15 Kids BJJ Games That Actually Teach Jiu-Jitsu (With Setup Instructions)

It's been four minutes. 

Class has just started—half of the boys are making faces, playing footsies, and elbowing each other. Six of the girls are playing with each other's hair. 

What is happening?!

One kid is busy daydreaming and picking his nose. The rest of the kids are laughing as they watch the chaos unfold.

This is the third time you've demonstrated a technical stand-up. If you've run a kids' BJJ class, you've probably dealt with this at one point or another. 

Are kids the problem, or is it something else? It's the format.

Asking kids to sit still during instruction or focus on drilling clashes with their developmental stages and attention spans. 

Games fix this problem. 

I'll show you why games are essential for your kids' program. We'll review 15 games you can use to teach your kids jiu-jitsu, and I'll briefly discuss how this fits into your curriculum. 

Why Games Are An Essential Part of a Successful Kids’ Program 

“If you're good, we can play a game at the end of class.”

It's a common thing I'd hear from various coaches in kids' classes. At the time, I thought nothing of it. At first, the kids seemed to respond well to that approach. 

Then it stopped working. 

As adults, we do our best to train our kids—we teach discipline, encourage grit, and provide structure. All of these things are important. 

What if we're wrong about play? 

As adults, we treat “play” as a relief, as if we're taking a break from learning or serious work. But Jean Piaget, a noted child psychologist, made a different observation. 

He said, "Play is the work of children." 

Our kids are willing to work extremely hard, so long as the “work” is play. 

Why Games Work Better Than Traditional Drilling

All kids know how to play. 

But critical reasoning, their understanding of the world, takes time to develop.

Critical reasoning in kids begins to develop between the ages of 5 and 9. At around age 7, there are significant improvements in logic and analysis. Foundational thinking begins earlier, but formal, abstract, and deductive reasoning mature between ages 10 and 15.

What does this tell us? 

Your kids’ classes should be age-appropriate—they need to accommodate developmental milestones and limited attention spans.

How do we keep kids’ attention? 

We keep it with novelty! 

Give kids new games to work on. This keeps their engagement and focus high as they play games that directly translate into jiu-jitsu skills.

Here's a simple rule you can follow. 

No laps and no lectures. 

Generally speaking, kids and adults hate drilling. Shrimping is the worst, but kids will shrimp circles around the mat if it’s presented as a race. 

The more you integrate play into your curriculum, the higher your engagement. 

If you're looking to build a rock-solid kids' curriculum, pair games with belt development milestones—you’ll be surprised at the progress your kids make. 

Related: Skeptical about engagement in kids' classes? Here’s a breakdown showing why boredom drives dropout rates in traditional martial arts.

Let's review the games.

Warm-Up Games That Get Kids Moving

These are competitive games that get kids into the right frame of mind. 

1. Tiger Tails

Age: All (change the speed and duration)
Skill focus: Stance, handfighting, positioning
Requirements: Fabric strips or old belts

How to Play:

1. Tuck a “tail”  (a flag, strip, or uniform piece of fabric) into each kid's belt, as if they had a tail
2. On “go,” both kids try to steal their partner’s tails while protecting their own.
3. Last tail standing wins.

There are several different ways to play this game. 

If you take the traditional route, kids who lose their tails are out. Another way to play is having kids who lose their tails, collect a certain number of tails (i.e., 3), and bring them to the teacher to get their tail back. 

2. Animal relay races

Age: 4–12

Skill focus: Strength and stamina building, mobility

Requirements: Two teams

How to Play:

1. Use cones to set up two or three lanes for students. They should be able to race from one end of the mat to another. 
2. Choose the body-weight movement you'd like students to use (e.g., shrimps, sit outs, forward or backward rolls, bear crawls, crab walks, etc.) 
3. Using the body-weight movement you've selected, have kids from both teams race down the mats and back to the starting position. 

You can approach this however you like: Change the movement for each student, different movements going down the mats,  different movements coming back. 

It's a competitive option that teaches kids the mechanics of each technique /warm-up. 

3. Freeze tag with BJJ poses

Age: 4–9

Skill focus: Position recognition, technical expertise 

Requirements: Basic knowledge of positions and techniques 

How to Play:

1. Divide students into teams.
2. Students play a normal game of freeze tag.
3. When students are tagged, they have to freeze in combat base. 
4. To be freed, a teammate must perform a technique (e.g., a granny roll, bear crawl, or technical stand-up) and tag their teammate. 

If you want to make this more challenging for older kids, add a requirement that they execute the technique perfectly before their teammate can be freed.

4. Shoulder/Knee Tag

Age: 7–12

Skill focus: Reaction speed, posture, defensive responsiveness 

Instructions: Kids try to tag their partner's shoulder or knees while preventing them from doing the same.

How to play:

1. Students pair up. 
2. They stand facing each other, in their stances, and work to touch their partner's shoulder or knees.
3. Set a timer for the round—there are no points or keeping score, just a focus on establishing and preventing connection. 

This game teaches stance discipline for takedowns. The better your students’ stance, the harder it is for partners to score. 

This directly translates to student handfighting and takedown defense. 

5. Base Battle 

Age: All

Skill focus: Base development

Requirements: An understanding of base

How to play: 

1. Students pair up and stand facing each other. 
2. The offensive player grabs their partner's wrist with a one-on-one grip and attempts to pull them away. 
3. Defenders level change and establish a wide stance. 
4. Defenders comb their hair, pulling their hand towards their head as they project their elbow forward, breaking their grip.

Base is the ability to give and receive force, without disruption to your balance or stance. 

Students need to achieve two objectives: (1) establish base to counter push-pull movements from their opponents and (2) break their opponents' grip on their wrist.

Drilling Games That Teach Technique Through Play

Next, we'll review games that improve technique through play. If you're looking to use games in your curriculum, this guide shows you how to set them up.

6. Sumo Push

Age: 6–12

Skill focus: Building a strong stance, good base

Setup: Standing or kneeling inside a circle

Rules: Push your partner out of the circle using only your palms

How to play: 

You created a circle (use belts or cones). The goal is simple. Students attempt to push each other out of the circle using their palms. 

Variations of this game use push-pull dynamics—collar ties to snap downs, claw grips to control. Whether they're standing or sitting, students do whatever it takes to stay in the circle and push their opponents out of the circle. 

No gripping allowed. 

Students learn how to use push/pull dynamics to control, off-balance, and move opponents without depending on submissions.

7. Shark Bite

Age: 5–9

Skill focus: Bridging escapes 

Requirements: A basic understanding of the bump trap and roll pin escape from mount.

How to play: 

1. Students pair up, in mount. One student on top, one on bottom.
2. The defender grabs the offensive player’s waist. They work their hands to the shoulders.
3. The defender pummels a hand into the overhook position to trap an arm.
4. The defender steps over the leg on the same side and back heels to trap the leg.
5. The defender bridges at 45°, pushing their partners over the trapped arm and leg. 

Key points to emphasize—trapping the arm and leg on the same side and bridging at 45°. It's a common detail that kids forget. 

8. Sharks and Minnows

Age: All

Skill focus: Escapes

Requirements: A basic understanding of pins

How to play: 

Two students (sharks) start on their knees in the middle of the mat. All other students (minnows) start at one end of the mat. 

The objective of the game is straightforward. 

Minnows attempt to cross from one side of the mat to the other, where they're safe. As minnows cross, sharks attempt to single out and take down a single minnow, achieving a chest-to-chest or chest-to-back pin. 

Minnows who are pinned become a shark until no minnows are left. There are no limits to the number of sharks on a person.

9. Sock Wrestling

Age: 7–12

Skill focus: Wrestling defense, scramble defense 

Requirements: A basic understanding of stance and handfighting 

How to play: 

Each student wears a pair of socks, placed halfway on their feet. 

The objective is simple: both students attempt to remove their partner's sock. The first one to remove their partner's sock wins.

This game creates natural scrambles. It teaches students to navigate the chaotic, unpredictable nature of scrambles, developing a natural awareness of movement over time. 

10. Catch The Hog

Age: 5–7: simplified rules (tag only, no pins). 8–12: chest-to-chest or chest-to-back pins

Skill focus: Gripping, establishing control, pinning 

Requirements: An understanding of leg and hip control mechanisms.

How to play: 

1. One student starts at one end of the mat as the “Hog.”
2. On “Go,” their partner army crawls on their belly and tries to catch (tag) the Hog.
3. Once tagged, students switch roles (Hog and chaser).
4. For older kids, require control (a pin via chest-to-chest or chest-to-back connection) after tagging before switching roles.

Remind students to lead with their hands so they aren't getting kicked in the face. 

11. BJJ Tic-Tac-Toe

Age: 6–12

Skill focus: Performance under pressure

Requirements: An understanding of the techniques mentioned 

How to play: 

Belts are arranged on the floor to form a tic-tac-toe grid. Students are divided into two teams (X or O). Teams must perform the technique correctly to claim a square. 

These can be drills, techniques, or concepts. 

When students perform a technique correctly, they can claim a square for their team. The first team to claim three in a row wins. 

This is a great way to reinforce the technique of the day. 

Positional Games for Guard, Mount, and Escapes

Here's a list of positional games you can use to fine-tune technique, build skills, and improve timing. 

12. Guard Monster

Age: 7–12

Skill focus: Guard retention, guard offense 

Requirements: Competence with at least one guard 

How to play:

The bottom player maintains their guard (closed, open, supine, etc.) while their partner works to pass. The guard player reverses the position via sweeps and submissions. 

Guard players should prioritize four points of contact and maintain meaningful connections with their opponents. 

Once they achieve this, they're looking to off-balance their opponents and initiate offense—connection, off-balance, offense. 

Guard passers should focus on denying connections, specifically by controlling the legs. If students don't have a connection with their legs, they don't have a guard. 

13. Spider Kid

Age: 5–9

Skill focus: Mount maintenance, weight distribution 

Requirements: A basic understanding of mount maintenance. 

How to play: 

Spider kid is an approach to mount that's restrictive, allowing students to stabilize and control mount. 

Offensive players focus on shifting between low/grapevine, middle, and high mount (S-mount) to counteract bridging and shrimping. 

Students can take a crossface, and post their opposite hand on the mat. Switching hands as their opponents bridge left and right. 

The goal? Offensive players stick to their opponent like a spider.

14. Crazy Horse

Age: 8–12

Skill focus: Back control maintenance 

Requirements: A basic understanding of back control and turtle 

How to play: 

1. Defenders start in an open turtle. 
2. Offensive players climb on defenders’ backs, putting in hooks, and a back head-and-arm (harness). 
3. Students stay sticky, maintaining chest-to-back connection. 
4. Defenders use four points, bucking, rolling, and reverse kipping to try to shake offensive players off their back. 
5. Seatbelt + hooks while partner bucks.

Set a time limit for younger students to control their opponents (e.g., offensive players must maintain control for 5–10 seconds). For older kids, set outcome goals (e.g., trap the arm with your leg).

15. King of the mat

Age: 9–12

Skill focus: Varies 

Requirements: Varies

How to play:

Two or three students sit in the middle of the mats. The instructor calls out specific techniques (e.g., guard passing from half guard). Students go through a positional round where they compete to achieve their goal. 

Here are a few example categories: 

The winner stays in the center of the mats, and the next student takes their turn. 

You can keep the same goal for the entire round or switch goals at the end of every successful outcome (i.e., guard pass). 

If you're doing this, make sure students immediately seek out partners waiting at the center of the mats. If you find that some students are more dominant than others, you can place a cap on the length of time spent as winner (e.g., rotated out if you've won three times in a row). 

You can play this game with any position. What's great about this game is the fact that you can run an entire class around this. 

This game can be used to build competition readiness in a safer way than full competition rounds. 

Cool-Down Activities to End Class Right

It's important that kids are able to wind down after intense physical activity. 

This isn't common in jiu-jitsu, I know. But it's incredibly important for the long-term health and well-being of your students. 

Have you ever heard the saying “Health is wealth?” It's literally true. 

Healthy students are more likely to come to class. When students are healthy—without injuries or pain —they're more likely to participate. 

This stabilizes student retention.

Stretching at the end of class is a great option for students because it: 

• Helps restore range of motion (ROM). Your kids have just spent 30–60 minutes engaging in intense physical activity. It's not uncommon for muscles to temporarily tighten due to neural tone and localized swelling.
• Reduces muscle stiffness. Stretching reduces passive resistance in muscle tissue, especially when done consistently. 
• Promotes recovery to baseline. High-intensity training activates the fight-or-flight response. Slow, controlled stretching encourages parasympathetic activation, gradually lowers heart rate, and shifts the body into recovery mode. 
• Reduce the risk of injury. In specific contexts, maintaining a good range of motion helps to reduce injuries during intense or explosive physical activity. 

Stretching after exercise isn't a cure-all for soreness or post-injury recovery. That said, stretching is  most beneficial when it's:

• Static (15–60 seconds per muscle group)
• Done at mild to moderate intensity (not painful)
• Combined with slow breathing

Stretching doesn't significantly accelerate healing or muscle repair. It does play a significant role in mobility maintenance, nervous system recovery, and long-term movement quality.

Teaching Tactics That Make Games Actually Work

A common mistake is to describe these games in technical language. Great instructors tell stories. 

They engineer memorable experiences that stick with students. Here are some things you can do to create the kinds of experiences students look forward to. 

1. Use stories to frame games. “You’re a tiger hunting tails” beats technical jargon.
2. Keep transitions brief. Minimize the time it takes to transition from one activity to another, under 30 seconds.
3. Use good energy management: Move students from high-energy activities to medium, then to low, ending with a cool-down.
4. Pair students by size. Have students partner with students who are within 30 lbs of their weight for safety.
5. Observe and pivot quickly. If the game you've selected flops with students, switch immediately. Do what you can to maintain high student engagement. 

For more tips on student engagement, growth, and retention, take a look at our retention guide. It covers the six retention strategies you can use to keep kids longer. 

Putting It Together: A 45-Minute Class Template

Here's a simple, game-centered lesson plan you can use to teach your students.

Games Are the Key to a Successful Kids' Program 

Asking kids to sit still during instruction or focus on drilling clashes with their developmental stages and attention spans. 

As we've seen, games fix this problem. 

As adults, we treat “play” as a relief, as if we're taking a break from learning or serious work. But playing is their work—it’s the tool kids use to understand the world around them." 

Games keep student engagement and focus high when they play games that directly translate to jiu-jitsu.

And the best part is, instead of grinding through reps, your kids are begging for one more round.