Tide in, tide out2 minutes. The whole class stands along the back wall as the edge of the sea. The tide comes in: take 4 slow steps forward together with a long shh sound. The tide goes out: take 4 slow steps back. Do 6 tides, each quieter than the last, until the sea makes no sound.
Beach paddle rally2 minutes. Stand facing a partner, a few steps apart, each with a pretend paddle. Hit a pretend ball back and forth. Watch your partner's swing so that you swing only after the ball has had time to reach you. Count the rally aloud together up to 20, then play one with your other hand.
Build a sandcastle2 minutes. Scoop wet sand into a pretend bucket 5 times and pat the top flat. Turn the bucket over with one quick flip and lift it off slowly. Walk in a small circle and dig a moat all the way around with your heel. Reach up high to plant a flag on the top tower.
Fold the big towel1 minute. Face a partner and hold a big pretend beach towel between you, a corner in each hand. Shake it together with 3 huge flaps. Walk toward each other until your hands meet, and one of you takes all four corners. The other picks up the fold at the bottom. Fold it twice more, without a word.
Paper water balloon3 minutes. Scrunch one sheet of scrap paper into a ball for each pair. Stand close to your partner and toss it underarm. After every catch, both take one small step back. After a drop, both take one step forward. See how far apart the pair can get before the clock stops.
Plant the beach umbrella1 minute. Hold the pole of a pretend umbrella in two hands and twist it down into the sand, bending your knees lower with each of 5 twists. Stand up and open it: sweep both arms up and out wide. Tilt it to the left to block the sun, then to the right.
Skipping stones1 minute. Pick a flat pretend stone from the floor. Turn sideways, swing your arm low and let it go across the water. The teacher claps once for every skip, and the class counts the claps aloud. Throw 3 with one arm and 3 with the other, and bend your knees for each.
Surf the wave1 minute. Stand sideways on a pretend board with your knees bent and your arms out. The teacher calls the sea: lean forward to speed up, lean back to slow down, crouch low inside the curl of the wave. On the call of big one, jump and land facing the other way.
Tide in, tide out2 minutes. The whole class stands along the back wall as the edge of the sea. The tide comes in: take 4 slow steps forward together with a long shh sound. The tide goes out: take 4 slow steps back. Do 6 tides, each quieter than the last, until the sea makes no sound.
Summer camp games 8
Ceiling constellations3 minutes. Lean back in your chair and look at the ceiling as if it were the night sky. Choose 5 marks, lights or corners and join them into a picture in your mind. Give your constellation a name. Point it out to a neighbor, mark by mark, until they can see it too.
Count the thunder2 minutes. A storm is passing the camp. The teacher flicks the lights or flashes two open hands for lightning. Count the seconds in your head until the teacher claps for thunder, and hold that number up on your fingers. Do 6 flashes, with a longer gap each time.
Human braid3 minutes. Stand in a row of three, shoulder to shoulder, as the three strands of a bracelet. The child on the left steps in front of the middle child and becomes the new middle. Then the child on the right does the same. Keep taking turns from each side for 10 crossings, saying left and right as you go.
Lantern code2 minutes. Your hand is a lantern: open is on and a fist is off. A long flash means one step forward, and a short flash means one step back. Send your partner 4 flashes. When the lantern goes dark, your partner walks the message and says where it ended, such as two steps ahead. Swap after 3 messages.
Pitch the tent2 minutes. Unroll a pretend tent across the floor with a long push. Press a peg in at each of its 4 corners with one stomp. Lift the pole in the middle until your arms are straight above your head. Zip the door from the ground to as high as you can reach, then crouch and crawl in.
Shrinking raft3 minutes. In groups of four, put one sheet of paper on the floor as a raft. Everyone in the group must have one foot touching it for a count of 5. Fold the raft in half and do it again, then fold it once more. Hold on to each other's elbows to keep steady.
Trail hike2 minutes. Walk on the spot along a trail the teacher describes. Going uphill, lean forward and lift your knees slowly. Going downhill, take small quick steps. Step high over a fallen log, cross a stream on 3 stones and duck under a branch. At the top, shade your eyes and look at the view.
Where did the mosquito land?1 minute. The teacher buzzes, stops and says where the mosquito has landed: on your knee, your left shoulder, the top of your head, your right elbow. Tap that spot gently with one finger before the buzzing starts again. The calls get faster, and the last one is the tip of your own nose.
Last week of school 9
Advice for the next class3 minutes. Think of the child who will sit at your desk next year. On scrap paper, write them one true tip about this room, such as where the best reading spot is or which drawer sticks. Fold the paper once. The teacher collects the tips to hand out on the first day.
Autograph dash3 minutes. Take a pencil and a sheet of scrap paper. Collect the signatures of 5 classmates before the clock stops. Beside each name, the signer adds one word about this school year. Sign your own name on 5 other papers along the way.
First page, last page3 minutes. Find a notebook you began in the fall and open it at the first page. On scrap paper, copy its first line in your handwriting of today. Lay the two side by side. Show a neighbor one thing that has changed, such as the size of the letters or how straight the line runs.
Goodbye tunnel3 minutes. Stand in two lines that face each other and hold your arms up to make a tunnel. The pair at one end walks through to the far end and joins the tunnel there. The next pair follows at once. Keep going until every pair has walked through, then lower the roof.
Memory lane walk3 minutes. Walk one slow lap of the classroom without talking. Stop at a spot where something good happened this year: where you finished a hard book, built something or laughed until it hurt. On the teacher's clap, tell whoever is standing nearest what happened there.
Oldest thing in my desk3 minutes. You have one minute to find the oldest thing in your desk or bag: a worn-down eraser, a note from the fall, a pencil the length of a thumb. Hold it up. Tell your table its story in one sentence. The table votes for the oldest find.
Pack up the year3 minutes. A huge pretend box sits at the front of the room. One at a time, name one thing the class learned or made this year and act out placing it in the box: a tall one, a heavy one, a tiny one. When everyone has had a turn, the whole class tapes the box shut together.
Three for the summer3 minutes. Write down 3 small things you want to do before school starts again: learn to whistle, read a whole series, find the best climbing tree. Read one aloud to your table. If somebody else wrote the same thing, both of you stand up and take a bow.
Yearbook pose5 minutes. In groups of four, pick one moment from this school year that everyone remembers. Build a frozen picture of it with your bodies, as if for a yearbook page. Hold it for a count of 5 while the rest of the class guesses the moment. Each group shows one.
Slow ones for a hot room 5
A note in a bottle5 minutes. Write one friendly line to whoever finds it, and do not sign it. Roll the paper into a tight scroll. On the teacher's word, pass the scrolls from hand to hand around the room until the teacher says land. Unroll the one you are holding and read it.
Cloud shapes3 minutes. Draw the outline of a lumpy cloud without planning it. Turn the paper around until the cloud looks like something: a whale, a boot, a sleeping dog. Add 3 small details to make it clearer. A neighbor says what they see before you tell them.
Fold a paper fan3 minutes. Fold the short edge of a sheet of paper over by the width of a finger. Turn the sheet over and fold the same amount back the other way. Keep going, back and forth, to the end. Pinch one end shut, spread the other and fan a neighbor 10 times before they fan you.
Hammock sway1 minute. Lean back in your chair, feet flat on the floor and hands behind your head. Sway your shoulders slowly to one side and then the other, as if a hammock were rocking you. Count 10 sways. Close your eyes for the last 5.
Sprinkler arms30 seconds. Sit tall. Hold one arm straight out to the side as a lawn sprinkler and rest your other hand behind your head. Move the arm across in front of you in 8 small jerks, then sweep it back in one go. Do 4 sweeps with each arm.
How it works
These summer brain breaks have no video to follow. Each is a few lines to read aloud: beach moves, summer camp games, slow ones for a hot room and a group for the last week of school.
Read the full guide
The teacher calls the waves
Many beach moves and camp games are acted out beside the desk, and several need a caller: the teacher calls the sea, describes the trail or claps the thunder. Read the line once so the calls are ready. The timer over it runs for the length shown at its start.
The end of year brain break group
Open the menu and choose Last week of school for activities that look back on the year: Memory lane walk, Oldest thing in my desk, Advice for the next class. For a last day of school brain break, Goodbye tunnel and Autograph dash send everyone home through an arch of arms, with five signatures.
Advice for the next class pays off in the fall: hand the tips out on the first day.
Questions and answers
What is a good beach brain break for a small room?
Skipping stones, Surf the wave and Plant the beach umbrella need only the space beside a chair. Fold the big towel and Beach paddle rally need a partner, and Tide in, tide out uses the whole room.
Which ones suit a hot afternoon?
Slow ones for a hot room. Sprinkler arms and Hammock sway are done sitting down, Fold a paper fan ends with a breeze, and Cloud shapes and A note in a bottle need paper and a pencil. None asks the class to run or jump.
Do these work at a summer camp or program?
Yes. Summer camp games need no gear: Human braid, Count the thunder and Lantern code use nothing, and Shrinking raft uses one sheet of paper. Pitch the tent and Trail hike are acted out on the spot.