Dress Up Time
Playing dress up transports toddlers into an imaginary world where they can live their fantasies of being princesses, superheroes or whatever they wish to be. It is one familiar part of childhood that should be encouraged and supported. Playing dress up is important because it:
- Encourages creativity and lateral thinking.
- Empowers toddlers to be who they choose to be. For instance, a small child can live in his own imagination as a giant.
- Expands vocabulary as toddlers play different characters and what they do.
- Provides a sensory rich experience as toddlers touch materials made up of different textures and feel it against their skins.
- Builds confidence as toddlers learn that they can be anyone they choose to be and interact with others as they live their dream.
Here are some tips on how to encourage imaginative play with dress up clothes:
- Read imaginative stories aloud and provide the right props to reenact the stories with your toddler. Good examples of imaginative stories appropriate for this age group are stories in the Madeline series by Ludwig Bemelmans. Most of the members in our household can recite at least one Madeline book by heart because we read and played it over and over again.
- Provide a variety or dress up props. Pieces of cloth, old scarves, hats, jewelry and shoes, wooden swords, crowns and wands, shields and helmets, capes and badges – you never know what will transport your child to a land of imagination and creativity.
- Be enthusiastic about your toddler’s attempts at imaginative play. You can even bring out the child in you and play some dress up games with your toddler!
Never again in life is a person able to dream so freely as during this period in childhood when imaginary play is prominent in a child’s activities. Encourage your child to make full use of this chance. If your child is reluctant to play dress up – help by connecting your toddler with friends who like to play dress up or take a trip to the store to choose her own dress up outfit.
