Why Kids Love Gift-Wrapping More Than Gifts Themselves

It seems like no matter how much time, effort and money we put into buying our kids the gifts that we know they’ll love, the excitement of playing with that gift pales in comparison to the excitement of opening it. And, as it turns out, this is something that’s pretty universal in all children. It’s evident that kids are more excited at the sight of boxes wrapped in wrapping paper than the actual present, and there’s a simple reason why.

What Makes Gift-Wrapping So Exciting for Children? 

What it is about wrapping paper that makes it irresistibly exciting to children has everything to do with child psychology. If we may get scientific for a minute, this has everything to do with a children’s brain development, which is something that we’re learning about more and more through advanced neuroscientific studies. What we know is that when a child is below 3 years old, they’re experiencing the most crucial time period for learning and development, and so their life experiences during this time window can make or break their development later on.

For a child, seeing a box in front of them that’s covered in decorative paper, ribbons, bows and what have you instantly ignites the part of their brain that is linked to curiosity, imagination and sensory perception. It gives your child an opportunity to experience anticipation, critical thinking skills, and creativity to try to guess what’s inside, which is extremely mentally stimulating, feeding into their need to explore, guess and imagine with their minds. After all, as any parent of a young child will tell you, kids are extremely curious, asking a million questions to understand the world around them. By presenting them with a wrapped gift, you’re stimulating their desire to ask and answer their own questions.

The Importance of Play, and How It Relates to Unwrapping Gifts 

Children are always seeking out ways to experience sensory stimuli, which is a huge component of healthy brain development. This can be through dancing, which allows them to feel new forms of movement, or staring at seemingly unimportant objects to fully understand what they’re looking at. Similarly, unwrapping a gift is a highly sensory experience that allows them to feel and take action with their hands, while supporting their need to explore – something that all children crave, which we see in all kinds of forms of play.

You may have noticed that children often have a preoccupation with filling and emptying objects, like buckets, boxes and bowls. It’s not because they love making messes and cleaning them back up. It’s because they’re developing an awareness of how space works, to explore concepts relating to volume capacity and space itself. That being said, it’s not surprising that the concept of hiding an item inside of a box is incredibly exciting to a child, as is the process of allowing them to explore what’s inside, to exercise their inquisitive nature. Allowing them to make the discovery of what’s inside fulfills a critical need in childhood development, and even gives them a sense of satisfaction once the discovery has been made.

Let Your Children Explore Gift-Wrapping as Much as the Gift Itself

The next time your child is involved in a gift-giving occasion like a birthday or a holiday, encourage them to play with boxes, wrapping paper and ribbons, because these gift-wrapping staples are actually helping your child develop critical aspects of their brain. Not only are you helping them to develop a desire to learn, too, but you’re also helping to encourage their inquisitive resolve and creative expression. You will also be giving them the opportunity to strengthen the portions of their brain which are responsible for development. In turn, this will help to ensure they’ve the foundations for future learning. Now, what could be a better gift than that?

Don’t be surprised either, if your child is more preoccupied with the wrapping than the gift itself, because as you can now see, there’s a reason why.