29 Oct Body Breaks
What are Body Breaks?
For children with ADHD, or simply with a lot of energy, it can be difficult to maintain focus on a task for long periods of time. Body breaks can help release feelings of frustration and stress, increase focus and stay on task, and they can help a child learn how to self regulate.
A body break is a 2-5 minute break from whatever task a child is focusing on that involves movement. The goal of a body break is to increase blood flow to the child’s brain which might help them stay focused, and to incorporate play and movement into their day especially when they have been sitting for a long period of time. It is suggested that children take body breaks every 10-30 minutes depending on their age and needs.
Body breaks don’t have to be an unstructured free-for-all, there are many ways to incorporate body breaks into school, sport, and other structured activities in the home. Eventually, when children get used to taking body breaks, they may learn to advocate for themselves when a body break is what they needI have listed some body break ideas below:
Body Break Ideas
- Breathing exercises
- Pretend to “light candles” around the room and take big deep breaths to blow them out
- Animal walks
- Walk like a bear, jump like a frog, stand like a flamingo, fly like a bird, crawl like a snake
- Bubbles
- Blow bubbles and have the child pop them with their hands or stomp them with their feet
- Simon says
- Touch your toes, reach for the sky, bend your knees, etc.
- Keep it up
- Keep a balloon or ball from touching the ground by using your body to bump it
- Recorded movement or dance videos
- Look up “body break” or “brain break” on youtube. There are lots of fun guided body break videos you can share!