Who Do You Think You Are?

Dressing up is great for fancy dress parties, costume competitions, Halloween or just for rainy days.

But dressing up isn’t just for fun – it’s an activity where imagination is used, and stretched, vocabulary skills are built, confidence is gained. Children can develop ideas about what it’s like to be somebody different – developing creativity, discovering empathy, when children are in their own make-believe world they feel safe enough to explore their emotions, acting out and working through experiences they have had. It can help them navigate their way through a sometimes difficult world, for example imagining yourself as a superhero is a way to feel powerful when you have no control over anything, with people telling you what to do and how to do it.

Dress-up play encourages interaction and communication with others, teamwork and an interest in other children and what they’re thinking and doing. Negotiation skills are learnt in this way: to join together, or to take turns, to create rules and then play by them. Children who role play are likely to be more skilled in judging how other people might feel.

Motor skills can also be developed through dressing up play – running and jumping like an acrobat, casting a line like a fisherman, running and dodging like a football player, or leaping like a dancer, will all help develop gross motor skills. Fine motor skills can also be developed: buttoning a jacket, zipping up a dress, tying on an apron – you get the idea.

So, next time your little one makes a paper crown, or turns a teatowel into a heros cape – join in with them, help them to fuel their imagination – you never know what you might learn along the way!