Movement play is more important than you think ... work with us and you'll see things differently.
Movement play is one of the way we human beings check in with the feeling of life itself. It's pretty important to the way we develop and the way we stay feeling good all our lives. It's simple, ordinary and thoroughly heart warming.
It's also very important for our development and lifelong health and wellbeing - it needs to be taken seriously. But that's not the way our society generally thinks about it, Quite the opposite in fact.
Get involved in a JABADAO project or a course and we'll re-introduce you to something you did naturally as a child and remind you why it's important for all children (and adults) to engage in movement play. We'll also show you why we still need to be playing when we're ninety or a hundred.
Everything we do is about making life better. Sometimes we focus on development and learning, sometimes on health and wellbeing, sometimes on building communities, family networks or friendships.
JABADAO promotes movement play - full-bodied and wholehearted whatever age, whatever energy.
Early years
Supporting child-led movement play and babies' play makes a significant contribution to wellbeing - and supports learning and development across all areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Read the results of our twelve-year consultation and research project (in which we created the
Developmental Movement Play (DMP) approach), conducted in partnership with 26 early years partners.
We've just developed a new, really successful way to share the child-led Developmental Movement Play approach. Follow My Leader brings three of the JABADAO team to your setting to create a demonstration movement play area with your children - and to talk to the staff team as the play unfolds. The power of movement play in communication and language development, and in personal, social and emotional learning become instantly evident.
Oldest Old
We are at the start of a ten-year project developing the essential role of physical communication (through playful interaction or as a rich and deep means to 'talk' when words have become treacherous), with isolated older people and, especially, people who have dementia. Here's the team in two settings - a day centre and a dementia support group. The film was made in Leeds and Barnsley in the UK.
