Learn with Stress Balls

The Biology Buzz Place
Mar 2, 2023
6 min read

Updated: Jul 25

Here is something fun I want to share with you that you can try in your class. Soft, squishy stress toys can be used to reinforce learning concepts in your class. I used to have this cute rainbow brain stress ball that I used to call the “learning brain”, because I used it to reinforce learning with my students. I no longer have this squishy stress ball, but have something similar to it now.

Stress balls can be used to check for learning/understanding. For example to start a class ask students to share what they recall from a previous lesson or use to recap what they learned at the end of a lesson. Toss it to a student to answer a specific unit question/prompt. You can instruct them to share out loud and then throw the ball back to you, or if your class can handle it, you can have students choose someone with their hand up to throw it to next to share.

You will find that many students will love the chance to show off their throwing skills in front of classmates (Especially your students who are into sports). It is also perfect for adding sensory stimulation to your lessons. Your kinetic learners will shine in this, as they will love the opportunity to physically participate in your lessons. Some of these students get bored quickly from just reading and writing in class, so they will especially love the movement that comes with this activity.

Okay, so you know by now that I really like using it and that students love using it, now let’s get into some ground rules for using it, and some cool ways to incorporate this activity into your lessons.

Some Ground Rules to go Over with Students Before Using the Learning Brain

1. Even though it is soft, remind students to gently throw the ball to another student,

rather than peg the student they are throwing it to (Yes, some students have been

known to do this).

2. The person holding the brain shares out their answer, then they will throw it to

someone else, so that they may respond to the question or make a comment.

3. Before throwing it to another student, the person with the brain must call the name of

the person they are going to throw it to, so that that person is prepared to catch it.

4 The only one who should be talking is the one holding the brain. The rest of the class is

quiet, and actively listening.

5. Only throw the rainbow brain to a person who is not yelling or calling out, "Me! Me! Me!

or "Over here!". *Students must be silent with hands raised to have a turn to catch it.

*You know your classes best. If a class is too rowdy or difficult to manage, then this may not be something you can incorporate into your lessons. You be the judge whether this will work in your classes.

WAYS TO USE LEARNING BRAIN in YOUR CLASS:

1. Use as a wrap-up activity at the end of a lesson to reinforce key concepts.

2. Use as a warm-up activity at the start of a lesson to review or prepare for new content.

3. Use to review test concepts.

4. Use as an ice breaker or brain break activity.

Reinforce Learning Concepts by Asking Questions

Checking for understanding. Simply ask a question, then choose a student to answer it by throwing the brain to them. They will share their answer then toss the brain to someone else to answer the question too, or to answer a new question you give them. If you know a quiz or test is coming soon, you can ask them specific test ready questions.

Reinforce Learning Concepts by Letting Students ask the Question.

Here, the student will ask a question, not the teacher. You could tell them to ask a question, then throw the brain to a student who has their hand up to answer the question. Then that student will ask another question for someone to answer. You, the teacher, will check that the responses are correct before moving on to a new question in this review activity. For example, a student may ask in which stage of the cell cycle does DNA replication occur? Then the ball will get tossed around until the correct answer is heard.

The ABC’s for Reinforced Learning

Have students share in alphabetical order one vocabulary term they learned in class that week and see how far they get in the alphabet.as a class. You can have them call out words that have to do with a unit they are studying or make it any biology or health term.

For example, throw the stress toy to a student and have them give you a vocabulary word that begins with the letter A, like the word: abiotic factor. Then they will toss it to another students who will call out a term that begins with the letter B, such as biotic factor or bacteria, decomposer for letter D, and so worth. You can see which class gets the farthest in the alphabet and share the results with them the next day. You can make it more challenging by setting a sand timer to set a limit on how long each student has to answer the question or call out a term.

Get to Know Classmates Ice Breaker

This can be used for students to answer fun questions you ask about your students in the beginning of the year, such as share out their name and one thing about themselves they want others to know, or what is their favorite dessert, or which city they were born in.

Welcome Back from a Holiday or Weekend

You may use this idea for after a long break, like Spring Break, to ask students to share what they did on their time off. Or for those who celebrate Christmas, they can share how they spent their Christmas holiday. For those who celebrate Hanukkah, they may want to share how they celebrated their special holiday. Others may share how they celebrated New Year's Eve, and so on. The list goes on :).

Random Call On

To get all students involved, you may want to tell the class that anyone can be called on to catch the ball and answer the question, even if they do not have their hand raised. Just remind students (if they are the ones throwing) to still call a student's name before throwing the ball to them.

Warm-up or Wrap-up

You can use the learning brain at the start of class to recall important concepts from the previous class meeting or at the closing of class to share something they learned in class that day.

Your Visual Learners

Some students you can tell them something and they will often ask, “What did you say?” or “What was the Question? I didn’t hear it”. You teachers know what I am talking about! :) For this reason, you may want to plan your question/s ahead of time and have them written on a big screen or white board for students to be able to both hear and see the question being answered. You may also want to write down the correct answers on the board as they are called out by students.

Possible Learning Brain Questions in Lessons

1. What are some gifts you give yourself when you choose not to smoke?

2. Name negative effects/consequences caused by smoking.

3. Give me an example of positive peer pressure.

4. Name a nutrient we talked about in class.

5. Name a blood vessel and tell me one thing about it you learned.

6. Share about examples of positive peer pressure.

7. What are some good refusal lines to practice abstinence?

8. What are some ways to build self-esteem.

9. Name a cell organelle and give its function.

10. Name the phases of mitosis in order.

11. Name something you learned about the lesson (specific topic) today.