8 Brain Breaks to Ease Back-to-School Stress
Heading back to school brings a new classroom, a new routine, and new sensory experiences. For many kids, this can be challenging.
Sensory breaks or brain breaks are a great way to meet your child’s needs and ease the transition back to school.
Sensory Break Activities provide input to your child that can . . .
calm and regulate their body
improve attention
focus
motivation
reduce behavioral problems
In the classroom
The following four activities can be done when your child is seated at their desk. They work well because they can be done easily, frequently, and independently. Best of all, they don’t cause a distraction for the rest of the class!
Chair Push-ups: Sitting upright in a classroom chair, your child can place their hands on the side of the seat and push up, straightening the elbows and lifting their bottom off the seat. Have your child hold this position for 3-5 seconds several times. Make sure your child slowly lowers back onto the seat after each turn. This activity provides heavy input to the upper body which gives awareness to the body and prepares the body to learn.
Leg raises: Holding onto the sides of the chair, lift legs off the floor and straighten, holding this position for 5-10 seconds. This activity provides heavy input to the body and gives your child sensory information on body awareness and positioning.
Sports bottle or water bottle with a straw: sipping water through a sports bottle or a straw can give input to the mouth that assists with sensory regulation throughout the school day. This activity helps your child to focus and attend to classroom activities.
Arm squeezes and bear hugs: Teach your child to give deep pressure squeezes to their arms. Have them use their right hand to give firm squeezes up their left arm starting at the wrist and ending at the shoulder. Repeating this with left hand on right arm. Additionally, your child can wrap their arms around their chest or knees to give their body a big, firm hug. This activity can have a calming effect on your child when the school day becomes overwhelming.
At home
These activities work well at home when doing homework and other school projects. Taking brain breaks by doing these activities gives your child the chance to get their wiggles out and regulate the body for optimal learning.
Wall push-ups: Push against a wall with both arms, doing a “push up” from a standing position. This exercise is a wonderful sensory break activity that provides a calming, heavy work input on the joints for improved focus and self-regulation.
Movement breaks: Taking a movement break when working on homework is a great way to regulate the body and give your child increased body awareness. Movement break activities can include marching, hopping, jumping jacks, skipping, and jogging in place.
Music break: Create a playlist for your child to take a 5-minute music break. You can even throw in some dance moves! A music break can be a fun way to get auditory input and improve attention and engagement.
Fun with pillows: You can do a lot of sensory activities with pillows! Any type of pillows will do: couch cushions, throw pillows, or bed pillows. Try setting up an obstacle course or create a pad for crashing and jumping. Your child can log roll on pillows, bear hug pillows, and carry them across the room. Pillow breaks can give your child a variety of different inputs that help to regulate their body and concentrate on their work!