JABADAO: A Playful World

I love learning. I just find it interesting discovering new things - sometimes the "whyness" of them is fascinating, or their implications; sometimes it's just pleasing to know a thing I didn't know before. Bees spit at their hive-mates in hot weather (maybe that's what our resident loft-bees have been up to - they seem to be thriving and exceptionally noisy this year!). There was one train journey with 42 different fares from London to Birmingham. In 2016 trips on the London Underground took on average 4 times longer for wheelchair users.

But I digress. I had some lovely opportunities for learning last week and I know no better way to process than by writing a blog post, so here you go!

A Playful World Blog

Running a session for colleagues is a great excuse to reignite my Jabadao-brain and I spent a good couple of hours lost to the world, mostly in avid consumption of this delicious blog from cover to cover (as it were).

A Playful World is a mother's account of her baby daughter's developmental movement from birth to about 18 months, complete with the games they found together, gorgeous clips of video, excerpts from theory/research and insights from observation and participation. I couldn't leave it until I'd finished the lot (oops - another late night!).

If you have any interest in developmental movement and Developmental Movement Play I couldn't recommend a visit more, and if you have an hour and a half you can get through it all! It's a great demonstration of all the things we touch on when I try and introduce people to Developmental Movement Play but don't have the time or the experience or the developmentally-appropriate bodies to hand.

How do you climb if your body can't?

It uses a typically developing body which may or may not show some differences to bodies you and I may be playing with, but the principles of the play - finding games, enjoying what is happening right now, having awareness of what might be trying to happen and conversing simply as two bodies - remain the same. As you will have heard me say if you've ever been unfortunate enough to hear me on the topic of DMP, all bodies are programmed with the same desires and map for movement, from the least mobile to the most. It may be that you spend months, years or a lifetime playing in the early snapshots of developmental movement or it may be that you hurtle through (which is not a goal and can bring challenges of its own), but all bodies long to have meaningful conversation where they are, and to run and to climb.

You would never guess how much is
learnt through tummy play!

The development of our movement supports the development of our senses and cognition: not just proprioception and vestibulation, but vision and touch which are the stepping stones to writing and reading, and interoception (vital if you're ever going to toilet train or look after yourself independently, feed and water yourself at the appropriate times). Our movement development from day one to at least 12 years of age also teaches us science through experimentation and exploration, and inquistiveness. It teaches us perseverance, achievement found through playful struggle and so much more. When joined by helpful, informed, playful adults it brings us the foundations of interaction, conversation, negotiation, shared attention and the joy of sharing space, sharing achievements and sharing life.

A Playful World explores the joys and the challenges of providing for Developmental Movement Play and shows beautifully the theory in practice with ideas, inspiration and a really cute baby!

An excerpt from the first entry:

One of the things I have noticed in these early few days is how much Ruby has enjoyed opportunities to be hanging upside down, and on her tummy right from day one. 

Hanging forward over a helpful adults hand or knee is her position of choice... 

A little theory…

...On a physical level, movement that seeks to establish stability is the most basic human movement and the cornerstone for our physical development. The development of stability takes place in direct relationship with the force of gravity- the gentle and constant force that helps to build bone density and muscle strength.

Physical Development

The organisation and reproduction of movement doesn’t stem, as you might expect from the motor cortex part of the brain. Our movements are directed from the sensory cortex. When we first decide to perform an action we first recall a ‘sensory engram’ created through past repetitions of that particular movement. We remember (in sensation) what it felt like, then our motor systems reproduce the remembered sequence of sensation laid down in that engram… We need to pay equal attention to sensation as well as movement, therefore, if we want to work in depth and detail with the body as a source of learning- enabling our bodies to dance with internal sensation is every bit as important as learning to read and write… we must practice tuning into sensation as a route to using our body thinking processes.

Hopping Home Backwards

Why is this interesting to me…Holding Ruby in this way, and playing with her upside down, from day one, I was often met with ‘watch her little neck’, ‘You’ll make her sick’, ‘I wouldn’t do that, I’d drop them.’

Even though I knew ‘the theory’, I was doing the same as every new parent and muddling through, finding the ways to be with Ruby. Following her lead, and ignoring the voices around me led us to being upside down- so that is where we wallowed.

Most parents will naturally rock babies and children- which is working with the same sensations as being upside down & playing with gravity. Some babies will always indulge in going further than you might think.
When I think about it she has been upside down for the last few months so being up-right all the time must seem strange, why wouldn’t she be happy there!

The second post, Games played in the first week, gives some really early developmental play ideas, and the third, So much more than just feeding or sleeping, is a reminder of what is happening and trying to happen in the really early snapshots of development as well as a snippet of theory and some of the challenges of living in our culture. I will restrain myself from summarising the rest of the blog post by post, but do go and explore: it's a veritable treasure trove!

And for thoughts about how this translates with bodies that move differently, visit the Jabadao website or search for Jabadao on YouTube for a couple more videos of The Tig...