A Camp for Critical Thinking

Terry O’Brien’s summer camp is not your typical camp.

It doesn’t offer sports or swimming. There’s no acting. Instead it is a camp for young strategists.

The Chess and Strategic Games Camp gives children ages 5 to 15 an opportunity to learn the fundamentals of chess and other games of strategy.

“This promotes higher level critical thinking,” said O’Brien, a fourth-grade teacher at the “It teaches children that for every action there is a consequence. They will learn they are going to make mistakes, but that they can learn from them.”

The camp will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 1-5 for boys and girls ages 5-10 and Aug. 8-12 for boys and girls ages 11-15. Both sessions will be at the UES.

O’Brien has been teaching chess and strategic games to children for the past 15 years. Students compete on a skill level rather than an age level, he said. He has also found that the more advanced players help the novices.

“Kids like teaching kids,” he said.

In addition to chess, campers will play Risk, Life, Stratego, Battleship and other games that require strategic thinking.

“These are not games of physical strength,” said O’Brien. “These are games of mental thought.”

The camp, he said, is affordable at just $60 per five-day session. A $25 nonrefundable deposit is required to register each child.

“They can be assured their child is safe, with an educator and with kids that have the same interests,” said O’Brien.

Learning to master chess and other strategic games is like anything else, O’Brien said.

“It’s just like dance or baseball, the more you practice, the better you become,” he said. “In fact, you learn more by losing and failing; you see what you did wrong.”

O’Brien said the camp is full of teaching moments, helping campers see what consequences their actions will have. It also helps kids to develop critical thinking and see beyond the next move, he said.

“Studies show that kids that play chess do better in school,” O’Brien said. “They are in higher levels of reading and math and it improves their grades.

“This is actively exercising their brains.”

For more information about the camp, contact O’Brien at 609-417-2040.