Brain Break Boxes

Goals & Benefits

1. Provide Academic Supports for Students: Movement helps control the body and improves learning, so the inclusion of tactile learning and sensory tool integration into the classroom helps develop the right and left sides of the brain and encourages both sides to work more cohesively. Lessons can also include the use of fidget tools, which can help engage students in the learning process more authentically and can help concepts become more concrete in their brains.

2. Provide Emotional Regulation for Students: Students with emotional imbalances or who are “having a rough day” are able to focus their energy on a fidget toy while still remaining in class and getting the information that is being presented. Having the intervention of providing fidget toys can prevent student referrals or time spent in the office or outside of the classroom. Fidget tools will also allow for students to develop their own emotional regulation, which is a skill that will help them throughout their academics and in their daily lives. Students that physically can’t stay still in their seats often depend on other stimuli to control their emotions when they do not have a positive outlet, like fidget tools. The use of fidget tools within the classroom can free up their brain for critical thinking, reading concepts, communication, getting thoughts on paper and making their skill set more automatic.

3. Provide Behavioral Support for Students: Behavior is communication and students who act out in class could be given fidget tools as an intervention that would prevent their behavior from escalating to an interruptive or unsafe level. Behaviors that can often surface and be disruptive to the classroom environment are usually masking other needs that are not being met in that student’s life. These underlying issues can be anything from not feeling physically safe, lack of sleep or food, a developmental delay, or a delay in executive functioning skills to low self-esteem, lack of appropriate social skills, need for attention or sensory needs. Fidget tools can act as a Tier I intervention to keep students calm, engaged and active in their learning and will reduce the amount of time spent out of class due to behavior problems.

4. Provide Teachers with Additional Interventions: The more interventions and tools we provide teachers within their own classrooms, the better it is for both the students and the staff. Teachers who have options for how to manage and prevent emotional or physical outbursts in their classrooms will not only keep students in their classroom more frequently, which allows for them the ability to better comprehend the material, but will also help develop relationships with students that can help the overall classroom environment. Teachers who are able to have access to Tier I and Tier II supports in their classroom are more likely to have less interruptions and will have better behavior management strategies and expectations in place with their students.