My 4 year old son

Anyone have any ideas or know any good books in regard to teaching a child chess.  I am not a chess wiz at all, but my son is very curious about the game that he watches me play and wants to know all about it.  I think this is my chance to show him and grab his attention.  Any ideas would be great. 

Let him watch you for a week. Then play him as black. If his first move is e4 then continue his training.

The Fritz Chester program might be worth a try but it is for ages 8 and up...Not going to find much recommended for a 4 year old.

teach him the names of all the pieces. then put them in a bag and only by feeling them make him guess which one is which. if he picks it up fast teach him how a few move

Thanks for the ideas

chess videos are a good way to go.  they will seem boring to anyone who isnt' interested in the game haha.

I dont mean to be rude, but how many of the above posters have actually tried teaching a four year old?  (Mine is 5 now, but I started at late 4)  The most important things are (1) dont present too much at once; and (2) MAKE IT FUN!  If you make it teaching-intensive and not fun intensive ... well I dont know your kid, but my kid would never have gotten out of the gate. 

(1) start with pawns, and play the "pawn game", which is where each side has only pawns in the usual spot, and the winner is the one who gets a pawn to the end.  Making a "munch" "gobble" or similar sound when you eat a pawn is optional.  I'm being totally serious, anything to keep it fun. 

(2) add the king to the pawn game, in his usual spot.  Game ends when the king gets eaten (yes eaten) or you get a pawn to the end.  Check and checkmate is for later. 

(3) teach each piece separately and do some "problems" before you integrate the piece into your games.  Start with the rook as its easier.  By problems I mean, can you get the rook over here to eat that pawn within two moves?  Simple, simple stuff.  Later, once that is mastered, you could show them a king/pawn fork with the rook, and see if they can get that.  You CANT take too much time with this stuff, or they get bored...or at least mine did.  The learning needs to be fun.  Clapping, hooray, or whatever it takes to make it fun. 

(4) the knight is BY FAR the hardest piece and requires extra effort and multiple sessions.  Teach the "L" movement, and that it "jumps".  Some minigames are necessary for them to get it.  Put random pieces all over the board and tell them they have to see how many they can eat in 5 minutes or something -- put their "highscore" on the fridge or something. 

(5) CHESSTEMPO.COM -- once they get the moves, get a chesstempo account for the kid, set problems to "easy" and get like 20 wrong in a row to lower the start rating from 1200 down to 700 or 800.  At that level, 95% of the problems are the last piece that moved can be eaten for free.  Explain the rating concept and let them know when they get a "highscore".  Also fuss over them getting 5 in a row right, 10 in a row, whatever. 

(6) when you get to a full game, start with king can be eaten.  Keep the teaching to a minimum, since remember, it needs to be fun first.  Play like a moron, giving the kid chances to eat your king.  Yeah, letting them win now and then is controversial, but trust me, it makes it more fun for them.  Plus, I NEVER LIED TO MY KID, I told him that I was making fun moves and not trying my hardest, but he would still need to play good to beat me.  They blank that out and move on, loving when they "beat" you.  Eventually, once they already enjoy it, you can add a bit more teaching.  "Daddy is moving his king out to get you, but your not supposed to, because if you do he can be eaten.  Its better to take out your other guys first, like your knight."   

This has worked pretty well for me.  Your mileage may vary. 

When I was teaching my 5 year old sisters to play chess, I kept telling them that knights move in an "L" shape. To my dismay, they kept moving the knight forward two squares! I was wondering why they kept doing that, but then my girlfriend cleverly noted that I didn't specify that you have to move the knight in an uppercase L shape, not a lowercase l shape! They instantly got it after that.

lol, just keep these things in mind when you're teaching a kid. I think ArtNJ had some great suggestions.

some good ideas im just about to teach my ten year old, and when i can my 4 year old

Is he an only child ?

It is quite a good idea to learn them English, too.

I play pawn wars with a four year old. We started when he was three. The Polgar sisters started that way with their father.

When my youngest son was four, he figured out how to set up the chess pieces from looking at chess diagrams. I taught him to play, but for more than a year had to tolerate his rules that I had to play by the rules I taught him, while he could move any piece he wished however he wished. It might have been better to start with a handicapped pawn wars--eight pawns against six until he won that regularly.

See my article "Pawn Wars".

no comment

This recommendation takes proven methods and adds some fresh ideas. Exceptional advice.

I was going to, but yes some things are just better left alone... 

rich, you´ve made 3 posts in this thread without contributing to the topic at all, maybe every thread doesn´t have to revolve around you?

@ rich: What? So you do want me to... Oh, forget it. 

1) Patience, patience and more patience. I coach a private school chess club and I have a dozen private students or so of every age.

2) Make it fun. Smile, laugh and joke when they try to make intentional bad moves like moving their king like a rook. They are being creative, although as adults we sometimes get irritated because it appears they lack discipline.

3) Never call their moves bad. Instead ask them "What would have been a better move?"

4) Enjoy and embrace the experience of watching them learn. Kids are amazing.

5) Just play with them a lot once they know how to move the pieces. After they get the point of the game and grasp some fundamentl concepts (Development, piece value, counting etc) get your child a cool software program like Chessmaster of Ftriz.

Good luck.

Thank you very much Ziryab.   

These days I am finding Chesstempo.com to be very effective with my 8 year old.  In today's internet and video game age, being able to achieve and see relatively steady progress in a rating has been a huge motivator for her.  My 5 year old was enjoying chesstempo tremendously for several weeks, but as his rating started raising him away from the simple hanging piece problems, he has started to get frustrated with it.  So its plainly not the be-all and end-all, but its quite useful.  (Its basically like the tactics trainer here, but you get unlimited problems for free.)

and if his move is d4 then he is a genius