About Little Ones Chess:

At Little Ones Chess, we believe every kid deserves to experience the joy of learning through story, the pride of reaching goals, and the trust that comes from believing in their team and in themselves. Lessons packed with movement, laughter, and adventure - this is where kids learn to grow, play, and truly shine.

Little Ones Chess was founded with a simple goal: to help learners as young as 4, learn chess while building their confidence and emotional intelligence. We aim to create spaces where young students could courageously take on challenges and learn important life lessons, all while having fun.

So whether your child has a bit of experience, or is new to the game, Little Ones Chess is here to help your chess program, student, or home learner feel seen and supported.

Because with Little Ones Chess, everyone’s a chess champ in the making.

For Educators:

Little Ones Chess is a specialised Social-Emotional Learning curriculum that uses chess as a vehicle for developing critical life skills in children. Each lesson combines an original serialised story, structured chess instruction, and explicit SEL skill-building — creating a learning experience that is as emotionally engaging as it is academically rigorous.

The curriculum was developed and refined over more than a decade of teaching in schools and with private clients across New York City and the Midwest, and is grounded in the core competencies established by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL).

What Students Learn

Through 19 carefully sequenced lessons, students develop across three interconnected areas:

Chess Foundations — Students progress from their very first move to playing a full game of chess, with each lesson building naturally on the last.

Social-Emotional Learning Through Story — Every lesson is anchored in an original adventure story through which children explore themes of patience, courage, teamwork, and resilience — not as concepts to be taught, but as experiences to be felt.

Skills That Transfer Beyond the Board — Each lesson draws an explicit connection between chess thinking and real-life decision making, helping children think, feel, and respond more thoughtfully in the world around them.

About the Author: Selina Hernandez

Selina Hernandez is an educator and multidisciplinary artist with a passion for creative learning. She’s currently based in London after years spent living and teaching in both the Midwest and New York City.

Selina’s journey into chess education began in the Midwest with Chess Scholars (an Illinois based company). It was there, teaching young learners, that she realised the need and the potential for a ‘new’ approach to chess education. But it was in New York City, with Manhattan Youth, that she introduced her distinctive approach: a curriculum rooted in adventurous and emotionally intelligent storytelling. What began as an experimental idea quickly proved successful in schools, such as P.S. 234 in Tribeca, and in home-schooling settings.

10 + years later, Selina’s unique, CASEL/SEL story-based method transforms the way children learn and experience chess - making it not only accessible and fun, but deeply memorable and meaningful.