For the past decade, we've been passionately growing Castle & Cubby taking it from the humble backyard side-hustle, to now servicing familes, schools and businesses Australia-wide, with the aim of fostering meaningful connections through play. Our vision has been shaped by extensive research on the importance of play in promoting children's social, emotional, and cognitive development.
In the last 10 years we've developed our products to deliver outcomes in key childhood play styles of imagination play, sensory play and adventure/risk play. But there was 1 type of play we hadn't yet touched on, until now! Enter Gaga Games our rules-based games play sister business! (Jon and I felt we weren't busy enough with Castle & Cubby 😆)
We were approached by a number of our educators about Gaga Pits in 2022 and after speaking with them about their needs, researching Gaga Ball around the world, and working closely with our product development team to understand what a good-looking, easy to assemble, and non ground penetrating product solution might look like, we decided we wanted to play Gaga and round out our play offering!
We decided to keep Gaga Games as a separate entity to Castle & Cubby, with the breadth of this play style and it's more community sized offering, we felt it deserved it's own voice.
What is Gaga Ball?
Originating in Israel in the 1970's, Gaga is a game that was much loved by children at school holiday programs. Since then it has gained popularity worldwide.
Gaga Ball is a fast-moving game contained in a Gaga Pit. It is a handball/dodgeball variant, known as a 'great equalizer' in playgrounds as it requires no special athletic skill or ability and is enjoyed by all ages.
You will be amazed at just how much FUN the game of Gaga is!
What are the rules of
Gaga Ball
Players start in the 'pit', an octagon-shaped court, hitting and rolling the ball with their hand to eliminate other players. When players are hit below the waist, they are 'out' - but players can always re-enter the game by catching a ball from the sidelines.
The social & emotional benefits of Gaga Ball
Research tells us play is important at all times of life, but never more than in childhood.
All games, no matter their style, deliver social, emotional and cognitive benefits for kids, and Gaga is a standout in delivering these key life skills.
What our Early Adopter Clients are Saying
The kids have LOVED the Gaga Pit. At times it has even felt like we needed a roster.
The Gaga Pit has been a huge hit and is putting a lot of smiles on dials.
We are seeing kids who were usually sedentary actively engage in physical activity. It is also providing an opportunity for cross age play which we do not often see in the playground.