Toddler chess classes run every Wednesday at 4pm in Ormond. If the time or location doesn’t suit, never mind.

We’ve got the Top 5 Tips for teaching your 4 year old to play chess.

Article below originally published on kindredmedia.com.au;

Future Junior Masters playing chess and loving it!

Youth interest and involvement in chess is growing significantly with a huge number of primary and high schools now using it as a classroom activity to aid education and development. According to national children’s chess organisation Chess Kids, involvement in the game by school children is growing at a rate of approximately 143% each year in schools and through private tuition because of its fun appeal to kids and educational appeal to parents and schools. Chess is no longer a game played in the dusty corners of libraries. Teachers and parents can see the cognitive and social benefits and those wanting their children to gain maximum benefit from the game are starting to ask the question: ‘when can I introduce my child to chess?’. The answer may surprise, with children as young as three being able to grasp the basic concepts of the game. The next most common question is ‘how do I introduce chess to my toddler?’.

There is no reason why chess can’t be introduced to toddlers; in fact it’s the perfect time because good habits can be encouraged from an early age. A child’s brain is a like a rambling jungle. The more parts of the jungle you travel through, opening up pathways, the more able and capable that brain will be to learn new things throughout life. Whatever ways you can stretch a child’s brain, particularly before the age of seven, can only increase their intellectual capability for the future. Through chess, children develop the ability to plan and consider consequences of their actions, and this is a skill a person is never too young to learn. With bullying and playground violence also a growing concern, chess is proving to have a great affect because of its ability to encourage children to look at situations calmly and rationally, consider the possible courses of action, the outcomes and then choose the best approach. Life is like a game of chess – there are decisions to be made and consequences for those decisions – so the game is an excellent way for children to practice the skills they will need to move successfully through life.

Chess also helps to build essential mental aptitudes such as problem solving, abstract analysis, spatial aptitude, originality, concentration and memory. Knowing that using your brain is as fun and enjoyable as kicking a ball is an important value to teach. It gives an opportunity for very young children to compete on an even footing with parents, which is great for self-confidence and gives families an interactive activity to enjoy together.

The most important thing to understand when teaching chess is that the attention span of children under five is very short – so parents need to make sure their children realise it is a game and that they enjoy themselves. The learning process needs to be approached slowly and without pressure, teaching concepts first and allowing the children to explore the game for themselves and come to terms with the rules. Each child will have their own concentration limit. Try to extend the limit a little bit at a time. Initially a session may only last 10-15 minutes, but very quickly, even with children as young as four or five, concentration will extend to 30 minutes and eventually to an hour or more.

Here are five tips for teaching chess to children:

1. Play a mini-game of chess using just the pieces the child knows. Not all pieces need to be used to play a game. When a new piece is learnt, add it into the mix.

2. Make it fun. Chess is a game – talk about the pieces as if they are real soldiers, use your imagination because that’s where the fun is.

3. Support and encourage. Always encourage your child and heap praise on them for performance at their level – for a three year old this may be just standing the pieces the right way up, for a six year old, moving them correctly most of the time.

4. Use the following order and sequence to teach the game – this is the trademark Chess Kids Learning Method which has been tested with over 100,000 students and proven to be the most effective sequence – (1) The Rook, (2) The Bishop, (3) The Queen, (4) The King, (5) The Knight and (6) The Pawn.

5. Use analogies, rhymes and sounds to help children learn and remember the movement of the pieces. For example, for the Rook you can use the analogy of train-tracks because they move in straight lines. For the Bishop you can sing the audio cue of “black-black-black-black-black” (or “white-white-white-white-white”) to describe the movement. The Knight is an interesting one because most people describe its movement pattern as an ‘L-shape’, but a four year old doesn’t know what an ‘L’ is. Use the teaching phrase “tiptoe-tiptoe-crash” modulating your voice to accentuate the crash. This gives the idea of jumping at the same time. Meanwhile, we describe the King as an ‘old man’ – he is the commander of the army and the most important player so he can do what he likes. However, he’s so old that after taking just one step (in any direction) he is tired and needs to rest.