Teaching chess to the 6-year-old

I've been teaching chess to Evangeline lately, with the expected successes and setbacks. 

The key approach I have used is to teach her with only a few pieces active at a time. We started off with her king and two rooks against my king, and then her king and bishops against my king. As she has progressed, we've added pieces, though I make an effort to keep the field level so she has an equal chance of winning.

It seems to be working. She has figured out which moves go with which pieces, and sometimes she's managed to get something going that might be a strategy. Mostly she's just afraid of losing her pieces (pawns included), or recklessly tossing away a major piece (such as a rook) to capture a lesser piece of mine (like a pawn).

Her mother beat her Sunday night with nothing but a king and eight pawns to all of Evangeline's pieces, even after I gave Evangeline some help that could have led to a checkmate in two or three turns.

Ah well. She's only 6. What can you expect? It's a triumph that she's learned the game at all and enjoys playing it.