"must haves"  for teaching kids of nursery age

a giant sackful of LEGO and a Mr BEAN video

Watching the Youtube videos featuring the 6 year old on page 3 of this website, I am reminded of how I introduced the young man to the bidding box. His father first brought him to the club to play chess. He had just celebrated his fifth birthday when the above picture was taken and he could give his dad a good game of chess even at that tender age. When he had had enough of the board game, I gave him a bidding box and made up a game where he had to correctly take out bids - and then put them all back in the bidding box in the right order. He loved the challenge. The concentration powers he showed were extraordinary. But like any toddler he would get bored. So, whilst his dad carried on playing chess with the other club members, the youngster was more than happy to spend hours building cars, trucks and heliports with the sackful of lego donated by generous members. For the slightly older youngsters, it was the Mr Bean and Fawlty Towers videos that kept them amused whilst the parents had a serious game of bridge or chess.

The moral of this story: With the very young, don`t forget they are only children. When their concentration starts wandering, you must halt the lesson and let them play less serious games.  

Rowan and Basil will be proud of me for making bridge and chess lessons so entertaining   

TMW 15/3/19