Dress Up Clothes: A Crucial Part Of Creative Play
Dress up clothes are the key part of any dress up game. That almost goes without saying. Accessories like a doctor kit, a princess crown, or a light saber are great and can provide some excellent fun, but having that doctor’s coat, princess gown, or Jedi robe takes dress up to a wonderful level.
If you have kids, you’ll know the truth that one costume isn’t enough for a child who loves dressing up. Options are what makes for good fun, right? Changing looks and outfits over and over, and digging deep into a treasure chest of dress up clothes… there’s nothing quite like it!
All kids, be they girls or boys, like to pretend that they are grown up.
With a good set of role play dress up clothes, any child can be instantly
transformed into a chef, a fire-fighter, a doctor, a police officer, or a teacher. There are dress up clothes for farmers and office-workers, for scientists and entertainers, for moms and dads.
This “dress up like an adult” play is SO great for a youngsters to do! These role play dress up clothes and the fun they have in them pretending to be adults gives both the idea that they really CAN pursue a fun career someday, and helps them better appreciate and understand something of the vast and varied world they in which they live.
Play dress up clothes help bring their already wonderful imaginations to life, helping them soar to new levels. Give a pair or group of kids a box of dress up clothes and see what happens! Within minutes they will have found their favorites (or argued about who gets to wear the favorites, let’s be honest), but then once everyone is happy in an outfit, an imaginary world opens up! Suddenly, an ordinary afternoon into a magical one.
Dress up clothes encourage kids to look at something from a different perspective.
This is a great skill to work on with a young child. Toddlers are very ego-centric – everything is about them and their world. One of the tasks of parents and teachers is to help along the natural development of the child’s understanding that there are other ways of looking at a scenario, that other people who have value, and that other views on a topic are also good.
An example here is helping children play out an “Emergency Scene”. Using dress up clothes for a firefighter, a police officer, a paramedic, and an adult man/woman, helping each child to do their role is quite a task. The firefighter will need to let the police officer clear the roads so he can come to the scene. The police officer will need to let the firefighter organize the fire fighting and follow instructions given… and giving up that directing job can be tough but a good lesson for kids who are “leaders”. Each set of dress up clothes comes with its own character and responsibilities… and wearing them will help the kids learn how to handle this.
See Kids Play Dress Up Clothes From A-Z for a huge list of dress up ideas!
Dressing up is above all, simply fun. Listen to the giggles, see the bright eyes, and respond with a “wow, you look great”… and a willingness to join in the fun! You’ll love it too!
I’d love to hear from you! Do you have memories of dressing up when you were a child? What dress up clothes did you love best? And what do your kids like best today?
Cheers!
Marlaine
Great article about kids playing dress up, Marlaine! I don’t know why it never dawned on me that the simple act of playing dress up can help children work on seeing things from another perspective, and to also help to develop empathy for others! Yet another great example of how children learn through play. Thanks for sharing!
Yeah, role playing is so great, Martina! 🙂 I do find that it’s a bit of a learned activity though. If I myself get into a certain character with my kids for a while, they are able to improvise on it pretty well the next time they play solo. And empathy, well, that’s hard for toddlers in any case, isn’t it? But certain dress up themes (nurse/doc/vet, mom/dad, teacher, etc.) are great ones in which they can practice it! Thanks for dropping by!
Hi marlaine,
Love the article. It takes me back to when I was a kid. My sister and I use to love dressing up and pretending we were pirates or princesses (depending on our mood) I think that kids dressing up allows their imagination to grow encouraging creativity. Allowing them to play this way allows their personalties to come out and I’m sure you are bound to learn very interesting things about your child.
Hi Celeste, Thanks for commenting!
Playing dress up with my siblings is one of my happy childhood memories too – I am so grateful that my own mom saw the value in it too by providing us lots of options. I agree with you about it encouraging creativity… and would add that it can be a great creativity outlet for kids who aren’t all that interested in arts & crafts!
Hi,
I have two young girls that love to dress up. Usually it is some sort of princess costume. But on other occasions it could be animals, doctors or super heros. The happiness they get from this is very evident. You are definetly correct that it helps them look at things from a different perspective. I feel that it must also help there brain development to interact in different ways depending on their character. We get a lot of our costumes at yard sales for almost nothing. Not everything that is fun costs money. Have your kids picked Halloween costumes yet?
Hi Scott,
Yes, dress up sure is fun to watch as a parent… it’s SUCH good, clean, healthy fun.
I totally shop the yard sales and thrift stores for great, cheap finds too! I’ve also been blessed with some fun costumes from friends whose kids have outgrown them! Score!! 🙂
For Halloween my son is going as a tiger (where we live you need costumes that can fit over warm coats), and my daughter probably a firefighter. Or a princess. She’s not sure yet LOL.
I’m working on a superhero costumes for girls page this week… check back soon for a few ideas if your daughter has fun saving the world on occasion. 🙂
Thanks for dropping by, and have a great day!
Marlaine
I love this post, it’s reminded me to do more of this with my children! I vividly remember a fringed waistcoat in our dressing up box when we were small which we used to fight over, and it was the most ugly thing thinking about it! We have tons of photos documenting our dress up adventures! I really need to do more with my children, my eldest loves role play as a teacher but I have no idea if there is such a costume? !
Alice
I love looking at pictures of my siblings and me playing dress up… be it just general play or the traditional Halloween picture! So I totally understand the fond memories you have, even of “the ugly coat”!
As for your question about dressing up as a teacher, why not ask start with asking what she/he thinks a teacher looks like? Dressing up even as simply as “like an adult” can be fun for kids! Depending on the gender, you could use a pair of heels, a men’s tie and collared shirt, a ladies pretty dress, an old pair of eye-glasses frames (remove the lenses). Sounds fun!
Thanks for commenting!