Five reasons why you should still take your child to an activity group (despite the pandemic)

With children returning to the classroom in September, most group activities have started running face-to-face sessions again.

But with Covid-19 still dominating the news headlines and infection rates continuing to be a concern, it is only natural that many parents are concerned about sending their child back to a group activity. However, it is possible for youngsters to enjoy all the benefits of learning new skills with other children their age in a safe, Covid-secure environment.

Here are five reasons to consider when deciding whether to send your child back to a group activity:

  1. Sensible guidelines make all the difference

Organised group activities are a great way of allowing your child to socialise with other youngsters and get out of the house in a safe and controlled way. When deciding whether to send your child to a face-to-face group, talk to the organisers about what steps they are putting in place to keep everyone safe and minimise the risk of the infection spreading during a session. Anyone running group sessions for children should have carried out a detailed risk assessment before starting again after lockdown so they should be able to reassure you that robust measures have been put in place to protect everyone taking part. At Noodle, we have made a number of changes to the way our classes run to ensure the safety of everyone taking part. These include giving each child their own coloured spot to help them stay distanced from each other, encouraging the use of hand sanitiser when entering class and leaving a gap between sessions so we can clean the area thoroughly before the next group arrives.

 

  1. A valuable slice of normality

When the UK entered lockdown in March, one of the hardest things for children to cope with was that they could no longer do all the normal things they enjoyed like going to activities, seeing their friends or visiting their favourite places. Taking your child to a group activity helps bring a slice of normality back into their lives. The world can seem a very frightening place, especially at the moment, so it is important to give young people a chance to forget about what is going on around them and focus on having fun.

 

  1. Child development doesn’t stop

Childhood is a crucial time for development and your child is learning new skills every single day. Group activities are a really effective way of supporting a child’s development in a number of areas including social and emotional skills, language and communication, fine and gross motor skills and cognitive development. Encouraging your child to take part in extracurricular activities enhances the education they get in nursery or school and keeps them both physically active and mentally stimulated.

 

  1. Chance for some quality time

Parent and toddler groups offer a valuable opportunity for parents and pre-schoolers to spend some quality one-on-one time together away from the demands of housework, the lure of screens and all the other distractions of day-to-day life. Noodle offers two toddler groups – Ballet Tots and Noodle Tots – and the little ones who come to our sessions love being able to show their grown ups what they can do.

 

  1. Socialising with other children

Face to face groups give children a chance to interact with other youngsters their own age. Children learn from watching each other and thrive from being around their peers. Being in a group helps build children’s confidence and self esteem and allows them to make new friendships. Throughout lockdown, Noodle offered a range of online classes over Zoom and while they were a brilliant way of staying in touch with our Noodlers and giving them something fun to do while they were stuck at home, the one thing that was missing was the social element of being in the same room as other people. There simply is no substitute for the connections we make when we interact with people in real life.