Mom Moments

1. Place chairs in a circle with one fewer chair than there are students.
2. Play music and have the children walk around the chairs.
3. Tell students that when the music stops, they should quickly find a seat.

Once they have done this and one person has nowhere to sit, challenge the group to find a way for everyone to have a seat. Children can sit on each other’s laps, stand on the rungs connecting chair legs, or squeeze next to someone else on the same seat.Continue with a few successive rounds in which an additional chair is removed each time. Every time the group accommodates someone who would normally be excluded in a traditional game of Musical Chairs, compliment the students on their creativity.

With each new round, the students will have more contact with each other and will be challenged to work even harder to find ways to be inclusive. You may also wish to connect this activity with historical information about Rosa Parks and the importance, literally and figuratively, of everyone having “a seat on the bus.”