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Bridge Resources for Teaching Kids

A great deal of bridge players I’ve spoken to attribute their start at bridge to a notable figure in their life who took the time to show them the ropes and initial rules. If you’re in the position of guardian, parent or teacher, teaching bridge to someone is one of the coolest things you can do.

What about resources? 

The good news is that there are plenty.

Here are some great bridge resources for teaching kids.

Books

These aren’t the only books on bridge, kids and teaching the one to the other that are available out there, but these are good ones. The first thing a new bridge player needs is a solid foundation in how the game works – and these books are great at introducing it in a way that doesn’t scare anyone off. 

  • Teach Me to Play: A First Bridge Book (Jude Goodwin) 
  • Teaching Contract Bridge to Children (Lyn & Malcolm Carter) 
  • Bridge is for Kids (Patty Tucker)
  • Teach Your Child Bridge (Ron Klinger) 

Once you’ve captured attention with a cornerstone book, bridge teaching can expand to include online resources and more. 

Online Resources

If I had to list all of the online resources that cater to teaching bridge, we’d have run out of both space and time a while back. Here are some pointers to get your started.

Bridge Base Online

BBO is a great place for young people to learn Bridge! There are lots of anonymous free games and resources that can be used for learning bridge, without having to log in or create an account.

Minibridge: http://www.bridgebase.com/edu/minibridge/

Just Declare – this is a game where you play pre-bid contracts. All contracts are makeable:
https://www.bridgebase.com/client/jd0.php

Bridge Master – improve your declarer play. It has many levels, and each level has an explanation. 
https://www.bridgebase.com/v3/?bridgemaster=y

Other games where kids can just play:

ACBL: School Bridge Program

The ACBL encourages more bridge in schools – but more than this, they also provide some of the resources necessary for its implementation. Here appears the ACBL School Bridge Program for parents, teachers and guardians to track down everything they need. Find out more about the program here.

Lessons (for Teachers)

http://web2.acbl.org/documentlibrary/teachers/ComptonLessonsPreK1.pdf

The actual lesson handbook is also available from the ACBL, and it can be downloaded here in PDF format. Make sure your PDF reader is up to date, or right click on the link to Save As. (Not sure where it went from there? Your browser has a Downloads folder and it’s probably there.)