A Chess Lesson fit For a Toddler?

What do you get when two kings go up against one another?  The first so gluttonous and large that he can only amble around slowly while the other, timid from a lifetime spent in a pillow castle being protected from everything, won’t dare to travel far.

Hint: They can only move one space at a time and will never move right next to the other.

Why you have a chess lesson fit for a toddler (and maybe even a few adults)!

Brian Lehman led the informal lesson keeping the children, ages 3-4 engaged, interested and entertained.  I don’t know much about chess lessons for children. The proof is that my daughter does know that a little guy (pawn) can kill the other guy diagonally from it. Problem is that when I give the lesson the pawn winds up killing everything in sight. Plus the whole introduction to the killing thing in hindsight should probably have been avoided.

In contrast this story based method, which featured Kings Fisher and Spaski had the children calling out foods, counting spaces, answering questions and all the while learning chess.  The kids were encouraged to move the kings about in the correct manner which they did. They now knew that King Fisher ate so much that he was a rather large monarch that could only move around one space at a time. They also knew that King Spaski was just too afraid to move around quickly.  He would just go one space at a time as well.  Both as it turned out would never move right next to the other because they would be tagged and out of the game.

Yup, I would say a whole lot more appropriate and even, just maybe, a little more effective than my way.

You can get more information by visiting chessat3.com and find out if they have a group in your area. If not and you are interested in their approach they can help you to start one up.

Fred Masson is a father of two children, ages 4 and 1, and writes about some of his experiences over at daddycrackers.com