Story Time Chess, By Thinking Cup Learning - REVIEW

Nature/ Type:          Chess-learning set for young kids 

Rating:                     ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Recommended age:  3 year-old ++   

Who would love this: Parents looking for an interactive and engaging first chess-learning set for their young kids / AND any young kids that love games and (silly) stories! 

At what age can a kid start learning chess? I used to believe it was 6 or 7, but “Story Time Chess” by Thinking Cup Learning has done the impossible - now kids as young as 3 can start their chess journey with ease! 😱 Thank you VR Distribution , we are in awe! 

Why I love ❤️ this game: 

(1) Learning Chess Through Silly Stories & Wacky Characters 

I tested this set with my 4-year-old (who, mind you, doesn’t have much patience with rules, and had zero interest in chess prior to this). The result is astounding! The set comes with 32 standard chess pieces (16 black, 16 white), and 32 character cut-outs that go with the Story Time booklet. The aim is to transform a life-less abstract chess into a game intertwined with silly storyline and wacky characters. For example, King Chomper (with full pockets) can only move one step at a time; Bea and Bop (the bishops, who were also trapeze artists) move diagonally. Our personal favourite is Clip and Clop (the knights), who move in a special dance-step - “gallop, gallop, step to the side”. The kids get to connect the stories to the pieces in a visual way. For example, when my four-year-old sees two pawns from opposing sides stand right in front of each other, she would scream “Locked!” - just like what happened in the story! 

(2) Fun Mini Games To Practise Chess Moves 

There are also mini games that help kids to remember the rules in an interactive way. For example, there is a game where we get to scatter pizza and jewel tokens around the board, and get the two kings to pick them up, one step at a time. The mini games always end with a reminder “to shake hands” - I love the encouragement of good sportsmanship! 

(3) Double-Sided Game Board - Story Side + The Classic 

When your kids are ready to do “serious” chess after learning the basics, we can flip the board around, and transform the Story Side board to a “classic” board. And of course, the character cutouts are removable from the slot of the pieces - so Queen Isabella, for example, can turn into the classic White Queen within seconds.

(4) Quality & Design - Extremely Appealing To Young Kids! 

I love the two brightly coloured storage bags included for the chess pieces. The design and feel for the set is appealing to the kids, and I love the huge storage box that keeps everything nicely contained within. 

# gifted in exchange for review 

Where to buy this: 

https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/story-time-chess-vrdstcss (Australia)

Enjoy the video!