Seating Planner
A random seating chart generator for your classroom. Lay out the desks, say who sits apart or together, and press Shuffle for a new chart that follows every rule.
- Free
- Seating chart
- K–12
- Smartboard
- No sign-up
A random seating chart that keeps the rules you set
A random seat shuffle is fair until it puts two students who can't work together side by side. Seating Planner shuffles with your rules: who can't sit by whom, who sits together, who needs the front row and who sits near the teacher. Lock a student in place and every shuffle works around them. When you change one thing, Fix broken rules moves as few students as possible instead of starting over.
How Seating Planner works
Set up the room
Pick rows, pairs, groups of 4, groups of 6 or a horseshoe, and use + and − to match the number of desks. Then drag desks and the teacher's desk to where they sit in your room.
Add your students
Type a name and press Add, or paste your class list with one name per line to add everyone at once. New students go to the first empty desks.
Tap a student to set rules
Tapping a student on the chart opens their options: lock them in this seat, move them, keep them apart from someone, seat them next to someone, or put them in the front row or near the teacher.
Shuffle or fix
Shuffle makes a new random chart that follows every rule and leaves locked students where they are. If a rule breaks, the two students are circled in red, and Fix broken rules moves as few students as possible to meet it.
What's in Seating Planner
Four kinds of rules
Keep two students apart, seat two students together, put a student in the front row, or seat them near the teacher. Together means any desk touching theirs: beside, in front, behind or on the diagonal. The Rules tab lists every rule with a check when it's met, and every locked student with an Unlock button.
See the room from the front or the back
Flip view turns the chart around. The students' view puts the board at the top, the way students see the room. The teacher's view puts the board at the bottom, the way you see it from your desk.
Five layouts, then make it yours
Start from rows, pairs, groups of 4, groups of 6 or a horseshoe. While the Room tab is open, drag any desk, add a desk, or remove one. Arrow keys nudge the selected desk. If there are fewer desks than students, the chart says how many more you need.
Every class you teach
Make a class for each period, each with its own students, rules and desk layout, and switch between them from the menu at the top. Classes & backup copies everything as text you can paste into Seating Planner on another computer.
Built for the classroom
- Put the chart on the board on the first day so students can find their own seats.
- The front row and the near-teacher seats are marked on the chart, so you can see where those rules put students.
- Undo takes back the last change, including a shuffle.
- Drag a student onto another desk to swap two students by hand.
- It opens with 24 made-up students and five rules to try it on. Start my own class gives you an empty class.
No accounts, and names stay on your computer
Seating Planner needs no accounts and sends nothing to Flint. Student names, rules and layouts are saved only in the browser on that computer. First names or nicknames work fine. To move to another computer, copy a backup from Classes & backup and paste it into Seating Planner there.
Seating Planner questions
What is Seating Planner?
A free random seating chart generator for teachers. You lay out the desks, add students and rules, and Shuffle makes a new chart that follows every rule.
Is the seating chart random?
Yes. Each Shuffle seats students in a new random order, then swaps students to meet your rules. Locked students stay where they are.
What grades is it for?
Any grade from kindergarten through 12th grade. It works for any room with desks or tables.
What rules can I set?
Keep two students apart, seat two students together, put a student in the front row, or seat a student near the teacher. You can also lock a student in their seat and keep a desk empty.
What if a rule can't be met?
The status at the top says how many rules are broken, and the students involved are circled in red on the chart. Press Fix broken rules or Shuffle again, or change the room or the rules.
Can I move students myself?
Yes. Drag a student onto another desk to swap them, or tap a student and choose Move or swap.
Do students need accounts?
No. There are no accounts or sign-ins for you or your students.
Where are student names saved?
Only in the browser on the computer you use. Nothing is sent to Flint. Copy a backup in Classes & backup to keep a copy or to move your classes to another computer.
How is this different from Flint's seating chart maker?
Seating Planner is a drag-and-drop chart you shuffle yourself, with no sign-up. The seating chart maker works inside Flint: attach a roster and Sparky writes a printable seating chart you can save to Google Docs.
Tell us what your class thinks
Send an idea or a bug. Every message goes to the Flint team that built Seating Planner.
