Poppy

PAWN MOVE — *forward one square (two on the very first step); captures ONE square diagonally, at the corner; never moves backward.*

Loading audio…

Press play to listen along. The line being read lights up as you go.

Show full transcript

Loading transcript…

01 Opening

02 Poppy

Poppy is the smallest friend on the whole Pawnmeadow board. Poppy is a pawn — a tiny kid with a round little helmet and the biggest, bravest smile.

Poppy stands at the very front, in a straight little lane. "Ready?" says Poppy. "I only know one way to go — straight ahead!"

03 Poppy

Poppy takes one step forward. Just one. Step. Poppy never, ever walks backward — pawns only go forward, always toward something new. "Forward is my favourite way!" says Poppy.

The very first time Poppy moves in a game, Poppy is so full of morning bounce that one step becomes two. Hop-hop! After that first big morning step, it's back to one gentle step at a time.

04 Poppy

But how does a little pawn tag a friend? Not straight ahead — that's just walking. To tag, Poppy reaches to the corner, one square diagonally, and gives a soft corner high-five. "Straight ahead to walk," says Poppy, "corner-tag to catch!"

Once, Poppy got mixed up and tried to tag straight ahead. It didn't work — and that's okay! Poppy just giggled, tried again, and reached the corner this time. High-five! In Pawnmeadow, a mix-up is just a try that gets to try again. Nobody is ever scolded.

05 Closing

Say it with Poppy, out loud: "Poppy marches straight ahead — hops the corner to tag a friend!"

When Poppy marches all the way to the far side of the board, something wonderful happens — but that's a bigger story for another day. For now, Poppy feels warm and proud: one small step, one brave pawn, always going forward. "That's me," says Poppy, glowing. "Little, but brave."

The PawnPals ensemble

Poppy is part of PawnPals's distributed-narrative cast. Each character embodies a different curricular primitive; together they teach the full subject.