Brain Break Activities

I always appreciate when I can find interventions and activities that have already been made up- something that I can download and that decreases the prep work that I need to do. I often have teachers or paras that ask for ideas/activities and it is nice to be able to quickly have things to provide for them. I frequently get asked about brain break or sensory based activities, so I was really excited to find this freebie from one of my new favorite websites, Pink Oatmeal.    https://www.pinkoatmeal.com/  
Pink Oatmeal has a lifetime membership that you can purchase, or you can access their freebie library (you just need to obtain a password from them for it initially).  They provide physical activity and motor planning resources, and have high quality products for downloading.

French Fries Brain Breaks

I made up a few of these for some of my students who take regularly scheduled breaks in their day- it's easy for their teacher or para to have them pick an activity or 2 to do, or to have the whole class do together.

I modified the back a bit, so the fries don't slip out the back/bottom- there are 3 slits for the fries to tuck into on the front. On the back, I taped some paper strips-the bottom strip is taped on the bottom and 2 sides (like a pocket), and the top strip is kind of a guide- taped on the sides and open at the bottom. This keeps the fries in place, and if the upper fry cards slip down, they will be caught by the pocket as well.

Valentine Pizza Activity

Here's a fun Valentine activity that incorporates the use of all kinds of skills- coloring/painting, cutting, gluing, planning...

You need:

• small paper plate
• markers or paint sticks
• yellow paper cut into strips
• red, pink or orange paper
• glue

Directions:

• color/paint inner circle of paper plate orange or red (for the sauce)
• color/paint outer perimeter of plate brown or tan (for the crust)
• snip pieces of the yellow paper strips (for the cheese)
• cut small hearts out of red, pink, or orange paper (for the pepperoni)

• glue the small yellow paper pieces on the paper plate
• glue 4-5 of the individual hearts on top 

Valentine Salt Tray

Practice prewriting/writing skills in a salt tray for added sensory input~

Only items needed: salt and Valentine sprinkles (change the sprinkles for the theme/holidays)

We also made lines and circles by driving a toy car
through the salt! Lots of tactile feedback~