When high school students have to handle more complex academic tasks and denser class schedules, taking a three-to-five-minute break sometimes brings many benefits.
Children, just like adults, also have periods of focus and distraction – although the duration of these periods varies by age and differs for each individual.
Creating short breaks can prevent high school students from feeling overwhelmed and provide space for reflection, joy, and connection throughout a busy school day. Breaks are an important part of the learning process.
However, breaks are often misunderstood as interruptions in active learning, rather than periods when our brains compress and consolidate memories of what we have just practiced.
In fact, integrating breaks into the learning process plays an equally important role in learning a new skill. Breaks can take many different forms in the classroom, depending on the goal. To improve students’ moods, according to neuroscientist Dr. Judy Willis, it is recommended to use dopamine-boosting activities: anything related to “laughing, moving, listening to music, and interacting with friends.” Similarly, brain breaks that incorporate physical activity not only provide stress relief for students but also increase blood circulation and oxygen supply to the brain – stimulating brain activity and helping students regain focus in moments of fatigue.
Changing ordinary thinking
On the board, provide students with the beginning of a free drawing that they will have to creatively transform into something unexpected. This could be anything from two straight lines, a curved line, or half a circle. To add a bit of student voice and choice, let students suggest what the initial drawing should look like.
Train your brain
You can start a fun activity by asking students to touch their right ring finger to their nose and their left ring finger to their ear. Then, they switch the position of their hands, touching their left ring finger to their nose and moving their right ring finger to their ear. Children should continue doing this until they get it right, which may take just a few tries for some and longer for others. To add a competitive element, see which student can perform this activity the longest without making mistakes.
Would you rather
Pair students up and ask them to discuss fun “would you rather” questions. Some starter examples include:
• Would you rather live in a world without technology or a world without nature?
• Would you rather have the ability to talk to animals or speak all human languages fluently?
• Would you rather have your favorite movie character as your best friend or your favorite book character as your sibling?
To add movement, have the class do this activity together.
Rest and reflect
Try turning off the classroom lights, setting a timer for 3–5 minutes, and playing some soft background music. Students can close their eyes and take deep breaths as they pause their thoughts, refresh their mood, and prepare for the next part of class.
Paper ball toss
This is a quick strategy to help students release stress and encourage effective conversations about stress and emotions. Ask each student to write down something they are stressed about on a piece of paper, then crumple it into a ball. When you give the signal, all students throw their paper balls back and forth in a pretend snowball fight. Finally, students pick up a ball near them and read about something a classmate may be struggling with. Allowing students to choose ensures that everyone has control over whether they share or not.
Paper airplanes
Spend a few minutes on a paper airplane folding challenge. After dividing students into small groups, instruct each group to create a paper airplane that they will compete with. Do not provide instructions or templates so that students must think and create on their own. Each group of children will have to work together to build the best plane, test it, and refine their design until they find the ideal model. Next, each group will compete to see which plane flies the farthest across the room.
Puzzle challenge
Looking for a completely silent brain break for your classroom? Give small groups of students a set of puzzle pieces. The group must put the pieces together using only non-verbal communication. No talking!
Keep it up
After inflating a balloon, ask students to stand in a circle and hold hands. When everyone is ready, toss the balloon in the air and students must keep it up without using their hands – only their heads, feet, shoulders, and elbows. You can also divide the class into groups and see which group can keep their balloon in the air the longest.
What’s that?
Find a picture of something your class may have never encountered in the subject area and show it to them. “I once showed a physics class a picture of a flock of pigeons feeding milk but didn’t tell them what it was,” “Without phones or computers, they had to figure out what was happening and why.” This not only sparks students’ curiosity but may also introduce the class to something they never knew existed.
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Turn the classic “rock, paper, scissors” game into a quick classroom tournament. Start by pairing students; winners in the first round continue to compete with other winners, while those who lose sit back down. The last student standing is the champion.
1, 2, 3, Math!
Similar to rock, paper, scissors, students compete in pairs. After the players say “1, 2, 3, Math,” each shows one, two, three, or four fingers in their palm. The first in the pair to correctly call out the total number of fingers between both players wins and earns a point. The first to win three rounds is the winner.
Cup stacking challenge
Divide students into small groups and provide each group with three cups and two sheets of paper. Each group will stack these items in the order so that they form a vertical tower: cup at the bottom, paper, cup in the middle, paper, cup on top. The goal is to quickly pull out the paper so the cups fall into one another to create a neat stack. Time the task and see how fast the class can complete it. You can even have different classes compete to see which one finishes the fastest.
Whole-class Wordle
The popular word game is sure to keep your students thinking. According to the game’s website, you have six tries to guess the day’s five-letter word. The color of the tiles changes depending on how close the guess is: green means the letter “is in the word and in the right place,” yellow means the letter “is in the word but in the wrong place,” and gray means the letter is not in the word. Play together and allow students to suggest and vote on their favorite guesses.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
To keep kids alert during a long lesson, ask them to spend a few minutes stretching and moving around the classroom. Consider creating a short exercise sequence students can do together to get their blood flowing: for example, five high knees, four jumps, three pushups, two deep breaths, and one sit-stand. Let students choose whether to stand up and do the sequence or stay seated and stretch in their own way to ensure everyone participates.
The Odd One Out
This Google Arts & Culture vocabulary game challenges you to “spot the AI-generated fake among real works of art.” You’ll be shown four images and must guess which one was created by AI before time runs out. Compete as a class, or let students play together in small groups. This can spark interesting discussions about students’ views and misconceptions about artificial intelligence.
Collaborative classroom story
Ask one student to start by sharing a question they created – for example: “Amid the chaos of the festival, I found myself facing a camel.” Then, have each student add one sentence until everyone has contributed. If time is short, divide students into small groups of 2–3 and ask them to quickly agree on their sentence. Finally, read the story back to the class and see what their finished piece looks like.
Invisible drawings
In pairs, ask one student to “draw an image in the air while their partner guesses what it is.” To guide the partner, give them categories like food, animals, or places, and then let student creativity take the lead. For a bit of help, allow the partner to ask one or two yes/no questions to get important context.
