11 great benefits of playing dress up for children

You are currently viewing 11 great benefits of playing dress up for children

Dressing up is one of the best activities that children can do to enhance their creativity and develop symbolic play . Through a simple costume their imagination flies and they can become whatever they set out to be. If, in addition, we accompany that costume with accessories that enhance the character they are playing, the fun will be more than guaranteed.

What do the children dress up as?

Children should feel completely free to play dress up when and how they want , without the intervention of adults or a date on the calendar that tells them when to do it. And it is that too often we condition their activities by offering them elements or toys with which we consider they should play, restricting their creativity and freedom.

On the other hand, children do not need sophisticated costumes to have a fun time and take advantage of the benefits for their development that this activity has.

Thus, any shirt of ours, dress that we do not wear or scrap of cloth that we have at home is more than enough for them to put their incredible imagination to work. We can also make ourselves a homemade costume , or use the wide range available in stores.

In the end, what it is about is that the child can choose who he wants to become ; whether it is his favorite story or fiction character, whether he is an invented character or simply looking to recreate role-playing games in great detail.

But just because a lot of kids love to play dress up doesn’t mean everyone loves it.

Benefits for children of playing dress up

Dressing up is a tremendously fun activity for children , as it allows them to get into the skin of the character they have in mind and live all kinds of adventures . They can be pirates in search of a chest full of coins, princes and princesses in castles, superheroes and heroines saving the world, doctors devoted to their patients, clowns performing in a circus …

Impossible to get bored with so many characters, worlds and adventures to recreate!

But it is that in addition to being fun, dressing up is an activity with great educational value and that brings great benefits to the development of the child:

encourages their creativity

Dressing up is an activity that puts your amazing creativity to the test from start to finish.

To begin with, they must choose how to dress up and which character to play . Their imagination and creativity will work at full capacity if they invent the costume themselves using wigs, hats, accessories or scraps of fabric. But not only do you have to invent a character, but also play a role and recreate stories and adventures that will once again make your imagination run wild.

They express themselves freely

When a child chooses how he wants to dress , we are giving him the opportunity to express himself freely through his clothing . Because dressing up has no rules, and even when it comes to an already elaborate costume, the child always ends up adding his personal touch.

Promotes your body language

Disguising and interpreting a character implies recreating the gestures, voices, postures or movements of that character in question, either through imitation -if it is a fictitious or real character-, or in a completely free and improvised way, if it is an invented character

Interpretation is an excellent way to connect with the body, be aware of movements and improve coordination and motor skills .

Encourage symbolic play

We said it at the beginning: dressing up is one of the best activities for children to develop symbolic play. And it is that with a costume it is easier to get into the skin of the character they want to imitate , something that in itself already brings incredible benefits to their development and learning.

In this sense, one of the first costumes that children usually choose freely is that of mom and dad. And it is that we are their main model for everything , so it is not surprising to surprise them rummaging through our closet to put on our shoes, or put on our necklaces or ties.

Helps them develop language and social skills

Dressing up and getting into the skin of a character implies playing a role that makes them see life from another perspective. This not only favors the development of empathy (benefit that we will analyze below), but also allows them to train their social skills and favor their linguistic expression .

promotes empathy

The symbolic game involved in dressing up allows children to see the reality of the world around them from another point of view , favoring the development of such an important quality as empathy .

when they dress up as firefighters or policemen they will empathize with their important social and security work…

They are what they want to be

By dressing up, children freely choose who they want to be , without impositions, labels or gender roles. Because costumes, like toys , are not for girls or boys, so everyone should be able to decide what they want to dress up as without anything or anyone preventing them.

Helps them loosen up

He feels capable of being whatever he wants (powerful, daring, brave, savior, independent…). This will also help you reinforce certain skills of his personality, express emotions and feelings and free himself from the tensions or worries of the day .

In this sense, watching our children play in disguise is a very valuable way to learn more about their personality, their tastes, their strengths and virtues , their concerns, their way of expressing themselves…

encourages learning

There are really educational costumes that we can take advantage of to motivate and encourage children’s learning in certain subjects . For example, if they dress up as a historical figure, it might be a good time to read with them tales or stories about what that character did, what he discovered, or the important role he played in the society of his time.

Leave a Reply