BJJ Games to play with your kids

[Tony "The Goods" Garcia]

can't wait to get my kid doing jiu jitz...specially with all these amazing instructors...very inventive. Now if I can get my wife to accept that my lil dude will not start choking kids out and breaking arms and being a general nuiusance, I'll be alright.

Haha kids n jitz, it's good stuff man. I don't use chokes or submissions at all with the kids. The 3 levels of all the games have gotten their control tight. You will know when they're ready to advance.

[Michael Sioda]

Thanks to AJ for starting this thread & thanks to Tony for turning me onto the Gracie Bullyproof games. By the way Tony I'm looking forward to any post you have on 10PJJ kids games & am about 90% sure that I'm going to get the time off from work so that I can go to Eddie's Charlotte seminar next month too - I look forward to meeting you.

As for myself, I have a boy turning 4 in July & beautiful identical twin girls turning 3 (also in July). I roughhouse will all of them. I don't do striking routines with them even though they see me & like to imitate. Tommy's favorite game is when we play 'takedown!'. Always funny to knock Daddy over you know? Tommy is also getting better at wrapping me up tight in any position. He'll put my leg in a full guard - squeezing with his knees & with an arm triangle to hold on while I do single leg lifts - it's a bit of a workout for me & he laughs his ass off while learning to squeeze with his whole body in order to stay on.

I play one game where he is on his back & I tickle his stomach with 'the claw'. The only way to get the claw off is to slap on a good leg triangle around my forearm. Then he wins & celebrates by yelling 'TRIANGLE!'. Good times!

We also just roll around a lot - they know the names of a few positions & will sometimes hit them if I say 'Now side control!' or something like that (if they are in the mood). I hold them in a position that is just tough enough that they need to really struggle to get out & sometime they'll ask 'how do I get out?' if they struggle the wrong way, like pushing against a strong point - I say, untangle the hand 1st & then let blast out' - Then I let them wiggle & worm their way out. Good times are had by all, they build good habits, adds a little core strength & most importantly tires everyone out some so that we all sleep better at night (particularly on rainy/snowy days where we stay inside). Now that we do this sort of thing more often since they are getting older - managing at home alone with 3 toddlers has become less work & more fun for me. I get stir crazy when I don't get to work out enough & this at least can get me sweaty while having a blast with my kids - high energy = fun at this age.

Now, if only I can get my hotbox status worked out sometime this year I'll have a space where we can go play anytime 24/7 with real mats & maybe with some other rug rats (kids of guys I work out with)...

[AJ Camacho]

I play one game where he is on his back & I tickle his stomach with 'the claw'. The only way to get the claw off is to slap on a good leg triangle around my forearm. Then he wins & celebrates by yelling 'TRIANGLE!'. Good times!

I do something similar where I go to tickle them and I only back off when they can get their feet on my hips. I then try to circle and throw their legs to pass their open guard. They are naturally learning to rotate and stay squared with me.

The fun part is when I show they're mom. I call out a game, and then without any further prompting they execute a grappling move. Not that I would, but I could probably just point at somebody, yell "Super Hug" and watch them shoot on them with a double leg.

My immediate goal is just position and movement. I've already seen my 3 year olds fight/argue with each other(kids mess with each other all the time.. that's another disciplinary process altogether) and the "victim" will usually retaliate by hugging with underhooks until they both fall over and the one on top smothers the other one to stop. Probably the safest way for kids to "fight" since when they were 2 they used to bite each other. I still don't tolerate this behavior but it's interesting to see how these weird drills are permeating through their overall movement on the ground.

[bobby rivers]

Agreed. Enjoyable thread.

[Tony "The Goods" Garcia]

With the very young kids like 3-4, I actually do 98% of the work. It's mostly just getting them used to position. I rarely even talk unless it's " You can't hold me down or you're killing me with that pressure". There's alot of laughing and joking but trust me they're learning. It's a whole progression thing. I used someone's "claw" game in class this week. Good stuff! Thanks guys.

[Matt "Gumby" Glach]

Awesome thread, I'm not even close to having kids of my own but I still found this to be extremely interesting. When I do one day have kids I plan on breeding some super athletes like I'm sure you guys are. These "games" sound very legit. Props!

[Bill Keeling]

Ttt!

[Christopher Piper]

Play freeze tag. To unfreeze somebody, make them shrimp under the persons legs.

[AJ Camacho]

There's also another element of playing jiujitsu with your kids. That is, games you play that personally improve your own skills.

For example, we play this game called soccer ball. I ball up into a turtle position and then my kids run up and kick me, at which point I have to roll in the direction they kicked me be it shoulder, granby, or back roll. This drill helps to retain fluid mobility and control (since you roll slow and controlled because you don't want to crush your kids).

My kids also like getting butterfly swept. They run at me and then I hook inside their leg, roll sideways, and gently lift them through the air. This game has drastically improved my butterfly sweeps.

Great ideas guys. I've been jotting down notes and then reference different games of of my notes while we play.

[Tony "The Goods" Garcia]

Kids class tonight. I'll try and write down some of the 10th planet games. Honestly, Eddie made it easy with his own technique names. It's more about the story created behind it. When the little ones are in position for RG, I simply call out Gumby! From Gumby they can go forward to Ny and Chill dog. It's not revolutionary by any means, it's more imagination lol.