Stone trail to the treasure

Lay out a few target paddles on floor as stones. Tell students they are running across a river stepping on the stones. If they miss a stone, they splash into the water and must start over. Great for agility, balance, and footwork, especially once the paddles are kicked around some.

Shark island

Have students stand on their target paddle (their island). Instructor moves around using a blocking stick similar to a shark and pokes it at a student. When the shark attacks, the students must kick it. If they fall off their island, they are out.

Cave crawling

Have students stand in line (chest to back, but not touching each other) in a low and wide sitting stance. The first student will crawl on his/her belly through the legs of the other students trying not to touch their legs and then stand at the end of the line. Repeat until all have crawled through. Stress keeping a low sitting stance,

Quiet, the enemy is near

Have the class snap to attention. The students are only allowed to blink and breathe. If any movement is detected, the student is to sit down. The instructor tries to get the students to move (i.e. jokes, funny faces, etc). The last standing is the winner.

Addition game

Squish the class to the back of the room. Instructor assigns a simple combination that is performed down the room. At other end, the senior student adds another technique to the end of the combination. Perform the new combination down the room. Then the next highest rank adds another, etc. etc. Sometimes start with the lowest rank and work upward.

Stance drills

Put students into sitting horse stance. Point to the direction you want them to go, using the 4 basic directions. The students have to jump, turn, and land in their horse stance to face that direction with three quick punches, blocks, etc.

Call out

Have each student each call out a stance and a technique. All students do the stance and perform the technique 10 times.

Indian run

Have class double time while in a single line. Last person in the line sprints to the front. The line gradually shifts backward to accommodate the person and then the next (rear) person will do the same etc. Once everyone in the line has sprinted, the "run" is finished.

Taekwondo tag

Performed the same way as traditional tag, but with a few twists. Students must keep moving at all times, any student that stops moving is out. When you tag someone, you must yell "Taekwondo" or the tag does not count

Tech wars

Short for Technique Wars. Select two teams of equal number of students and 2 or 3 judges. Teams line up and one team member from each team steps forward. Each member is asked to perform a technique or series of techniques. Judges score or point to the winning team member. If you have 3 judges and team A gets 2 points and team B gets 1 point, then team A wins but team B still gets to keep its 1 point. After each team member has performed the requested technique, the team with the most points wins the tech wars.

The gauntlet

Students stand at regular intervals around the fighting ring just outside of its boundary. A student stands in the middle and has a certain time to do nothing but strikes using the students on the sides as "targets." The student may move around the ring coming close to his "targets" or may strike from the center. The student must rapidly vary direction of attack each time and must maintain the intensity throughout the round. The student may only strike to the "targets" and not to an area that is not occupied and they must look first before striking. There is no contact. The next round may be kicking or blocking. Time limit is adjusted for the students rank, knowledge, and fitness level. For senior ranks, the "targets" periodically step in from behind making an audible noise and the center student must look, turn, and attack instantly. Intensity must not diminish or have hesitations.

Race to wall

Participants run forward to a wall, touch it, and run backward to the starting position. May add pushups, sit-ups, etc. to perform after touching wall.

Guardian of the gate

Stand two Wave Masters 7 to 8 feet apart to mark the sides of the gate. Select 2 students to be the "Guardians of the Gate" and give each a body shield. Have the other students line up and on command, one student at a time will run and try to get through the “gate. The two guards will try to prevent them from getting through the "Gate" by pushing them with the body shields. No strikes are allowed. Each student who gets through the gate replaces on of the guards who then joins the attacking group.

Animal warm-ups

While exercising, children make the sound the animal makes.

• Duck. Squat and grab ankles with arms on the inside of knees, now walk (kids can also quack)
• Bear. On all fours, arms and legs straight. Movie left arm and right leg at the same time and then right arm and left leg.
• Giraffe. Similar to bear, but move right arm and right leg together and then the left side together.
• Butterfly. Sit with soles of feet touching each other. Knees out to side and push down lightly.
• Crab. Supine on all fours, walk forward, and backward.
• Crane. Balance on one foot with other foot resting at knee area.
• Eagle. Balance on one foot and wrap the other leg around the supporting leg. Wrap arms around each other and touch hand to nose.
• Rabbit. From a deep squat, hop up and leap as far forward as you.

Push-push

Place two 5'x10' mats. Have 4 students stand around the mats help stop people who are pushed out. Two students start on mats and try to push each other off the mat. No grabbing or throwing, only open hand pushing.

Paddle grab

Line up all the kids across the back of the room as though they were going to sprint to the other end. Tell them to put their backs to you and do not turn around. Then throw target paddles all over the room. The number of paddles you use depends on the number of kids (always use one less paddle than the total number of kids). When you yell ”Go!”, the kids have to turn, run, and get a paddle, and return to the line where they started. If you do not get a paddle, you are out. Remove a paddle and play again,. Play until there is a winner. One way to play is to have girls go first, then the boys. Then take the top 2 from each group and have them play for the championship.

Belt sparring  

Equipment Setup: Cut old belts into 14" belt lengths. Put red tape on the tips of four of them (labels them and helps prevent unraveling). Use black tape another four pieces.  Make as many 8 piece sets as you need. Divide students into two teams (may also team students against parents). Each student will place belt pieces of the same color under the current belt (2 in front and 2 in back). Rules: no punching, kicking, biting, choking, or crying. May only use open hand block or parry to avoid their pieces from being taken. Call everyone to Attention! bow! Fighting stance! and Begin! Students try to pull all of the opponents’ belt pieces and throw them on the floor. Winning teams advance to new levels just like sparring DO AS MANY ROUNDS AS YOU NEED TO GET A CHAMPION. Replace any missing pieces before next match.

Ribbon Sparring Cut 4" lengths of a durable type of ribbon. Place a small piece double-sided tape the top of each ribbon. Stick a ribbon over each child's solar plexus. Student’s spar by trying to grab the opponent’s ribbon. For longer rounds, you may add a ribbon to one or two shoulders or to the back (for students who continually turn their backs to opponents). Exercise is excellent for teaching timing and movement, since grabbing motion is similar to punching.

Through the loop

Line up students. Staff personnel on each end of a long rope turn it in the direction of the line of students. One at a time, each student tries to run through the rope without being hit by the rope. If rope touches them, they are out. As the students get better in their timing, the speed of the turning may be increased.

Master says

A Taekwondo version of Simon Says. Instruct the class not to move or speak unless "Master says" to do so. Take the children through various movements, attempting to trick them along the way. They are to sit down if they move or speak inappropriately. Note: In this drill, as well as all others, make sure the children understand and play by the honor system. The honor system means that the children do not wait for the instructor to tell them they are out. They sit down on their own, as they know they have made a mistake; knowing that it does not mean a thing to win a game dishonestly. It is much better to be the first one sitting down honestly, than it would be to the last one standing and have cheated along the way.