Story Time ChessWhat a fantastic idea to teach chess through stories! The Story Time Chess Storybook contains eight clever stories to introduce each chess piece from King Shaky, The king’s children (pawns), brother and sister twins Bea and Bop (the bishops) to best friend horses, Clip and Clop (the knights). Each story takes place in Chesslandia with its two kingdoms and explains the personality of the character and why they move the way they do. King Shaky never ventured out of his silly pillow castle because he was so fearful, but when forced to he took tentative steps and only one at a time. Bea and Bop became trapeze artists with the circus, and were known for their amazing act, “The Great Diagonal.” Miraculously re-united with their big brother, King Shaky, they were invited to be bishops on the chessboard lawn. Bea and Bop were obsessed with the color green and white respectively so Bea moved diagonally on the green squares and Bop on the white ones. And on it goes with each chess piece being aligned with a storybook character to help kids (and me!) play chess. Each playfully illustrated character slips into the front of their associated chess piece for children’s learning. After each character’s story is introduced, there are four exercises or mini games that progressively teach how the pieces move, as story details prompt them. Using tactile, auditory and visual input, kids learn how each piece moves across the board. By the time you’ve made it through the Storybook, you are ready to play your first game of chess. This brilliant method of successfully teaching kids as young as 3 to play chess, is a testimony to the power of the word, and in particular storytelling!

Available at Story Time Chess. Click here