Time Required:
10 minutes
Tools Required:
- Small pieces – 1 side of the board per student
- Colored circles (optional)
- Instrumental “zany” music (optional)
Chess Objective(s):
Students will be able to:
- Demonstrate piece recognition
General Objective(s):
- Improve listening skills
- Practice basic addition and subtraction
- Enhance fine motor skills
Description:
Sit in a semi-circle with the children. Give each kid one set of the board (16 pieces) and a circle that will be the game board (if you don’t have colored circles, blank paper can work). Ask the children to each count their pieces and see how many they have.
Now show them how to play. Say a couple of examples slowly with them, such as
“Add the king.”
“Add 2 pawns”
“Take away 1 pawn”
Ask if everyone is ready to play for real. Clear the boards. Start zany music. Call out commands. Go a little faster after a few moves. After 5-10 commands, stop the game and music and see who has the right number/kind of pieces on their board. (Obviously you do it too so that you’re correct!)
If you want to, you can use the games listed below to get you started.
Watch this video for an example of how this works:
NOTE: For younger children, simplify the game to use just a few pieces.
GAME 1
Add 2 pawns
Add 1 bishop
Take away 1 pawn
Add 1 queen
Take away 1 pawn
Add 2 rooks
Add 1 king
FINAL TALLY: 1 bishop, 1 queen, 2 rooks, 1 king
GAME 2
Add 1 rook
Add 2 bishops
Take away 1 bishop
Add 1 king
Add 2 knights
Take away 1 rook
Add 1 pawn
FINAL TALLY: 1 bishop, 1 king, 2 knights, 1 pawn
GAME 3
Add 2 bishops
Add 3 pawns
Take away 1 bishop
Add 1 knight
Take away 2 pawns
Add 1 knight
Add 1 queen
Take away 1 pawn
Add 2 pawns
Take away 1 knight
FINAL TALLY: 1 bishop, 2 pawns, 1 knight, 1 queen
GAME 4
Add 1 knight
Add 2 bishops
Add 1 rook
Take away 1 knight
Add 2 pawns
Add 1 king
Take away 1 rook
Add 2 rooks
Add 2 pawns
Add 1 pawn
Take away 1 king
FINAL TALLY: 2 bishops, 2 rooks, 5 pawns
Variation 1:
When children have done this a few times, you can do a version that is like “pin the tail on the donkey” – have them close their eyes, put a giant piece a few steps in front of them, spin them 1-2 times, and let them feel a giant piece to identify it.
Variation 2:
Once they learn how the pieces move, have them identify the piece and tell how their piece moves. Optional: let them demonstrate their piece’s movement on the regular size board.
Description for Parents
The children listened to the coach’s instructions to add or take away pieces from their playing boards. At the end of the game, they figured out if they had added the right amount of pieces!