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Chess is Child's Play: Teaching Techniques That Work Hardcover – April 16, 2012

by Laura Sherman (Author), Bill Kilpatrick (Author)

151 ratings

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Chess is Child's Play is a book written by parents, for parents. It is written for YOU!

Chess is one of the oldest strategy games known to man. Studies show that children who learn chess at an early age gain such valuable life skills as:

Problem-solving ability
Improved patience and focus
Enhanced imagination
Greater self-confidence.

Chess educators Laura Sherman and Bill Kilpatrick have created an easy, step-by-step method for teaching chess that parents of all skill levels can use to teach children of any age.

You don't have to know how to play chess in order to use the system. This book will teach you the game, while showing you how to teach your child to play. You will learn together.

Chess makes children smarter. Give your child an advantage in life and teach him or her to play today!

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Chess is Child's Play is a book written by parents, for parents. It is written for YOU! Chess is one of the oldest strategy games known to man. Studies show that children who learn chess at an early age gain such valuable life skills as: Problem-solving ability Improved patience and focus Enhanced imagination Greater self-confidence. Chess educators Laura Sherman and Bill Kilpatrick have created an easy, step-by-step method for teaching chess that parents of all skill levels can use to teach children of any age. You don't have to know how to play in order to use the system. This book will teach you the game, while showing you how to teach your child to play. You will learn together. Chess makes children smarter. Give your child an advantage in life and teach him or her to play today!

About the Author

Laura Sherman is a writer and chess coach, who lives in Florida with her husband and three children.

Bill Kilpatrick is an entrepreneur, specializing in advanced educational techniques. He lives in Southern California with his wife and four children.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mongoose Press
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 16, 2012
Edition ‏ : ‎ 4/16/12
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 193627731X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1936277315
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 3 - 12 years
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.71 x 0.98 x 9.77 inches
Grade level ‏ : ‎ Preschool - 7

Best Sellers Rank: #843,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #261 in Chess (Books)

Customer Reviews:
151 ratings

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Bill Kilpatrick
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Laura Sherman
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Laura Sherman lives in a twenty-five hundred square foot home in Dunedin, Florida with her family.
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No, this author lives in a thirty-five-foot motorhome where she and her husband homeschool their three children as they explore America. She relishes opening her front door to a new inspiration and adventure each day.
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Customers say

Customers find the book's teaching methods effective, particularly appreciating its piece-by-piece approach and tips for maintaining children's interest. Moreover, the instruction is well-structured, with one customer noting how each chapter builds on the previous one. Additionally, the book features engaging mini-games and is visually appealing, with one review highlighting its well-illustrated content. Customers express positive emotions about the book, with one mentioning the lovely feeling of accomplishment it provides.

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Teaching methods Instruction Game quality Visual style Happiness

40 customers mention "Teaching methods"38 positive2 negative

Customers find the book's teaching methods effective, particularly its approach to introducing chess piece by piece and keeping children engaged. One customer notes that each chapter builds on the previous one, while another mentions it is well-suited for adult beginners.

"...These mini games are designed to keep your child's interest while craftily getting them to practice the lesson over and over...." Read more

"...The book's strategy is to study chess activity through mini-games: reduced forces that permits learning exactly how they interact without being..." Read more

"...It is laid out in a very logical and attractive format. Clear diagrams (for the parents only!) and easy steps to follow on how to teach your child...." Read more

"Very in depth, step by step book that is essentialy training in becoming a chess teacher for your child...." Read more

23 customers mention "Instruction"23 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the instructional approach of the book, finding it meaningful, logical, and easy to follow, with one customer noting its sequential organization.

"...How logical and simple. How PURE! My daughter has no traces of the knight troubles that I had...." Read more

"...It is designed to help adults teach children the game. It is completely thought through, beautifully designed, well illustrated, and useful in a..." Read more

"...It is laid out in a very logical and attractive format. Clear diagrams (for the parents only!) and easy steps to follow on how to teach your child...." Read more

"Very in depth, step by step book that is essentialy training in becoming a chess teacher for your child...." Read more

6 customers mention "Game quality"6 positive0 negative

Customers like the game quality of the book, with one mentioning the concept-reinforcing "mini-games" and another noting the micro game setups.

"...Firstly, the mini games...." Read more

"...Also, contained within the lessons are instructive and concept-reinforcing "mini-games" which my daughter loves to play and looks forward to each..." Read more

"...Micro games set ups, to teach specific skills and thought processes. We liked it so much we gave one to my sister too." Read more

"...are working and I am proud to finally understand this refined and incredible game...." Read more

6 customers mention "Visual style"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book visually appealing, with one customer noting its well-illustrated content and another mentioning its unintimidating style.

"...Quite unique and fun for the parent and child at the same time. Secondly, the order of the lessons...." Read more

"...It is completely thought through, beautifully designed, well illustrated, and useful in a hundred ways...." Read more

"...It is laid out in a very logical and attractive format. Clear diagrams (for the parents only!) and easy steps to follow on how to teach your child...." Read more

"...I found the layout and general look of the book comfortable, attractive, and approachable...." Read more

3 customers mention "Happiness"3 positive0 negative

Customers express positive emotions about the book, with one mentioning a lovely feeling of accomplishment and another noting its friendly tone.

"...However, as soon as I opened it, the book felt friendly, easy to get used to right away. For me, a book must invite me in at once...." Read more

"...side benefit I learned to play the game too, which was a lovely feeling of accomplishment. Chess Is Child's Play very easy to read...." Read more

"...continue with the rook, and, incredibly, he was very concentrated, and happy, and he wanted more and more...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

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Kindle Customer
The best tool for teaching children chess.
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2013
Verified Purchase

Having spent several months reviewing this text, I recommend it to anyone who has ever tried to give beginners instruction in the game of chess.

Firstly, the mini games. Anyone who has ever tried to get more than one child on the same sheet of music knows that it can sometimes be like having a bowling alley installed in your head. These mini games are designed to keep your child's interest while craftily getting them to practice the lesson over and over. Quite unique and fun for the parent and child at the same time.

Secondly, the order of the lessons. For me the biggest struggle was keeping the attention of any child while I ground away at each piece movement usually starting with the pawn. It seems so simple to to me now that you would start instruction with THE ROOK and move up in difficulty from there. This book moves so fluidly from one lesson to the next and gradually eases your child up into tougher scenarios.

Lastly, how the piece movements are taught. From rook to pawn. One short example. As a child I had great challenges understanding the movement of the knight because I was taught to make an "L" movement. How big was that "L" supposed to be again? Two up, one over? Three or four? It was the hardest piece for me by far. Laura and Bill's explanation of just having the knight "hop" the fence and land on the opposite color smacked me with a knight awakening. How logical and simple. How PURE! My daughter has no traces of the knight troubles that I had.

This book is a must have in your shelf for anyone (experienced teacher or patient parent) that wants to spread the joy of chess. There is not a better priced chess text given the gems contained within.

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Jim Kacian
A Way to Learn Chess that Makes Sense
Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2012
Verified Purchase
I am most known in another realm, the world of haiku, but throughout my life I have played chess, though not nearly so well as I would like. Several people I know in the haiku world are avid chess players, so it was no real surprise to me that one of them, Laura Sherman (along with co-author Bill Kilpatrick), might produce a book on the subject. Laura teaches the game professionally, and her book, Chess is Child's Play, is a model of how a game ought to be taught. It is designed to help adults teach children the game. It is completely thought through, beautifully designed, well illustrated, and useful in a hundred ways. I strongly recommend it to anyone who would like to create that special relationship with a child that teaching them something they will enjoy for their entire lives will bring.

I have purchased several copies to share. I gave one to my partner, a lifelong teacher, who had never played chess, but it interested her enough to be considering taking it up herself. She in turn has sent it to her adult children, so they can teach her grandkids.

The book's strategy is to study chess activity through mini-games: reduced forces that permits learning exactly how they interact without being overwhelmed by the complexity of the whole thing. This makes sense to me, and I think it will prove to be an effective methodology. I like too the order in which piece play is taught, not what might seem most obvious but rather a gradated approach from simplest (the rook) to the most complex (pawns are the soul of chess, as a famous master once remarked and every one of them since has seconded).

If you have a child you'd like to introduce to chess, but maybe don't know quite how to go about it, this is the book for you. You won't regret it.

Jim Kacian

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Pat from Cleveland
How to teach your child chess: Part 1 of 2.
Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2012
Verified Purchase
Excellent book! This book will give you the tools to teach your child chess. I'm a parent who knows how to play chess but was not sure how to go about teaching my 4 yr old how to play. This book has allowed me to begin that process. It is laid out in a very logical and attractive format. Clear diagrams (for the parents only!) and easy steps to follow on how to teach your child. Also, there is a chapter on teaching tips which I have found most helpful and I heed the authors advice and refer back to it often. Also, contained within the lessons are instructive and concept-reinforcing "mini-games" which my daughter loves to play and looks forward to each time we have a lesson.

Each chapter ends with helpful tips on how to deal with any challenges that the child might have had with the lesson. So far so good with my daughter. Some lessons she is more engaged than others, but we are both having fun. Some concepts need to be repeated for them to sink in(at least with my 4yr old), but that is to be expected. I have no doubt that this book will allow me to teach her how to play chess and that she will benefit from that in numerous ways.

I look to write part two of this review upon finishing the book with my daughter.

If you are considering buying the book, buy it! I highly recommend it.

Laura and Bill, thank you for giving me the lesson plan that I needed to teach chess.

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4 people found this helpful

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Andrew Mikhael
You’re a teacher now
Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2025
Verified Purchase
Very in depth, step by step book that is essentialy training in becoming a chess teacher for your child. I’m overwhelmed with it because there is so much to know and keep in your head while keeping the focus of a small child at the same time. Not for the weak.

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Juliette
Excellent walkthrough of how to teach chess to young children
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 30, 2015
Verified Purchase

I wish I'd bought this book before trying to teach my four year old to play chess. I thought because I knew how to play chess that it'd be easy, and I'd read various things about teaching pawns first, but it didn't really work. Going through this book has worked much better.

It starts with rooks, then bishops and the queen and the concepts of taking pieces and attacking and defending pieces, moving onto a mini-game where you each have those pieces and just try and take the opponents' pieces. It then moves on to the king, check and checkmate, which were concepts that I'd found it hard to explain, but which my son having worked through the book, didn't have any problem with (at this point I also introduced a mini-game, not in the book, where he had lots of pieces and I had just a king and he had to try and checkmate me, which worked quite well and which I would recommend). It then covers the knight, pawns, and rules such as castling.

It doesn't cover anything in terms of tactics or strategy, and for older children you could probably just explain the rules and then get on with it, but I found the way it ordered everything and the explanations it had for introducing the various aspects of the rules very well thought ought and obviously well tested on actual children. Definitely much better than trying to wing it!

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Rosenilton Mattos
Otimo livro para os pais dos futuros enxadristas
Reviewed in Brazil on March 21, 2017
Verified Purchase
Livro muito bom.
Perfeito para os pais que querem ensinar xadrez aos filhos pequenos, fornece uma sequência didática muito boa.

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Francesco Gabardo
Ottimo
Reviewed in Italy on March 5, 2013
Verified Purchase
Il libro illustra vari esercizi che si possono fare con un bambino per insegnargli a giocare a scacchi.
Evidenzia anche alcuni problemi che possono sorgere e da indicazioni su come cercare di risolverli.
Mi sembra un ottimo libro scritto da insegnanti e scacchisti esperti.
Ritengo che sia utile per chi vuole insegnare ad un bambino piccolo(3-4 anni) a giocare a scacchi e non sa da dove cominciare.
Giudizio: OTTIMO

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Simply awsome book. It really seems to keep the ...
Reviewed in Canada on March 10, 2016
Verified Purchase
Simply awsome book. It really seems to keep the kids interested following the teaching methods.

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Sarat
Good book to learn how to teach chess to young children
Reviewed in India on October 26, 2020
Verified Purchase
Author structured the book very well. Introduced the pieces and concepts in the appropriate sequence based on the complexity of their movements. Usually we always start teaching with pawns. But pawns behalf differently at different places and it is very difficult for younger ones (2 to 5) to understand during the initial learning days. (1) Can start by moving two steps (2) But later can move only one step (3) They will travel straight but can attack diagonally that too only one step (4) Cannot move backwards (5) Promoted when reached last row (6) Finally, “en passant” most confused move for kids.

In the book, it starts with rooks instead of pawns, followed by bishop. These pieces have single property (simple) i.e., move straight and diagonally respectively. Later it introduces slightly complex pieces in order Queen, King (With concept of check), Knight then finally pawns.

In this book, other highlights are mini-games. For younger ones dealing with 32 pieces in 64 squares board is too overwhelming. With this mini-games author introduced the concepts of chess, attack, defend, check-mate with only fewer pieces. And these mini-games are fun and child feels the sense of achievement, which will keep them motivated to play again and again. My son (4 years) enjoyed the mini-games every well.

The book is to learn only basics (in-fact too basic), it does not cover anything with respect to tactics or strategy. I will not consider this as con, but it would have been great if its covers one or two basic strategies.

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Top reviews from the United States

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5.0 out of 5 stars The best tool for teaching children chess.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Way to Learn Chess that Makes Sense

5.0 out of 5 stars How to teach your child chess: Part 1 of 2.

4.0 out of 5 stars You’re a teacher now

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent walkthrough of how to teach chess to young children

5.0 out of 5 stars Otimo livro para os pais dos futuros enxadristas

4.0 out of 5 stars Ottimo

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply awsome book. It really seems to keep the ...

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book to learn how to teach chess to young children

The best tool for teaching children chess.

A Way to Learn Chess that Makes Sense

How to teach your child chess: Part 1 of 2.

You’re a teacher now

Excellent walkthrough of how to teach chess to young children

Otimo livro para os pais dos futuros enxadristas

Ottimo

Simply awsome book. It really seems to keep the ...

Good book to learn how to teach chess to young children