Building strong reading skills sets children up for success in life, and at Read Smart, we love seeing your kids succeed. One step you can take to help your children grow their reading skills is to provide energizing breaks during their reading time using these simple guidelines.
What are Energizing Breaks?
Energizing breaks are brief breaks tailored to energizing students’ brains through mind and body challenges that last up to two minutes. They are comprised of physical movement, patterns, and challenges. As a rule, the activities done during energizing breaks should cross the midline of the body to assist in brain organization. Energizing breaks wake the brain up and keep students eager to continue learning.
How Can I Tell When My Child Needs a Break?
Every child is different, but most show their boredom in similar ways. If your child begins to display the following behaviors during reading or learning time, it may be time for an energizing break:
- Fidgeting
- In a daze; a glazed look on their face
- Not paying attention
- Displaying frustration
- Yawning
How Can I Plan an Energizing Brain Break?
There are hundreds of quick, effective, energizing brain-break ideas to keep your kids engaged and eager to learn. To create your own, follow these simple steps:
- Choose an activity that engages both sides of the body
- Ensure the instructions pose a mental challenge; either require the child to do a different action on one side of the body than the other or require the child to use patterns to determine the next action.
Here are some common energizing brain break activities:
- Put your hands in front of you, palms facing forward. Move your right hand from left to right, back and forth. Now, as you continue to move your right hand from left to right, begin moving your left hand up and down.
- Grab your right ear with your left hand and your nose with your right hand. Now grab your left ear with your right hand and your nose with your left hand.
To help your children grow strong reading skills, contact Read Smart today!
