A full class of mat games with martial skills smuggled inside every single one — the night kids beg to come back for
Games Night
- Kids martial arts
- Kids 5–9 · Any art
- 45 min
- 8–24 kids (helper useful above 16)
- 1 coach
- Effort 3/5
- Full mat area
- games
- fun
- retention
- low-prep
Kit: Mats, 16 cones, 8 spot markers, bibs for two teams, soft belts or bibs for tails
Bow In & Stuck in the Stance
Setup: Bow in on spots — games night still starts like every night, because the ritual is non-negotiable. Then open mat, two taggers in bibs.
How it works: Stuck in the mud with a martial twist: when tagged you are stuck in a strong horse stance, arms out. You are freed when a teammate stands in front of you and mirrors your stance for a full three seconds — both counting out loud. Swap taggers every minute. Last round, coaches tag too, and lose horribly.
Rounds: Three or four one-minute rounds; the horse stance gets more honest reps than a drill line ever gives it.
What to say
- “Deep stuck-stances only — 'if your legs aren't working, you're not really stuck.'”
- “Praise rescuers by name; the game quietly teaches that we free teammates before we save ourselves.”
- “Silent fist up between rounds — the stop signal gets its practice reps on the fun night too.”
Easier
Freeing is one high-five instead of the mirrored three-second stance.
Harder
Freed pairs must swap a stance — rescuer calls one, both hit it, then run.
Cone Wars
Setup: Twenty cones scattered across the middle of the mat, half standing, half tipped over. Two teams in bibs, one team per side, waiting behind their end lines.
How it works: Team Up flips cones upright; Team Down tips them over — hands only, one cone at a time, then move to another. Sixty seconds of glorious chaos, then the freeze signal, everyone hands-on-heads while a helper counts the score. Between rounds, teams reset the cones evenly — the reset is a race too. Play three rounds, swap jobs each round. Final round: cones may only be flipped while in a low squat, which is a horse stance nobody complains about.
Rounds: 3 × 60-second rounds with five-second freezes and team resets between.
What to say
- “Hands flip, feet never kick the cones — one demo of each and they police it themselves.”
- “The freeze on the signal is the real score — praise the fastest freezers louder than the winners.”
- “Spread the cones between rounds so nobody camps and everybody runs.”
Easier
Fewer cones, walking only, longer rounds so the score stays close.
Harder
Flip only with the left hand, or every flip must be done from the low squat.
Ninja Lines
Setup: Teams of four behind cones at one end, a spot marker per team at the far end. Keep teams small — four means nobody waits long enough to invent mischief.
How it works: Relay races where the travelling is training: crossing one is quick-feet running, crossing two is stance-walks, crossing three is a bear crawl, crossing four is hop-steps. At the far spot, every runner performs three techniques — a kick, a punch, a block, their choice, biggest effort — before racing home to send the next ninja. Teams cheer their runner's techniques by counting them. Winning team leads the celebration; every team gets one.
Rounds: Four crossings, one per travel style — about eight minutes of flat-out disguised drilling.
What to say
- “Three REAL techniques at the spot — 'best ones, not fast ones' keeps the quality in the race.”
- “Waiting ninjas hold guard — give the queue a job and the queue behaves.”
- “Handicap quietly: stack teams fairly and nobody notices, let one team run away with it and everyone does.”
Easier
Shorter course, techniques become one big kiai and a jump.
Harder
The team must call which three techniques the runner performs, changing every runner.
Treasure Guard
Setup: Three cone circles spread across the mat, three beanbags or belts as treasure in each. One guard per circle in guard stance; everyone else spread around the outside.
How it works: Raiders sneak in to steal treasure, one piece per raid, carried back past the circle edge to score. The guard defends by tagging raiders gently on the shoulder — a tagged raider does three jumping jacks on the spot, then raids again; nobody is ever out. Guards rotate every ninety seconds so everyone guards once. Stolen treasure comes back between rounds. Final round: coach guards one circle with all the treasure, and the whole class raids at once.
Rounds: Rotate guards every 90 seconds; end on the everyone-versus-coach raid.
What to say
- “Guards move their FEET, not their arms — footwork is the lesson wearing a costume.”
- “Raiders, watch the guard's eyes: 'go when they look away' is timing training.”
- “Gentle shoulder tags, treasure handed back nicely — win with respect even in a raid.”
Easier
Bigger circles, guards walk only, raiders safe once a foot is inside.
Harder
Raiders must enter and leave in stance-walks; guards tag only while standing in their art's stance.
Ask the class: Being the guard is the plum job and there are only three — waiting your turn gracefully IS the character rep.
Champion's Corner
Setup: Open mat. Teach the three stance signs first from the front: Tiger (guard stance, paws up) beats Crane (one-leg balance), Crane beats Horse (low wide stance), Horse beats Tiger.
How it works: Stance rock-paper-scissors. Pairs face each other, bow, bounce three times together and hit a stance on the third bounce. Loser becomes the winner's biggest fan — following them, chanting their name — as the winner finds a new opponent. Chains of fans grow behind every winner until two champions with half the class chanting behind each meet in the grand final at the centre of the mat. Play it twice; a new champion always emerges.
Rounds: Two full tournaments fit in eight minutes; the second is always louder.
What to say
- “Full-quality stances or the round replays — the game only trains if the shapes are real.”
- “Losing means cheering: 'the best fan club wins too' turns every knockout into a job.”
- “Bow before every duel — sixty bows happen tonight and nobody notices they were drilled.”
Easier
Play best-of-three per duel so nobody exits on one wobble; signs called out loud while learning.
Harder
Add a fourth stance of your art's choosing with its own rule, or duel with eyes closed until the reveal bounce.
Ask the class: Watch who cheers hardest after losing — that is the character headline for the closing circle.
The Vote & The Breath
Setup: Seated circle, equipment already tidied by a five-second team race.
How it works: Stretch it down: reach tall, fold forward, butterfly knees, shake everything loose. Then the games-night vote: hands up for tonight's favourite — the winner opens the next games night, and the class knows their vote counted. Finish with three slow dragon breaths and the quietest bow of the week, because a loud night should end soft.
What to say
- “Losing the vote gracefully is a rep too — name it with a smile.”
- “Bring the volume down in steps: talk, murmur, whisper, breathe.”
- “One line at the door for every child: the thing they did tonight that made the games better.”
Ask the class: Ask the circle: we won and lost about twenty times tonight — what did the best winners do, and what did the best losers do. Land the lesson: games night is really good-winner, good-loser training in disguise.
Next week builds on this: Back to skills — but the warm-up will be the game that won the vote, exactly as promised.
MatPlans curriculum team
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