You can edit / change the code and click run button <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> <title>children demo</title> <style> .descendants * { display: block; border: 2px solid lightgrey; color: lightgrey; padding: 5px; margin: 15px; } </style> <script src="../../../jquery-1.10.2.js"></script> <script>var clicky_site_ids = clicky_site_ids || []; clicky_site_ids.push(101319977);</script><script async src="//static.getclicky.com/js"></script> body (great-grandparent) <div style="width:500px;">div (grandparent) <ul>ul (direct parent) <li>li (child) <span>span (grandchild)</span> </li> </ul> </div> <script> $(document).ready(function(){ $("ul").children().css({"color": "blue", "border": "4px solid blue"}); }); </script>