My son learned to play chess when he was 4--his dad taught him. They enjoyed playing for a few months, but it was getting harder and harder for dad to beat him. Dad didn't understand how his son could look out the window, look around the room, then turn a make a move that would have Dad reeling. He thought his boy was just plum lucky.
Well, my son got bored of the game after a few more months. One day he set up the board with gates made of out of Legos in the middle of the board. "Dad, this gate is yours--you can only come to my side of the board by going through your gate. And this other gate is mine--I have to use it to get to your side of the board."
He's often taking things and trying to improve on them--or make them more complicated to play!
