Lights off, heads down2 minutes. Switch the lights off if you can. Fold your arms on the desk, rest your head on them and close your eyes. There is nothing to do and nothing to get right. Tick Sound on the timer so that a soft tone ends it.
Bring it back2 minutes. Breathe slow and easy through your nose and keep your attention on the breath. Each time you catch your mind wandering off, return it to the breath and put one finger up. At the end, look at your fingers. Any number is fine: catching it is the skill.
Cool air, warm air1 minute. Breathe slowly in and out through your nose. Keep your attention on the air just inside your nose, first on the way in, then on the way out. After 4 slow breaths, raise a hand if the air going in felt different from the air coming out.
Four slow breaths1 minute. Sit back in your chair with both feet on the floor. Eyes can close or rest on the desk. Breathe in by the nose and out by the nose, slow and easy, without holding the breath anywhere. Count 4 breaths on your fingers, then 4 more if the room wants them.
Hand on belly breaths1 minute. Rest a hand on your tummy or chest. Breathe in and out through your nose, slow and easy, and feel the hand move. Take 4 breaths. Nobody holds a breath or forces a big one.
Sigh it out30 seconds. Breathe in slowly through your nose. Let the breath out with a quiet sigh, mouth open or closed. Do 4 sighs, each one softer than the last, until the fourth can hardly be heard.
Listening and noticing 13
Count to 10, one voice at a time3 minutes. Eyes closed. The class counts to 10, one number per voice, with no order agreed and no signals. If two pupils speak at once, the count goes back to 1. It works only when everyone slows down and listens.
Fade-out clap1 minute. Clap a slow, steady beat together. After every 4 claps, get quieter: whole palms, then three fingers, then one finger, then hands that stop just before they touch. Hold the silence for 5 seconds at the end.
Fading taps1 minute. The class closes its eyes. Tap a pencil on a desk, each tap softer than the last. Pupils raise a hand at the moment they can no longer hear it. Play 3 rounds from different corners of the room.
Far sound, near sound1 minute. Close your eyes. For the first half, hunt for the farthest sound you can hear: traffic, a door down the hall. When the teacher whispers switch, hunt for the nearest one: the clock, your own sleeve.
Feet on the floor1 minute. Sit with both feet flat. Press your toes down, then your heels. Notice where your feet touch your shoes and where the chair holds you up: under your legs, behind your back. Stay still until the timer ends.
Find your heartbeat1 minute. Lay a hand flat on your chest, or two fingers on the inside of your wrist, until you can feel your heartbeat. Sit still and keep feeling it until the timer ends. Notice whether it changed or stayed the same. Try it straight after recess.
Five, four, three2 minutes. In silence, find 5 things you can see, then 4 things you can feel without moving, such as the chair against your back, then 3 things you can hear. Count them off on your fingers. Nobody shares unless they want to.
Look, close, picture1 minute. Pick one thing on the wall or outside the window and look only at it for 20 seconds. Close your eyes and picture it for 20 more. Open them and check what your picture left out.
My weather right now1 minute. If your mood were weather, what would it be: sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy? Think for 30 seconds. Then show it with one hand: an open palm for sun, a fist for cloud, wiggling fingers for rain, a wave for wind. Nobody has to explain theirs.
One minute of sounds1 minute. Eyes closed, or looking at your desk. Listen without making a sound yourself. When the timer ends, name 3 sounds you heard: one inside the room, one outside it, and one that came from you.
Pencil detective1 minute. Look at your pencil as if you had never seen one. Find 5 details nobody else would know: a dent, a chip in the paint, the printed letters, the shape of the point. Put a finger up for each one.
Rainstorm that fades2 minutes. Follow the leader's hands without talking. Rub palms together for drizzle, snap fingers for rain, pat knees for the downpour. Then go back down: snaps, rubbing palms, still hands. The storm always ends in silence.
Texture hunt1 minute. Without leaving your seat, touch 4 surfaces: the desk top, your sleeve, a pencil, the chair. Decide which is the smoothest, which the roughest and which the coolest. Show each answer by pointing.
Slow moves and stillness 15
Feather hands1 minute. Hold one hand high. It is a feather. Let it float down to your desk, swaying from side to side, and take a full 20 seconds over it. Do the other hand, then both together.
Heavy arms1 minute. Sit back and let your arms hang at your sides. Imagine them filling with sand from the fingertips up, heavier and heavier, for 30 seconds. Then the sand runs out and your hands float up to the desk.
Lights off, heads down2 minutes. Switch the lights off if you can. Fold your arms on the desk, rest your head on them and close your eyes. There is nothing to do and nothing to get right. Tick Sound on the timer so that a soft tone ends it.
Melt into your chair1 minute. Stand as stiff as an ice statue. On the word melt, soften from the top over 30 seconds: head, shoulders, arms, back, knees, until you are a puddle in your chair. Stay melted until the timer ends.
Push and pull hands1 minute. Press your palms together in front of your chest for a slow count of 5, then let go and shake them out. Hook your fingers together and pull for a count of 5. Do 3 rounds, breathing normally.
Rag doll1 minute. Reach both arms up over a slow count of 5. Fold forward over another count of 5 and let your arms and head hang like a rag doll. Roll back up over a count of 10, head last.
Silent footsteps2 minutes. Walk one slow lap of the room, rolling each foot from heel to toe so that no step can be heard. The teacher stands at the front with eyes closed and points toward any sound. Whoever is pointed at freezes for 5 seconds.
Sleeping lions3 minutes. Everyone is a sleeping lion: head on folded arms, eyes closed, perfectly still. One or two keepers walk the room without touching or talking. A lion seen moving gets a tap on the desk and silently joins the keepers.
Slow shoulder rolls1 minute. Roll both shoulders backward 5 times, as slowly as you can, then forward 5 times. Lift them toward your ears for a count of 3 and let them drop. Do 3 drops.
Slow sideways eights1 minute. Hold one arm straight out, thumb up. Draw a sideways figure eight in the air, as wide as your shoulders and as slowly as you can, following your thumb with your eyes. Do 3 with each hand, then 3 with your hands clasped.
Starfish hand trace1 minute. Spread one hand like a starfish. With a finger of the other hand, trace slowly up and down each finger, from the thumb to the little finger and back. Watch the tracing finger the whole way. Swap hands when the timer is half done.
Tall tree1 minute. Stand behind your chair with one hand on it. Rest one foot against the other ankle and fix your eyes on a spot on the wall. Hold for 20 seconds, swap legs, then try again without the hand.
Tense and let go2 minutes. Sitting down, curl your toes tight for a slow count of 3, then let go. Work upward the same way: legs, stomach, fists, shoulders lifted to your ears. Squeeze firmly but never until it hurts, and keep breathing normally the whole time.
Twenty-second stand1 minute. Count slowly to 20 while the class takes the whole count to stand up, with no sound from a chair. Stand still for a count of 5. Then take another count of 20 to sit back down.
Warm hands rest1 minute. Rub your palms together for 10 seconds until they feel warm. Cup them over your closed eyes without pressing. Rest in the dark for about 30 seconds, then lower your hands slowly and let the light back in.
Pencil and paper 7
Look more than you draw3 minutes. Put one small object on your desk: an eraser, a sharpener, a key. Draw it at its real size. The one rule is to look at the object more than at your paper.
One-minute line1 minute. Start at the left edge of your paper and draw one line toward the right edge. The pencil must never stop moving, and it must not arrive before the timer ends. Watch the clock and pace yourself.
Pattern squares5 minutes. Draw a box the size of your palm and split it into 4 parts with 2 wavy lines. Fill each part with a different repeating pattern: stripes, dots, scales, zigzags. Work in silence, with no erasing.
Slow spiral2 minutes. Put a dot in the middle of your paper. Draw a spiral outward from it as slowly as you can, keeping the lines close together but never touching. If two lines touch, start a new spiral beside it.
Stacked arches2 minutes. Draw a small arch at the bottom of your paper. Draw another over it, as close as you can without touching. Keep stacking arches until they reach the edges of the page.
Ten dots3 minutes. Scatter 10 dots across your paper. Join each dot to its 2 nearest neighbors with straight lines, so that a web of shapes appears. Shade in every other shape, pressing lightly.
Three good things2 minutes. Write or draw 3 good things from today so far, however small: a warm coat, a joke at lunch, a finished page. Keep the list to yourself, or show one thing to a neighbor without talking.
How it works
These calming brain breaks are quiet, slow activities of 30 seconds to 5 minutes for a class that comes in loud after recess or tense before a test. One of 40 is already up; Pick another brain break swaps it.
Read the full guide
Filter calm brain breaks by what the room can manage
The menu that reads All brain breaks sorts the list. Silent from start to finish marks 29 silent brain breaks that need no voice, yours included, once they begin, which suits a day when the next room is testing. Works in kindergarten marks 19 that take one spoken instruction.
Time it without breaking the quiet
The timer button over the result is already set to that activity's length, so press it. When eyes will be closed, the leader watches the clock.
Run the same break after recess every day for a week before you judge it.
Deal three and let one pupil choose. The random name picker decides who.
Choose Pencil and paper for quiet tasks for early finishers.
Questions and answers
Which are calming brain breaks for kindergarten?
Choose Works in kindergarten in the menu. Those 19 need no reading and no writing beyond a pencil line: Melt into your chair, Feather hands, Fade-out clap, Sleeping lions. Never insist on closed eyes; looking at the desk works as well.
Are these mindfulness brain breaks?
Some are. Mindful brain breaks ask pupils to pay attention to one thing on purpose: the breath, a sound, the feel of a chair. The 5 in Slow breathing are adapted from steps Nemours KidsHealth publishes for children. We claim nothing about their effect.
What if calming brain breaks for kids make my class giggle?
Let it pass and keep going. Start with a 1 minute activity, not a 3 minute one. If the room has too much energy to sit, pick from Slow moves and stillness first, such as Twenty-second stand.