Musical Chairs

Musical Chairs

Setting: outside or a large area such as a living room or a basement

Ingredients:

Chairs (whatever number of people that you have playing is the number of chairs you start with)

Music
Marker
Notecard
Whiteboard or chalkboard

Instructions:

 Put all the chairs in a circle so that the seats are facing outward.

 Have the people who are playing walk or skip around the chairs while music is playing.

 Stop the music randomly and have the people rush to sit in one of the chairs.

 Remove a chair each round and who ever is left without a seat when the music stops is out of the round.
To improve letter recognition and fine motor skills set a letter on each of the chairs by using a notecard and a marker.
If the person succeeded in finding a chair at the last minute then they had to practice writing the letter that they sat on with the whiteboard.

Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is social interaction in a group setting. Also this exercise shows the ability of the individual to demonstrate and exercise vestibular input to hear the cue of when to sit down due to the lack of the music. Gross Motor is needed to rush to get to a seat along with balance to go from sitting to standing or vice versa at a fast pace. Lower extremities range of motion is exercised in this activity through constant movement around the chairs. Ability to understand where you are in space is also important in this activity to know how far you are away from the next person or chair. This game is fun for any age, although may be harder for an older population to go from sitting to standing as fast as a younger crowd would. 

Cox, K. (2012). Musical Letters. Alphabet Letter Formation Activities.

Retrieved from: http://www.prekinders.com/alphabet-letter-formation-activities/