It is easy to overlook stickers as something we give to amuse our little ones for a moment’s peace and quiet. For something so simple, easy and cheap, stickers bring more to the development of young children than first meets the eye.
A bright and eye-catching stimulus, the sticker comes in a range of different formats. If you walk into a local supermarket or toy store, it is likely you can find a sticker for just about any childhood interest. With stickers coming in the shape of dinosaurs, burgers, fire engines and tiara’s, they are definitely catering to the masses.
Reasons Why Every Child Should Play with Stickers
Playing with stickers can help children develop so many skills, not forgetting stickers can help to bring big smiles to the faces of kids of all ages!
For some children, stickers can help to improve their grasp. Stickers can be really fiddly to use, so teaching children how to hold a sheet and peel back something fiddly is a skill worth learning. Stickers also encourage bilateral hand coordination skills for many functional tasks, including zipping up a coat and cutting with scissors. Stickers also encourage sensory exploration, including discovering textures of smooth, scratchy and fuzzy.
Children need strength in the small muscles of their hands to carry out tasks such as holding a pencil and doing up buttons, so with stickers being as small as they are, children can build up their strength with the fiddly activity.
Developing Skills at A Young Age
In order to grow and develop as a child, it is essential that the environment around us stimulate the brain. If we delve into the science side of things, connections between brain cells develop extensively up to the age of 5. These connections are called synapses. Medical evidence suggests that a child’s later intelligence is heavily based around the synapses they have developed at an earlier stage in life. Stickers have been told to help develop these connections as collecting and playing with them leads children to think about colour correlations and sizing of the stickers, they may then progress onto ordering these and creating their own logic in their mind. In addition to this, fine motor skills will be developed. Fine motor skills are produced through small movements in the hands, fingers and wrists. Familiarising pupils with their use of these at a young age could help them to develop skills such as handwriting quicker upon starting school.
Some stickers will even develop the sensory exploration of children as they have refined surfaces that may feel or appear different on the eye.
Panini Football Stickers
Furthermore, stickers such as the Panini Football Stickers not only help to develop skills at a young age but also help to develop the child’s knowledge on the topic.
A 7-year-old who can reel off football players names, ages and clubs in which they play for is pretty impressive; especially when they have processed this information themselves through playing with stickers!
Lastly, we must not forget the joy of using stickers as a reward. Receiving a tangible reward is exciting for children as they can visually see and touch the pride of their parents. Rewarding them with stickers as opposed to time on a tablet or computer can help them to value their own attitude and behaviour in a positive way and not take things for granted: they’re here to stick around.
Football Classes for Toddlers
Develop your child’s skills further at one of our football classes for toddlers, designed to develop essential skills including communication and language, physical development and personal, social and emotional skills.
Book a free trial today with no obligation – we look forward to seeing you at a football class with SoccerDays soon!
