Blank seating chart grids you can copy for 24 and 30 desks.
A classroom seating chart template is a blank desk grid you fill in by hand and print, and the two below cover most class sizes. When we built the grids below, we did it in two passes. Building the grid and filling it at the same time is how you end up with columns of different widths and names that will not fit. Build the empty grid first. Fill it second.
Five columns by five rows, with the back row left open for late additions. Copy the table into a document, or rebuild it in the steps further down.
| FRONT OF ROOM (board) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | |
Six columns by five rows. This is the largest grid that still prints readably on a landscape page without dropping the font below about 11 point.
| FRONT OF ROOM (board) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
Three elements decide whether a blank template is usable. When we reviewed the free templates already out there, each of the three was missing somewhere, and each omission costs somebody time later.
Google Docs is the right choice when the chart will be shared and printed rather than edited often. Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets are covered further down, and both handle a changing grid better. Three steps build it.
Drag the bottom border of one row down to about 0.8 inches and the rest will follow.
The limitation to plan around is that a table in Google Docs does not hold even column widths once cells contain text of different lengths. Build and size the whole grid while it is empty, then type names in. Reversing that order is the single most common reason a Docs chart ends up lopsided.
A spreadsheet is the more forgiving option for a grid you expect to keep changing, because cells hold their size no matter what you type. Select columns A to F and set them all to the same width. Set the row height to roughly 40 pixels. Then turn on print gridlines, so the desk outlines appear on paper rather than only on screen.
The real advantage is one file per teacher instead of one file per class. Put each class on its own sheet tab and name the tabs by period. Print whichever tab you need. Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel both handle this the same way. Both also let you paste a class list straight down a column if your roster comes out of the school system as text.
Microsoft Word carries the same warning about sizing the grid before you fill it, and one real advantage over Google Docs. Table Properties lets you set an exact row height and lock it, so typing a long surname cannot silently grow the row and push your grid onto a second page. Set landscape under Layout first, then fix the row height before any name goes in.
Google Slides and Canva are worth a mention for a different job. Neither is good for a chart you print weekly, since text boxes drift and nothing snaps to a grid. Both are genuinely good for a display chart on the wall, where you want photographs, colour-coded tables, or a layout that matches an unusual room shape.
Paste your class list into the free seating chart generator and it fills the same grid for you, numbered and ready to print. No account, and nothing you paste leaves your browser.
A blank template assumes you fill it in once and keep it. If you reshuffle seats every unit, or you teach five classes and need five charts, filling grids by hand stops being worth the control it gives you. Generating a chart from a pasted class list is one paste and one click per class, and you can still hand-edit the result afterwards. If you also want seating rules applied on every reshuffle, we compare the classroom seating chart maker alternatives that do it.
Templates are also the wrong tool if you need student photographs on the chart, which is a common ask for a new teacher learning names. No blank grid handles that well. A slide deck with a photo per cell is slow to build but does the job, and it is the one case where Google Slides beats a table.
If your school issues a seating chart format that feeds the attendance or behaviour system, use theirs and stop here. A chart nobody else can read is worse than an ugly one everybody can. Unusual rooms are the other exception: a lab with fixed benches, a horseshoe, or pods at angles. A rectangular grid misrepresents those rooms, and a hand-drawn map serves you better.
For a standard room, copy the 24-desk or 30-desk classroom seating chart template above, add the front-of-room label, and print it. If you would rather skip the filling-in, the free seating chart generator builds the same grid from a pasted class list. Our guide to classroom seating arrangements covers which room shape to build the template around. Teachers who use the term seat plan will find the same layouts in the format most commonly asked for in the Philippines, in our classroom seat plan samples.
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Insert a table with one cell per desk. Set the row height to about 0.8 inches so names fit, then type FRONT OF ROOM in a merged row across the top. A table in Google Docs will not resize its columns evenly once you start typing, so build the grid first and fill it second. If you expect to change the grid often, build it in Google Sheets instead, where the cells hold their size.
Six columns by five rows holds 30 desks and fits a landscape page without shrinking the text. For 28 use six by five and leave two cells blank at the back rather than moving to seven columns. Seven columns of names print too narrow to read from a standing position. For 24, five by five with one blank row gives you space to write in.
Show both. A substitute needs names. Seat numbers speed up roll-call and equipment checks, since asking seat 14 to collect the tablets beats remembering who sits there. Put the number small in the corner of each cell and the name in the middle.
A template is better when the arrangement is stable and you fill it in once a term by hand, because you keep full control of every placement. A generator is better when you reshuffle, when you want a random or alphabetical order, or when you have several classes to seat. Most teachers end up using both, generating the chart and then printing it into the same layout every time.
Yes, and it is the most forgiving option for a grid you keep editing. Set every column to the same width, set the row height high enough for two lines of text, and turn on print gridlines so the desks show up on paper. Excel also lets you keep one sheet per class, which is easier to manage than one document per class.