Karate classes for kids in Montreal: Nuns’ Island, Verdun, from age 4

01The short answer

02At 4, 5 or 6: the Petit Samouraï

At KarateIDS a child can start karate at age 4, in the Petit Samouraï programme, which takes 4- to 6-year-olds on Saturday mornings. The group has belts of its own — the white belts on one side, the purple and red belts on the other — and those colours say nothing about the level of contact, which is a separate question. A 3-year-old waits until 4: that is the starting age.

What an hour asks of a child that age has less to do with fighting than with attention: lining up, watching the person who is talking, copying a movement seen from across the room, stopping on the signal. The warm-up looks like a game, the basics are repeated in lines, and the first contact is with a pad, not a person. To know whether your child is ready: they can watch a demonstration for a few minutes, then try it — and after the trial, the only measure that counts is whether they want to go back. What age can a child start Kyokushin? says what the published junior rulebooks fix, and what is up to the dojo.

03To age 13: the kids programme

The kids programme follows, on weekdays, to age 13, in groups by age and level. The hour has a fixed order: the bow and the Dojo Kun, the warm-up, kihon — the basics, repeated until the body keeps them —, then kata or kumite, with a helmet, gloves and shin guards, on padded mats, and the closing bow. Kumite, when it happens, is the last and shortest part of the hour, and when it begins is the dojo’s decision, not a rule. What kids’ classes are like walks through the hour part by part.

Belt after belt, every grade has its curriculum, known from the start; gradings and, for those who want them, competitions — kata, board breaking — give concrete milestones. Kyokushin karate belts gives the order. At 14, the child moves on to the adult classes, in the same dojo.

04Verdun, Nuns’ Island, LaSalle, the Sud-Ouest: where it is

The dojo is on Nuns’ Island, which is part of the borough of Verdun, in Montreal, at 550 chemin du Golf, suite 010 — and it also serves LaSalle, Pointe-Saint-Charles and the Sud-Ouest. If you are looking for an after-school activity in Verdun, it happens at the dojo: on weekdays for the kids programme, on Saturday mornings for ages 4 to 6; the schedule gives the days and times of each group. Our classes run in both languages, which is why this site exists in four — and that matters more for a child than for an adult: a safety instruction has to be understood the first time, in the language they think in.

05What it costs, and how to try

Current monthly rates, taxes included: $66.15 for the Petit Samouraï, $82.69 for the kids programme (13 and under), with a family discount of 8% for three members and 12% for four, calculated on the total membership. The full grid, family plans included, is on the pricing page, which is the one that counts.

The first class is a free trial. There is nothing to buy beforehand: comfortable clothes and a bottle of water are enough — what to bring to your first class has the list. Parents are welcome to watch. And if you are still weighing karate against taekwondo for your child, Taekwondo in Montreal? says what Kyokushin has, what it adds, and what taekwondo has that it does not.