The origin of “Musical Chairs” is unknown. However, it has been played for centuries in many different countries. It is unknown where or how the game began, but the fun has lasted many years. Even today, the game of Musical Chairs is seen in elementary schools and pop culture. It is most commonly known to come from the German version of the game “Reise Nach Jerusalem.” Trip to Jerusalem is a game that was predominantly played in Germany. It is known in German as “Reise Nach Jerusalem,” and that is where the translation comes from.
Players run around a row of chairs while music plays and try to sit down on one when the music stops. Suppose you describe the situation within a particular organization or area of activity as musical chairs. In that case, you highlight how people in that organization or area exchange jobs or positions very often.
The rules to musical chairs
Start with (p -1) chairs where p is the total number of players.
Play the music and have the players walk around the perimeter of the chair circle. When the music stops, everyone must immediately sit in a chair. The one person left standing it out. Remove another chair and continue until only one person is left.
Musical Chairs Reverse
Play the traditional game and talk about how it feels to be left out.
And then play a “backward” musical chairs game. Here are two different options:
Option 1: The goal is to get everybody to sit without their feet touching the ground. Each round, you remove a chair, but nobody gets eliminated. This is a cooperative activity to make sure everybody stays in the game.
Option 2: Start with one extra chair, and when the music stops, the two people on either side of the empty chair must find a new person to join the game. They have to introduce the new person and then add a new chair for the new round. This might not be feasible unless you can find extra people (maybe parents?) to join the game.
Playing a game of Musical Chairs in two different ways will help contrast what it feels like to eliminate people vs. work together to keep everybody in the game (or even invite new people to join the game).
[Provide proper supervision to ensure this activity does not get out of control.] This is not a simple game.
WE&P by: EZorrillaMc.