Large Scale Musical Chairs
Large Scale Musical Chairs
A Fun Youth Group Game
Watch the Tutorial Video
Large Scale Musical Chairs takes the classic musical chairs game and makes it much bigger by spreading the chairs throughout the entire building.
Overview
Ideal # of Participants: Up to 40
Where to Play: Indoor / Outdoor
Age of Participants: Elementary School / Middle School / High School
Approximate Time to Play: 15 to 30 Minutes
Materials Needed: Chairs (One per person)
How to Play Large Scale Musical Chairs
Set Up the Chairs
Count how many players you have, and get that number of chairs minus one.
Instead of putting all of the chairs in a circle like traditional musical chairs, you’re going to spread the chairs throughout your building.
Place them in different rooms, in hallways, in closets, hide them behind open doors, or place a clump of a few chairs together.
The goal is to make the chairs difficult to find.
Start the Music
To start a round, gather everyone in the same general area and play some music.
While the music is playing, everyone should stay together and wait for the music to stop.
Find a Chair
When the music stops, everyone needs to find a chair and sit in it.
But it’s really the finding that makes this version of musical chairs difficult.
Some chairs will be right next to your group, and they’ll get snatched up quickly. Other chairs may be further away, hidden in another room, or easily missed.
Students will have to quickly figure out where the chairs are and get to one before they’re all taken.
The last player left without a chair gets eliminated.
What Happens If Two Players Reach the Same Chair?
Speaking of fighting over chairs, sometimes two people will reach the same chair at almost exactly the same time.
If two people reach the same chair close enough together that you can’t tell who actually sat down first, then neither player is allowed to use that chair this round.
This keeps students from arguing over who got there first and makes the rule simple to enforce.
Keep Playing Until One Person Remains
Continue playing through the rounds, eliminating one player each time.
As the number of players gets smaller, the number of chairs gets smaller too.
Eventually, you’ll get down to just one person, who is the winner!
Lesson Handout
Want to make this easy to share with your volunteers or students? Download the “Large Scale Musical Chairs” Lesson Handout (PDF) below!
Where Games Meet God's Word...
Most leaders just look for games to play, but miss their true value. When used well, games help teach your lesson, because experiential learning is by far the most effective way to teach a lesson that sticks.
If you want to see this principle in action, check out Uplift, our FREE youth group lesson that is built for engagement. It contains a fun game, but then your students’ experience from the game ties into the Christ-centered message you’ll teach.
