Chairs in the Classroom: Yoga, Games and More!

I like using everyday classroom objects in creative and engaging ways to make learning fun. So far I’ve written about soft balls, food, toilet paper and scarves – but what about chairs? Can we use them to boost creativity, communication and fun?

Of course!

I think we may surprise our students by using ordinary chairs in the unexpected way – sometimes as a strictly educational tool, sometimes as a nice break to chill between language-related activities. That’s why I’ve decided to share 5 activities I have used chairs for – I hope you’ll like them too!

Musical chairs

I love musical chairs! It’s a great way to get students move a bit. To play, arrange a circle of chairs in the middle of the room, one less chair than the number of students. Play music and have the students walk around the circle. When the music stops, students must sit on a chair. The student without a chair is out, and one chair is removed. Continue until there is only one student left.

Of course you can add some ESL vibe to this activity. For example, you can prepare the challenges (e.g. grammar structures, sentence completion or typical name 5 colours challenge) on post-it notes and put them in a box, and the student left standing up has to complete one of the challenges as a forfeit. The fun thing is, as the game progresses, you may take away more chairs and have more students complete their challenges.

Chair yoga

Yoga is a great way to promote relaxation and mindfulness in the classroom, and you can use it as a short break during grammar revision. Even if you’re not a yoga instructor, you can learn some simple exercises to include in the lesson – just let your students sit in their chairs and lead them through a series of gentle stretches and breathing exercises. Chairs may be helpful not only for students who may have difficulty sitting on the floor, but also those who simply don’t feel like it.

If you need some inspiration, check this video:

Chair scavenger hunt

It’s a nice exercise to work on reading and vocabulary, so perfect for 6-8 year old children. Hide some simple items (such as pencils, erasers, or books) around the room and give students a list of clues to find them. Each item is hidden on (or beneath) a chair, so students must look carefully to find them all!

This activity can be also used to reinforce classroom rules and expectations – just hide the rules and ask your students to collect them all.

To add some extra challenge, divide students into groups and each group gets a different set of clues and items to find!

Chair obstacle course

It’s one of the funniest ways to practise prepositions of place! Use chairs to create a course that students must navigate through. For example, they may need to crawl under a row of chairs, jump over a chair, or balance on a chair while walking across the room.

I can see someone sitting on the chair

Storytelling is a powerful tool for promoting creativity and imagination. This activity is great for all age groups, as you simply place an empty chair in front of the classroom and ask your students to imagine someone is sitting on it. It may be Santa Claus (for young learners), a famous celebrity (for teens) or a historical character (for adults).

Then divide students into groups and ask them to prepare a speech – would would they say to this person? What would they like to share with them, maybe ask about something? You may ask students to come up with an imaginary interview – one person is “interviewing” the empty chair, and the other is pretending to be a translator. This activity promotes active listening, collaboration, and storytelling skills – but is also really funny!

As you can see, a simple, ordinary chair can offer you more than a sitting place – it can promote active learning and student engagement in the classroom. Physical activity, mindfulness, critical thinking, communication skills – it’s all there, all you need to do is keep your mind open, and your sense of humour tingling!