Someday I'll Be a Queen - Christel Minne

This toolbox full of tips and games accompanies the picturebook, Someday I'll Be a Queen, which incorporates all the rules of chess. Teachers, parents,grandparents, and chess coaches learn how to build it up step by step. The message is, have fun! Enjoy the book and the game together. Take your time. Don't go through the book all at once but learn pieceto piece after which you rehearse the chess piece. I work with small groups of 6 to 8 children for a maximum of30 minutes at a time. With the four-year-olds, I explain about the king andafter that, we play four different games. During the last game, before theylearn to move the rook, I put a car on the chess board. Every toddlerknows not to stand in the street when a car approaches. So they have to movetheir king to safety each time. Actually, they are already lifting checkwithout realizing it.The hardest thing for experienced and trained chess playersis to apply the game in such a way that you think at the toddler's level. Makeit very simple. Don't overwhelm them with too many rules at once. Tackle itplayfully using the language of their environment.