"Playing dress-up begins at age five and never truly ends." —Kate Spade
The past century has seen an extraordinary shift in the means and ways children play. Kids have moved from China dolls and wood blocks to coding robots and fast-paced electronic games. However, some past times are tried-and-true. The most notable? Dress-up clothes.
Beloved by generations of children, dress-up play has remained a time-honored favorite. Stepping into the shoes of another person, real or imaginary, offers boundless opportunities for fun. Generations past may have pranced around in their grandmother's pearls and feather boa or their father’s cowboy boots and neckties. Once researchers studied the positive effects dress-up play has on children, the range of possibilities grew even wider.
Teetot kids have a myriad of quality costume choices at their fingertips. They can be a firefighter, police officer, or astronaut, and they can also jump into the world of fantasy, transforming into a fairy, princess, ninja, and much more. Teetot supports the development of the whole child through their thoughtfully designed, expertly crafted dress-up clothes.
Benefits of Dress Up Play
Life is short. Childhood is just a blink. Encouraging activities that not only produce a day of fun, but also help build the skills they need later in life, is key to your child's success and happiness. Using dress-up clothes to role-play is both fun and brain-boosting. Dress-up clothes are a vital component to any playroom. When role-playing with dress up clothes, children naturally benefit from a wide range of growth opportunities.
Why is dress-up play important? Using costumes to play dress up is healthy for kids of all ages. It may look like child’s play, but this activity encourages several important skillsets.
- Multi-Sensory Play: Dress up play encourages the use of all five senses. Kids have to listen to sounds and conversations, communicate and verbalize their thoughts and feelings, use their hands to create and manipulate props, use their eyes to track and comprehend, and even use their sense of smell when working with mom or dad to cook up a witch’s stew or fairy cake.
- Understanding Perspectives: Dress up play encourages children to contemplate the perspective of another person. What would a cowboy say in this situation? How might a knight in shining armor react? What would a fairy do with her day? Using their imagination to understand life in another’s shoes helps them gain great social understanding and empathy.
- Socialization Skills: Through turn-taking, problem-solving, and communicating, children improve their socialization skills via dress-up play.
Who Will Your Child Become Today?
Studies show that who children pretend to be today impacts who they will become tomorrow. This doesn’t mean that putting them in a white coat as a toddler will turn them into a doctor in later years, but it does mean that the confidence and skills they acquire through dress-up play will stay with them long after the costumes are gone. For more information, visit Teetot online today.