How we utilize brain breaks in our home

It’s halfway through our morning and we are chugging right along.  Keegan is in the midst of writing his next book {he’s quite prolific} and Xander and I are wrapping up a spelling lesson.  Both boys are getting a little antsy.   I hear Treyton playing in the crib with Greta. Room-time is over and he’s entertaining her until I can get up to rescue her.  As Xander finishes writing his last sentence, I call out for a brain break!

There’s a mad dash for the brain break jar.  We’re all ready for a short burst of physical activity.

With three busy boys in the home, honing in on when they can FOCUS is critical.

We implement a lot of movement around here.  I jump at the opportunity to turn passive learning into active learning.  In all of this, I’ve learned to be strategic about when we tackle certain subjects.  As such, 3 days a week, we tackle the basics in the morning – our phonics, spelling, math and writing!  Typically, these are the subjects that require the most focus.  The other two mornings find us switching the day around and doing our fun, hands-on unit studies first thing in our day.

How do we optimize this time and FOCUS?

We utilize brain breaks of course.   The more movement we’ve incorporated into our home, the more the boys thrive.  It’s been fun to watch their retention simply soar!

Our Brain Breaks Jar sits nearby waiting to be utilized.  I’ve found that with most things, we can focus intently for short bursts of time before needing to unwind.    Utilizing our brain break cards is a great way to get a burst of physical activity without boys scattering to the four winds.  This saves us all so much time.  Why?  Because I tend to get distracted too…  If the boys scatter, I find that I tend to gravitate towards a distraction myself; you know, that quick trip to check email, making a quick phone call or snag a frozen cookie dough ball.  For me, indulging in any of these activities means at least 30 minutes wasted {because really, who can eat only one cookie dough ball?}.

I need to be able to give them a creative break that doesn’t require planning or forethought on my part since I certainly have plenty of other things on my mind.

Calling out “Brain Break” and making a mad dash for the jar is a fun way to lighten the mood, get that burst of oxygen and give our poor brains a reboot before we focus on something else!

Sometimes we have “off” days – days where they need more stimulation than usual. We’ll either do several brain break cards, or if the weather is decent, we’ll go outside for a quick game of tag or a run around the block.  If one of us is staring out the window listlessly, fidgeting constantly or starting to get a bit over emotional, those are all clear cues that we need to get moving and clear our thinking!

Laughter helps to lighten the mood even more while we unwind!  Sometimes, if they are really struggling, I resort to chasing them with the exercise ball or tickling them until they cry for mercy. {And I wonder why my boys throw balls in the house…}

{photo courtesy of my son, Keegan}

When do we use brain breaks?

♦ between assignments

♦ when emotions start to run high

♦ when kids get antsy

♦ when they are stumped by a problem

♦ when they hit a block with their writing

Have you checked out the website for my book, The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks?  I outline why movement is so important for learning and then give detailed instructions on how to implement 60 different brain break activities.  It is available in both ebook and print version!  You’ll either cut out the cards that come with the book or print off the printables at the back of the ebook so you can put together your own Brain Breaks Jar! As you can tell, I’m passionate about movement and how it affects learning.