Step 1: Meet the Pieces · about 35 min
The Pawn
Goal: Kids can move pawns forward, use the two-square first move, and capture diagonally.
You need: One board per pair · Eight pawns per side
1 · Teach it (20 min)
Read these out loud, or put them in your own words. Show each board on screen or set it up on a demo board.
1.“Pawns are the little pieces in front. Each player has eight. A pawn moves straight forward one square. It can never go backward.”
2.“On its very first move, a pawn may take one or two steps forward. After that, only one.”
3.“Here's the tricky part: pawns capture differently than they move. A pawn captures one square diagonally forward. It can't capture the piece straight in front of it.”
4.“If a pawn marches all the way to the other side, it turns into a queen, or any other piece you want! We'll practice that in a later lesson.”
- Capturing straight ahead.
- Moving two squares after the first move.
- Moving backward.
2 · Play it: Pawn Wars (15 min)
Set up: Only pawns: all eight white pawns and all eight black pawns on their starting squares.
- White moves first. Take turns, one pawn move each.
- The first player to get a pawn to the other side wins.
- If it's your turn and you can't move, the game is a draw.
- Play again, switching colors.
🎮 Kids with an iPad can also play this against the computer in student mode.
3 · Practice and pass check
On iPads, kids open Student → Step 1 → Little Pawns, Big Dreams. On paper, print the worksheet. A kid passes by getting 2 of 3 on the pass check. The pass code for this lesson is S1-L6-MT.
Practice (4) with answers
1.Draw a dot on every square the highlighted piece can move to.
Answer: 2 squares
2.Draw a dot on every square the highlighted piece can move to.
Answer: 2 squares
3.Capture a black pawn. Draw an arrow or write the move.
Move: gxh4
4.Can a pawn move backward?
- 👍Yes
- ✓👎No
Pass check (3) with answers
1.Draw a dot on every square the highlighted piece can move to.
Answer: 3 squares
2.Capture a black pawn. Draw an arrow or write the move.
Move: dxe5
3.How does a pawn capture?
- ⬆️Straight forward
- ✓↗️Diagonally forward
- ✳️Any direction
Topic order based on: Chess for Children, Part 1 (topic order). All wording is original.