The Petit Samouraï: karate at ages 4, 5 and 6, on Nuns’ Island

01The short answer

02What an hour asks at 4, 5 or 6

Taking a place in the line, watching the person speaking, copying a movement seen from the other end of the room, stopping at the signal. The warm-up looks like a game, the basics are repeated in lines, and the strikes go into a pad held by the instructor. That is the real content, and it is more demanding than it looks: at that age, holding your place in a line for an hour is already a lesson. The group has belts of its own — white on one side, purple and red on the other — and those colours say where the child is in the programme, not what level of contact they train at: that is a separate question, for the instructor.

03How to tell if your child is ready

There is no test. A child who can watch a demonstration for a few minutes, then try it, is ready to try — that is all the word means here. After the trial class, the only measure that counts is theirs: do they want to go back? Some 4-year-olds join the line the first time, others watch from the edge for part of the hour, and both are normal. The parent stays in the room or close by, responsible for arrival and departure. What age can kids start karate? says why there is no universal Kyokushin age, and why maturity matters more than the birthday.

04And after 6

At 7, the child moves to the kids programme, on weekdays, to age 13, in groups by age and level; at 14, to the adult classes, in the same dojo. What the Petit Samouraï has put in place — the line, the bow, attention, the first stances — is the base for everything that follows. Karate classes for kids in Montreal describes the kids programme, and Kyokushin karate belts the order of grades that comes next.

05Saturday morning, and what it costs

The class is on Saturday morning: the exact time is on the schedule page, which remains the only source — it can change, this page does not. If your child is in daycare on weekdays and Saturday is the simple moment for an activity, Saturday morning, for daycare families is written for you. Current monthly rates, taxes included: $66.15 for the Petit Samouraï. The full grid, family plans included, is on the pricing page. Nothing to buy for the trial: comfortable clothes and a bottle of water; the karategi comes later, once the decision is made.

06On Nuns’ Island, in practice

The dojo is at 550 chemin du Golf, suite 010, on Nuns’ Island (Verdun), and also serves LaSalle, Pointe-Saint-Charles and the Sud-Ouest. Suite 010 is on the lower level; access is by stairs. Parking is free: the loop in front of the building, then the Kyokushin signs to the basement entrance. Our classes run in both languages, which is why this site exists in four. For the trip from your sector, Getting to the dojo from your part of Nuns’ Island.