10 Benefits of Playing Chess with Your Kids

Looking for a good reason to send your child to a Chess Summer Camp?  Check out this article from snotty-noses.com.

Benefits of Playing Chess with Your Kids

1. Chess helps you Concentrate

It’s a reasonably long and involved game. My kids love it so much, they get so involved. You can see the gears whirring, the clogs ticking. The brain being exercised.

2.Chess Develops Problems Solving Skills

What happens if you put your pawn there? Is mummy likely to take it with her queen? How do you get to your ultimate goal of killing your opponents king?

I’m always surprised when I’m busy concentrating on a little pawn when suddenly my king is under attack.

My kids are good at attacking!

3. Chess Improves Your Memory

Just remembering how all the pieces move is enough to stretch my memory. There are heaps of other moves that you can read up on as well.

4. Playing Chess Uses both sides of Your Brain

Chess is a great 3D game and exercises both parts of your brain. As we get older we focus more on one side, the left side and let our right side of the brain get lazy. The more we use both sides of the brain, the better. Brains need to be used and exercised to function at their maximum capacity.

5. Playing Chess Can Raise Your IQ.

Clever people play chess. FACT.

6. Chess Teaches Planning and Fore Sight

To start with, it’s enough to work out how each piece moves. After a few games, your kids will be planning their grand attack strategy. They’ll also start to think about whether their pieces are going to come under attack when they move them into a new place.

7. Chess Helps with Strategy Thinking

As they progress, they’ll start to see that for each move there are several possible things that they COULD do. But they’re only allowed to make one move. So they’ll start to think through the possible out comes of each move and decide which strategy is best.

8. Chess Improves Your Attention Span

When you’re involved and enjoying something, you’re more likely to concentrate for longer. Do that frequently and you’ll soon improve your attention span.

And the attention span of your kids.

9. Chess Improves Reading Skills

A study in 1991 looked at reading performance in elementary schools and compared it with children who didn’t play chess. The kids who played chess were above the national average for reading skills (and they were from a district that overall was below the national average.) I’m sure it’s just to do with getting all those bits of your brain working.

10. Chess Increases Creativity.

Creativity is linked with the right side of your brain. Chess helps your children to come up with original, creative thoughts.

See? All those benefits just from playing a game.

The best part of all these brain-inducing benefits of playing chess is that they just come naturally. You just play chess and have fun. You don’t need to worry about the benefits, it’s not like sitting down to study a book.

Article found on  snotty-noses.com/blog/chess-children

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Considering sending your kids to a great summer camp.  Check out Chess Plus Summer Camp, Chess in the morning and a non-chess program in the afternoon.