Emma

When offered the opportunity to contribute a lesson plan for the One Dance UK Education Bulletin I felt it was important to create something that is relevant to the current situation we (still) find ourselves in, but, that would also stand the test of time and continue to be a useful resource in the future. I do like to set myself a challenge!

The book While We Can’t Hug, written by Eoin McLaughlin and illustrated by Polly Dunbar (2020), is about two friends; Hedgehog and Tortoise, who cannot hug and so they have to think of other ways they can show each other they care. This is a situation that all children now have personal experience of after the past year and have navigated in different ways. However, it is a situation that will continue to exist for many children, whether they live far away from their family or because a family member is vulnerable and so physical contact may not be possible.

When thinking about the national curriculum While We Can’t Hug has clear links to the Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) curriculum; particularly when thinking about how to support children to develop positive relationships with the people in their lives as well as promoting their mental health. During Mental Health Awareness Week it seems especially important to share and highlight resources like this, particularly this year as we focus on helping children with all the changes they are experiencing.

I’ve split this story into sections each containing inclusive ideas which explore different ways we can show others we care and that can be used and adapted for different groups. There are so many ideas within While We Can’t Hug and so I’ve deliberately written the plan so that different individuals can use it in a way that makes sense for them and those they’re working with.

During Mental Health Awareness Week the focus is on starting conversations about mental health and the things in our daily lives that can affect it. This story can support these discussions and be used as a starting point to talk about, for example;

• all of the different things we can still do for our family and friends even when we can’t see them and give them a hug,
• our emotions during these experiences, how it is ok to feel the way we do and for us to guide children to process how they are feeling.

This book has become a personal favourite of mine and most children I know have received a copy as a gift at some point during the last year. As well as sharing ideas through this creative dance lesson plan, I have also used it in our ‘Splatter Natter’ sessions where children and their families can learn the key Makaton vocabulary from the book.

The focus of this lesson plan is for a Primary school aged group of children who have additional needs; though as an inclusive plan it is easily adaptable for all children. Due to the resources focus, I’ve highlighted some free resources from the Makaton charity as well as a Makaton signed story read by Mr Tumble. As a Makaton Tutor it’s important to mention that both of these resources will support all children’s speech, language and communication regardless of age or ‘need’. All children continue to develop these skills and so making experiences as visual as possible, which Makaton does very effectively, will only be of further benefit. If you would like to find out more about Makaton please get in touch.

The While We Can’t Hug lesson can be found here.

The free Makaton resources can be found here – please sign up for a free account to access to lots of free resources.

The Makaton signed story read by Mr Tumble can be found here.

This blog is written by Emma Jones; Founder and Artistic Director. To subscribe to our next blog or to let us know what you think please get in touch.

Today is International Dance Day and so it seems appropriate for me to share the very first Splatter Dance blog.

After the past year International Dance Day is celebrating dance, it’s importance in society and the impact it has on people and their lives. This last year, more than ever, it has been important to remember the answers to each of these things because they are the reason we do what we do.

Writing about why I do what I do is easy because I believe that dance is just magical.

Yes dance stirs your emotions and is mesmerising to watch, and you feel energetic, free and completely lost in the moment when you’re dancing. But, dance is magical because it is always about more than dance.

It’s about the individual who is so overwhelmed by a new location and class that they sit behind the curtain for the first 6 weeks. Then, very slowly over time they develop the confidence to not only independently participate in the whole class, but to lead parts of it too.

It’s about the Mum who is so nervous about bringing her child to class because her confidence is on the floor as she was once asked not to return to a class because her little one couldn’t sit still. Yet when given the time, space and freedom to explore movement and express themselves Mum could enjoy dancing with her child and see him interacting with the other children, listening, following instructions and having fun.

It is also about the child who is quiet and easily overlooked in the classroom but is hiding, or masking, their anxieties until she gets home. However, dance plays to her strengths; she moves with flair, shares her ideas with peers and goes back to the classroom feeling relaxed and ready to take on the rest of the day.

These are just three examples but the one thing all of these participants have in common is that they fell in love with dance, the ‘magic ingredient’. When you hit the jackpot and find this magic ingredient, we can then support people to learn a huge variety of different skills which will transfer to and positively impact other areas of their life, and in turn, their contribution to society.

“A child like ours, at a mainstream school, is the best at nothing. But through his dance classes, he is able to take part on a level playing field. He loves getting others to join in and it gives him the unusual experience of being the one ‘in charge’ rather than always following.”

The ‘skills’ I’m talking about here are people’s creativity, physical, social, language and communication, whilst also boosting their resilience, mental health and emotional wellbeing – and dance is the vehicle through which all of this is possible.

The cherry on the top is that when you are having fun, which I imagine you are if you have fallen in love with dance, then you are able to learn without even realising it.

It isn’t just participants who fall in love with dance either:

• Parents fall in love with dance because they find a class their child enjoys, that is accessible for them, that plays to their strengths and meets their child where they are rather than having unrealistic expectations.
• For schools, they see that the benefits their students gain in dance filter into their wider learning, health and functioning. Dance enriches their curriculum and school life as a whole.

So, falling in love with dance opens up a whole new world of possibilities to everyone; this is why dance is about more than dance, why I celebrate dance everyday and why Splatter Dance exists.

This blog is written by Emma Jones; Splatter Dance Founder and Artistic Director. To subscribe to our next blog or to let us know what you think please get in touch.