Some schools and educators have adopted Brain Gym, a program of Educational Kinesiology exercises. They are used to help the brain function better. Brain Gym includes 26 different activities that teachers can do with their students to help them expend energy, relieve stress, and ultimately improve their learning.
The aims of brain gym exercises are as follows:
- To encourage learning through play.
- To elicit natural intelligence to investigate the importance of movement in daily life.
- To highlight the ability to detect and respond to movement-based needs.
- Encouragement of creativity and self-expression.
Some examples of brain gym exercises are listed below:
- Figure 8: Students are taught to draw a figure-eight with their finger in the air or on a piece of paper. They can do it with either their dominant or non-dominant hand, with the goal of loosening muscles in preparation for writing.
- Thinking of the letter X: Students are asked to close their eyes and visualize the letter X. As students consider the symmetry of their shoulders and hips, their eyes should naturally focus on the letter.
