Cricket has lots of benefits for kids! It’s a well-known fact that active kids are happy kids. Sadly, physical education in pre-schools and nurseries is somewhat limited.
Furthermore, more than 38 million children under the age of 5 worldwide are either overweight or obese*.
Which means having something outside of these settings for your child to get involved with is a must!
With increasing concerns about growing levels of screen-time, getting your toddler or pre-schooler active through a sport such as cricket helps redress the balance.
And it doesn’t just have physical benefits for your little one. Like all sports, it’s also important for their social and mental development.
Develops gross motor skills
Gross motor skills are those that involve large muscle groups, such as walking, running, and throwing & catching a ball, and they have an impact on things like your child’s co-ordination and balance.
They’re also important because they help develop the fine motor skills your toddler or pre-schooler will use every day in activities such as holding a crayon, brushing their teeth, drawing a picture, using scissors, holding a knife & fork, etc.
At Cricket tots, our specially-designed programme for children aged 2½-5 years helps them develop their key gross motor skills through a series of structured activities that are so much fun they don’t even realise they’re learning!
Increases fitness
All that running around not only helps keep your child’s weight at a healthy level, but it’s also good for their heart and lungs.
What’s more, the range of different activities we do at Cricket tots helps strengthen growing bones and muscles.
This in turn increases their overall stamina and strength.
Boosts social skills
Toddlers and pre-schoolers are notorious for being unable to understand any viewpoint other than their own.
By teaching them to be part of a team – to support, cheer and help each other – Cricket tots helps your child begin to understand their relative role in the world.
And this new understanding helps them learn the value in seeing things from the perspective of another team member.
Builds self-confidence
Learning new skills is always a source of great pride for young children.
Just think back to the first time your little one stood by themselves, or took their first steps.
Not only will learning core cricket skills build their confidence, you’ll also see their self-esteem visibly grow as they master all the smaller steps needed to get them there.
Improves mental wellbeing
Playing any sport has a positive effect on your child’s mental and emotional health, no matter how young they are.
As well as reducing stress and releasing lots of happy hormones that make them feel good, sport can help increase their focus and attention.
Both of which are important skills to have when it comes to learning in general.
Whatever they’re doing, our Cricket tots boys and girls always have a whale of a time!
Whether they’re learning to balance, lining up in a row, doing high fives at the end of a team talk, collecting balls for re-bowling or saying their name for the register – we pace everything appropriately to maintain maximum engagement and interaction.