moving!
Another YouTube creator that I like is DJ Raphi. Check out his channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@DJRaphi Dj Raphi videos are more so just dances. I love to do his version of the Cha Cha Slide to work on students learning their left and right. My class also really enjoys his Freeze Dance video.
A YouTube staple in early childhood is Jack Hartmann. Check out his channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@JackHartmann Jack Hartmann has many educational songs and movement breaks. He has many videos that focus on letter names, letter sounds, counting and more! You really cannot go wrong with Jack Hartmann.
Not all brain breaks need to be dance videos though! One brain break that requires no technology is 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. For this brain break we do different exercises. I call on a student to give us 5 of a certain exercise, for example jumping jacks. Then another student will give us an exercise to do for 4, etc. This is a great brain break to do if you want to get your students moving but do not have a lot of time.
Another great brain break that does not require technology is Simon Says. This will get your students moving while also practicing their following directions skills.
Brain breaks are very important in early childhood education. Having different types of breaks keeps students engaged and excited to participate in them.
One response to “Brain Breaks”
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Hi! My Kindergarteners love to watch Danny Go as a movement break during the day! They also enjoy Jack Hartman as well but typically only for the songs not the dancing lol. Another channel that my students LOVE to use as a dance break is Coach Corey Martin on Youtube. He has all sorts of brain break videos to choose from there are floor is lava, chasing series, and many more. Definitely check the channel out, every year I have used it, my students seem to ask for it every single day!
Hi! My Kindergarteners love to watch Danny Go as a movement break during the day! They also enjoy Jack Hartman as well but typically only for the songs not the dancing lol. Another channel that my students LOVE to use as a dance break is Coach Corey Martin on Youtube. He has all sorts of brain break videos to choose from there are floor is lava, chasing series, and many more. Definitely check the channel out, every year I have used it, my students seem to ask for it every single day!