The Farmer and the Piggies!

You may be wondering why the title of this post is The Farmer and the Piggies.  Well, it is because we played Chess today.  Are you still wondering what piggies have to do with Chess?  Today we learned about some of the chess players: The King, The Knight, and The Pawns.  The King is the leader in the chess army and he has a very important job.  The King is the most important chess piece.  The King can move in any direction, but only one step at a time.  The Knight gallops around the kingdom moving in an L shape: one, two, turn the corner.  He is the only piece that can jump over other pieces  The Pawn is the most plentiful piece.  He is not a trained soldier and can't do fancy hops like the Knight.  Instead, he moves by stepping one square in front of him.  On his first move the Pawn is so excited he can move two steps forward instead of one.  The Pawn captures diagonally. We played a game called the Farmer and the Piggies!  The "piggies"(pawns) escaped from their pen and were running across the yard(chess board)in search of food.  The farmer(king) had to capture all of the piggies before even one could reach the barn. This little game helped us learn how the Pawns and the King move in a game of chess.  You can practice your chess skills at ChessKid.com!  Note to Parents:  Mrs. Skipper did not tell the students to go home and beg their parents for a Chess set!  You can find very inexpensive sets at your local big box store though:) Happy Playing!