Making Friends

Children make friends through play, at Chess Mates we’re strong supporters of this ideal and we encourage our students to chat and make friends while playing. If you want to help your child make and develop these friendships here are some easy tips!

1. Ask who your child is playing with

Usually in our lessons children are paired with a different person each week, why not ask them who they played with this week and whether they worked well together?

2. Make time for your child to meet friends

Children get time to socialise in chess, but lessons are only once a week. If your child enjoys playing chess with a friend in our classes why not arrange for them to meet up and play on a weekend or after school?

3. Playing well

Playing well with others can be as simple as sharing toys, at Chess Mates we promote playing well by having children join teams and help each other out.

4. Keep an eye on them

In class children are always supervised while playing to stop arguments before they start. Sometimes children can disagree about certain rules or how the game should go, it’s important somewhere is there to referee!

5. Know when to stop play

Our lessons go for a maximum of 45 minutes, any longer than this and children will become tired and grumpy. It’s important to set limits on play so that children leave the activity with fun memories of the whole time.