Time Required:
10 minutes
Tools Required:
- All 4 giant rooks
- Big chess board
Chess Objective(s):
Students will be able to:
- Identify rooks and where rooks start on the chess board
General Objective(s):
- Improve gross motor skills
- Enhance coordination
- Improve listening and concentration skills
Description:
Ask/remind them where the rooks sit on the board (one in each corner square). Explain that we are going to play a game like musical chairs. (Demo while explaining.) Say you will sing a song while everyone walks in a circle around the board and when you stop, everyone should touch the closest rook – it’s ok to touch the same rook as someone else! Repeat game several times. Change tempos while you sing.
(Sung to the tune of Pop Goes the Weasel)
All around the chessboard we go
Looking for the rooks
They stand in corners straight and tall
Quick! Touch a rook!
Description for Parents
In this friendly version of musical chairs, the children walked in a big circle around the chessboard, which was set up with the four rooks in the corners. When the song ended, they raced to touch any of the four rooks. We repeated this several times at different speeds. The children learned how many rooks are in a chess game and the rooks’ starting positions.