More than child's play

Playing dress-up will sharpen children’s creativity as well as their imagination
theSun, Tue, 14 Sep 2010

CHILDREN, both girls and boys alike, aged four or five enjoy trying on clothes and accessories. They simply love to experiment with how they look.
Girls may try out a dozen hair clips or necklaces and mummy’s high heels, while boys will want to dress up like daddy by trying on ties, and requesting for fancy jeans, belts or shoes.

At that age, they grow more conscious of their appearance and would want to choose their own clothes. With your guidance, they learn how to make decisions.

As long as your daughter is dressing up appropriately for the occasion or weather, just give in at times if she decides to wear orange socks with her pink polka-dot dress, for example.

According to Dr Dorothy Einon, author of Creative Play for 2-5s, around this age, "your child now moves more like a little adult than a baby, and being a little adult also characterises many of her other skills and attributes. She now has a great deal more in common with herself at 16 years than herself at 16 months."

In her book, the writer recommends playing dress-up for children at this age. Playing dress-up is an activity that allows your child to have fun while developing their creativity and imagination.

Leave them to their own devices and you’ll be amazed at the characters they come up with. You will see how clever they are at improvising with things to make the props or costumes they need.

Start a collection of dress-up clothes like old scarves, shawls, hats, cloaks, jewellery, bags, sunglasses, hair clips, etc.

Also include props like a toy mobile phone, briefcase, apron, utensils, fireman’s helmet, stethoscope, wand, sword, eye patch - anything that helps them create a character they can dress up as.

Make these easily accessible by keeping them in a special box or drawer.

Besides sparking their creativity and imagination, the act of putting on and taking off clothes, buckling up, fastening or unfastening buttons gives them fine motor skill practice.

Playing dress-up also helps them overcome fears and learn new things. Playing doctor, nurse or dentist could help your child not be afraid of going to the clinic, taking shots or medicine. Playing teacher could reassure your child that going to preschool is fun, while playing engineer or mechanic could teach your child how a car works.

When children play together, they learn to share not only props but ideas. They develop interpersonal skills and learn to be tolerant, to share and cooperate.

They practise communication and negotiation skills when they choose costumes, decide on the pretend-play scenario and storyline they want, and who plays the villain or hero, for instance. They learn to be expressive and improve their vocabulary.

By playing ‘good’ and ‘bad’ roles, they learn the difference between right and wrong. They learn to how to amuse themselves and see their role in the family. They become clearer about their gender identity and understand differences between men and women.

They also learn about the world around them and understand the many different roles and responsibilities people have. They will grow up with self-confidence.