Switch Seats in action with High 5 Adventure Learning staff

Have You Ever: Switch Seats with Empathy

By Mark Collard
Experiential Trainer, Author & Speaker

Kudos to the High 5 Adventure Learning team for sharing a wonderfully inclusive version of the classic Have You Ever? game in their latest newsletter.

They call this variation Switch Seats, and I wanted to share it with you all because it’s ideal for use with groups adjusting to being back together again after a long time apart because of COVID or home-based learning imperatives.

In their words:

“… it’s a useful tool to help students actively engage in sharing their experiences during the pandemic and acknowledging the spectrum of realities experienced since March 2020. We help build empathy when we realize that while we are not in the same boat, we are all in the same storm, and although we’ve all been dealing with the loss of some kind, our respective experiences may not have been the same…”

Look for the ‘mistake’ and pay particular attention to how Ryan McCormick (the facilitator) connects the exercise to community-building purposes.

Switch Seats and more than 30 other activities are part of our Rebuilding After COVID online professional development course.

Original post October 2021, last updated August 2024.

By Mark Collard - Experiential Trainer, Author & Speaker

Comments (1)

Mary Henton October 21, 2021

Love this variation. I like that this combines some movement with opportunity for conversation.
I was recently with a group of teachers to facilitate, among other things, (1) reconnecting and (2) celebrating successes from the previous year. Wish I had had this variation in my pocket.
It’s tucked away for a next time!