Children love balloons. They’re colourful and always create instant smiles. Parent love balloons as they’re easy to find, affordable and provide children countless hours of entertainment. But do balloons provide more than just entertainment value? Recent research, commissioned by the European Balloon and Party Council into how balloon play can support child development, highlights the benefits of balloon play for pre-school children.
Dr Amanda Gummer, Child Psychologist and Founder of The Good Play Guide co-authored the research ‘How balloon play can support child development*’ and concluded ‘…balloon play may be a valuable way to encourage exercise in preschoolers, particularly for parents who lack time, space and/or resources for other types of active play. As well as helping children develop key physical skills, this may help to prevent obesity and related health problems, by encouraging healthy habits from a young age.’
This comprehensive research has found evidence to suggest that balloon play has a variety of benefits for physical, cognitive, and social and emotional development for three to four year-olds. Balloons could therefore be a great tool to encourage holistic development.
Balloon play was also shown to encourage physical exercise at a level comparable to playing outdoors, or taking part in gym games. This suggests that it would be a useful activity for promoting exercise when children are not able to spend time outdoors or do not engage well with, or have the resources for other types of indoor active play.
The team have created a free “Indoor Balloon Games” guide - showcasing fun and educational activities with balloons for indoor activities, designed to keep kids learning, moving and entertained.
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You can access and promote these FREE easy to download guides (currently available in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish or Dutch) by visiting https://www.partysafe.eu/indoor-balloon-games
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