Brain Breaks + Active Lessons, Grades 1 to 8

Your Class Needs To Move. Your Schedule Doesn't.

Reading, writing and math, taught on their feet. No gym. No prep. No equipment.

Approved vendor for Peel District School Board programs

Free

Enough To Try It Tomorrow.

Not a teaser. Real pages you can print tonight and run in the morning.

  • One Basketball Math game
  • The Story Challenge movement alphabet
  • A printable story tracker
  • The 30-Minute Story Challenge poster
  • A 5-day preview of the 30-Day Challenge

Send Me The Pack

One email. The pack comes straight back.

We email you the pack and the occasional new challenge. Unsubscribe any time. We never sell your data.

Or Don't Run It Yourself.

Everything on this page, you can run alone. But we'll also come and do it: your classroom, your gym, your yard, Grades 1 to 8, about an hour a session. We bring the equipment.

Prices, group sizes and how to book all live on the schools page.

See Prices And Book

Kids active during a Get Active 'N Play in-school session A GANP in-school session

Grade 4 And 5, First Thing In The Morning.

In her Peel public school, Mrs. Jonakovski opens the day with a word-of-the-day Story Challenge. All 26 kids move, then they write.

“The kids get excited, they pay attention more, and we've had fewer disruptions since we started.”

Mrs. Jonakovski · 26 students, Grades 4 and 5 · Peel public school

One teacher's experience with the Story Challenge, one of several Moving & Learning activities.

Want All Three?

One bundle. Every game, every poster, every printable. Buy it once, run it all year.

The Move + Learn Pack

Everything on this page, ready to print.

  • All 10 Basketball Math games
  • The full 30-Minute Story Challenge kit
  • The full 30-Day Story Challenge kit
  • Both movement alphabets, poster size
  • Trackers and class story pages

Pricing
Coming Soon

Buy the pieces now, or wait for the pack See The Store

Just want the math games? Basketball Math is $10.

Students doing a basketball math lesson on a painted courtBasketball Math, mid-lesson

Built For The Ontario School Day.

Every activity does two jobs at once: the learning on your plan, and the movement kids need.

ActivityClassroom learningMovement
Story ChallengeWriting, vocabulary, sentence buildingA move for every letter in the word
Get Active Mad LibsReading, grammar, parts of speechKids act out the moves written into the story
Basketball MathNumber sense, operations, mental mathTen games on the court or in the gym
Paper DodecahedronAny subject, kids write the promptsRoll it, do the move
Sportswall gamesHealth and phys ed, movement skillsRecess, phys ed and intramurals on a painted court

Movement doesn't replace learning time. Movement becomes part of the lesson.

Ontario Already Asks For This.

Ontario asks for 20 minutes of activity during class time every day, built into the day rather than bolted on.

These lessons are one way to get there. Whether one hits the 20 minutes depends on how long you run it and how hard the kids work.Ontario Schools, Kindergarten to Grade 12: Policy and Program Requirements

Running this across a whole board? For School Boards is your page.

Parents, This Works At Home.

You don't need a class. One kid and a driveway is plenty. Ten minutes before homework beats an hour of fighting about it.

Start with the 30-Day Story Challenge. A word, a few jumping jacks, one sentence. Do it at breakfast. By the end of the month your kid has written a story and won't quite know how.

Questions Teachers Ask.

What are good brain breaks for elementary students?

The best ones do two jobs at once: the class moves and keeps learning. Kids spell words with their feet, run to the answer in math, act out a story. Two to ten minutes. No gym time, no equipment beyond what’s already in the room.

How do I teach math and reading through movement?

Give the answer a place in the room and make them go to it. Numbers on the floor, letters on the wall, targets to hit. We write these as printable low-prep lessons for Grades 1 to 8 that line up with the Ontario curriculum. Print one, run it the same day.

How do I meet Daily Physical Activity without losing lesson time?

You don’t have to choose. Ontario asks for 20 minutes of activity during class time every day. It can come in 5 or 10 minute blocks, in any subject. That is what these lessons do. Nothing gets cut to make room.

Do I need a gym or equipment?

No. Built for the room you already have: classroom, hallway, gym or schoolyard. Most need nothing but floor space. Print the page and run it.

What can we do for indoor recess on a rainy day?

Run a challenge the class can do beside their desks. The 30-Minute Story Challenge fills a whole indoor recess: a word, the movements that spell it, then a line added to the story. Basketball Math works in a hallway with a soft ball. No gym, minimal setup, and the energy still gets burned.

We have no budget. Can we still use this?

Start with the free ones. Two lessons and the starter pack cost nothing, and you can print them tonight. The full pack is under ten dollars. Booked workshops run $6 to $9 per student per hour, $250 minimum. Schools pay from school budgets, parent council funds or local grants. GANP is an approved Peel District School Board vendor.

Doing this at home? Parent questions are answered here.