Kids are fast learners, especially during the 0-8 age. They are always on the lookout for new knowledge and continuously soak in information from their surroundings. Their curiosity and the incredible tendency to gain knowledge build up their ideas of the world and existing reality. Thus, it is crucial to make sure they are spending this learning time the best way possible. And long hours of continuous study is not the correct way to do that.
What is Brain Break?
Children have very active brains, and they find it hard to focus on a task for too long, and so it is best to divert their attention elsewhere from time to time. These diversions are called ‘brain breaks.’ The sole purpose of a brain break is to provide the children breaks during learning periods so that their heads do not get tired or stressed out from long periods of continuous studying. That’s why school teachers in many countries make it necessary to incorporate fun brain breaks for kids in the daily class schedules.
A brain break is not just for kids. Even adults can use brain breaks for improved learning and stress reduction. All you need to do is set a timer and find something constructive to occupy yourself with but without any stress. It has to be simple and challenging yet not too difficult, and, most importantly, you’ve got to have fun doing the activity.
The Science Behind Brain Breaks
Research has shown that ‘brain breaks’ provide a valuable amount of time to mentally rest and reboot, hence boosting the students’ overall productivity and creativity. This is not just restricted to little kids either. Older kids such as those in high school can also benefit from brain breaks. Even you, regardless of your age, need periods between work to improve productivity.
The science behind these brain breaks is that the time of rest after learning helps to consolidate the information that you have learned. During this time, the connections made in your brain solidify all the learned concepts and help retain the newly acquired knowledge into memory. That is also why it is best to sleep before exams so that it is easier to remember the material that you studied the night before.
Some Useful Brain Breaks for Kids
To maintain excellent classroom management that would fully optimize the learning experience for kids, teachers should come up with fun and creative break ideas before the day starts. A good brain breaks activity involves an appropriate amount of time- long enough for the student to relax and short enough to reduce unnecessary waste of learning time. It should ideally divert the students’ entire attention away from the primary task, besides being simple and stress-free for the students. Remember that difficult activities would result in the opposite effect of what we’re trying to achieve, so the task has to be easy and fun.
Brain breaks for first-grade kids or younger children usually include interactive yet straightforward games and activities like a tournament of rock paper scissors, ring-a-roses, musical chairs, or maybe even an all-out dance party. The brain break effect works best in a creative classroom, where the teachers and the children work together to decide what brain break activity to do together. The more creative you get, the better the effects of the brain break!
Older students may need other kinds of brain breaks, like participating in a fun quiz or watching an entertaining video. If you want to use brain breaks yourself, you can do whatever activity you find relaxing or fun. For example, playing the guitar for 5 mins or going to play with your cat is a good brain break idea for a while.
Shake Break – Galaxy Kids
Galaxy Kids uses a brain break style teaching method that can keep the children’s brains active by relaxing between study periods. The examples we’ve mentioned so far are for young children to work best in classrooms with teachers present.
For children to receive the same quality of learning from home as they would from being physically present in their school classroom, the Galaxy Kids app incorporates artificial intelligence with immersive games and beautiful visuals to help students learn English.
One of the most exciting features of the Galaxy Kids learning app is the ‘Shake Break’ function. It uses the same brain breaks we discussed, bringing them to the computer screens for young students. Whenever it’s time for an appropriate brain break, the shake break function is used to get the students physically active after a long period spent studying. The students stand and follow the instructions by watching videos of a variety of movement songs.
The ‘shake break’ song offers a fun way to let students blow off steam after focusing for a while. That way, they’re able to get back to learning English with reinvigorated focus and energy.
Final Thoughts
No one can deny the importance of Brain Breaks and Galaxy Kids’s “Shake Brake” feature has turned it into an exciting English learning experience for young children. The app is a great learning station that makes English learning fun and easy.