Learning to Play Chess


I never learned to play chess.  My friends who love chess say I am missing out on a lot of fun. 

Chess is a way for you and your children to have fun together during this lockdown. It is also a way to develop decision-making skills, and it drives home the importance of considering consequences before acting.

If you have an unused chess set at home and you know how to play, now is the time to bring it out and teach your children how. 

This website is also a good place to learn chess.  It has pages with videos showing the rules and the basic moves. It also gives tips on strategy. It also allows you to play games against the computer and against other chess players.  There is also a forum where you can discuss chess with other enthusiasts. (WARNING: Parents, please make sure your children know the precautions to take when dealing with random strangers online.)

Your children may be on the way to becoming the next chess champions.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Partial Solar Eclipse on June 21, 2020

Image
First of all, my apologies for the long absence from this blog.  With the shift from ECQ to GCQ in Metro Manila, I have been busy with my day job and with other concerns.  I imagine that the kids will soon be resuming school (in whatever form "school" will take in the current situation), and keeping them busy will be less of a concern by then.  But every now and then, I will still be posting about fun educational activities for kids of all ages to try.  I enjoyed accompanying all of you these past months, and I hope that in one way or another I have been able to help you all ensure that learning and fun does not end, even during lockdown. One of the activities I featured in this blog is learning about outer space .  This coming Sunday, June 21, 2020, there will be a partial solar eclipse at 3:01 PM (Philippine time).  Observing this natural phenomenon will be a valuable opportunity for you and your children to learn about outer space.  Weather permitting, the Manila St
Read more

Projects with Pressed Leaves and Flowers

Image
If you have a garden or a backyard or even just a few indoor plants, you and your children can gather a few leaves.  There are so many activities you can do with them. Just from among the activities that were featured in this blog, you can make leaf rubbings , leaf prints , or negative leaf prints using the splatter painting technique . Then, you can also press them and make projects with them. Just insert them between the pages of an old telephone directory, put some heavy books or other heavy items on top of the directory for weight, and leave the leaves alone for a few days.  When they are already dry, you can use them to decorate cards, book marks, or other items.  Or you can simply make pretty pictures with them. Another thing you can do with pressed leaves is to make an herbarium. "Herbarium" is just a fancy name for a leaf scrap book.  Just mount  the leaves on one sheet of paper each and write descriptions of each plant, and then bind the sheets.  You can al
Read more

Silhouette Art

Image
(Photo credit:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Head_silhouette.svg) Silhouette art looks simple but dramatic.  And you can easily make silhouette profiles of your friends and family members.   You will first need a sheet of paper that is big enough to accommodate the side-view shadow of your subject: manila paper, construction paper, the backside of old gift wrappers, etc.  Tape the paper on a wall, light a lamp or a flashlight, and have your subject sit between the paper and the lamp or flashlight.  Station the subject so that the light casts the shadow of his or her profile on the paper.  While your subject sits, trace the outline of her shadow with a pen or crayon. Cut out the profile.  You can either trace it on a white sheet of paper and then color it a dark color, or trace it on good-quality, dark-colored paper, cut that out, and mount it on a sheet of white paper.  You can add any decorations you want (like borders), then frame or hang your work.   Yo
Read more