Football for infants can be a staple to children’s development. If you are wondering how football supports infants’ development, this is the blog for you. In this Kixx blog, we aim to explore how football for infants encourages development. Football can be a brilliant activity for infants and toddlers, which is why at Kixx, we cater for children as young as 18 months – as we see the benefits it can host for younger children.
How Does Football For Infants Encourage Their Development?
Let’s explore how exactly football encourages development for your little ones.
Motor Skills Development
Toddlers grow and develop at a fast pace. If you are the parent of an infant, you may find that at the 18 month old mark, your child is learning to navigate the world more independently. At a young age, babies are rapidly growing and learning to control their bodies, developing important transferable skills throughout their lives. One of the most important skills that young children learn is motor skills. Introducing football to infants and toddlers can largely improve the development of their motor skills. Playing with a ball can help infants improve their gross and fine motor skills. This can be anything from walking, running or simply moving in different directions. Kicking the ball, reaching for it, and grasping it with their hands all contribute to their physical development.
Social Interaction
Football for infants can also benefit them by introducing them to a social circle from an early age. It is no secret that football lessons for kids can encourage them to make friends, develop confidence and in turn develop their social skills. Whether your child is playing one on one with a coach or their parent, or they are playing with a small group of other toddlers, they will learn the basics like sharing and taking turns, as well as using their words to achieve a goal.
Cognitive Development
While football for infants may seem simple, playing football with your young child can massively stimulate their cognitive development. This could be anything from recognising colours and numbers, or beginning to understand cause and effect as they kick the ball and see it move. They will also start to grasp concepts of space and distance when attending a football academy.
Physical Fitness
Introducing young children to football is a really fun way of introducing them to physical fitness and the importance of an active lifestyle. Children are encouraged to move around and be really active when at football lessons, which massively contributes to their overall health. It is also a huge bonus for parents – we let the children run off all that energy! An early introduction to a physical activity that’s also fun and engaging can set the stage for a healthy lifestyle as infants grow up.
Bonding
Playing football with your infant is an excellent opportunity for bonding. In our football lessons for infants, we encourage parents to get involved, we know how shared activity promotes a strong emotional connection between you and your child. When infants are working alongside their parents and peers, they are able to feel comfortable experiencing and channelling various emotions, such as joy when they successfully kick the ball or frustration when it goes in an unexpected direction.
Language Development
We’ve mentioned briefly how football for infants helps them develop their social skills, a huge way that football does this is by encouraging young children to use their language and communication skills. As you play football with your infant, you can talk to them about the game, the ball, and the actions involved, which encourages them to talk back! This verbal interaction massively supports their language development. The more words and phrases they hear, the better they will be at communication as they get older.
Football For Infants At Kixx
Being part of #TeamOrange encourages the development of key skills we have explored in today’s blog. The most important part of it though – children are encouraged to have lots of fun! Learning important skills whilst having heaps of fun is one way that we create a positive environment at our football academies across the country.
If you are interested in introducing football to your infant, resulting in the development of key skills and not to mention strengthening the bond between you and your child, why not find an academy near you?
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.
You can call us on 01302 618080 or email admin@kixx.org.uk.
