Pretending to be someone we are not is a concept as old as Cain and Abel. We have built a successful Hollywood industry out of make-believe and role-playing. Your young children are no different. They see people around them and want to emulate styles or stories or lives. Dress up games are a creative way to allow them to explore their world and teach them that they can be whatever they set their mind to.
Role-Playing
Young children learn from role-playing. Children should be allowed to raid their parents’ closet to dress up and play house or put on a play or skit. Erect tents and allow your children to put on a play or reenact a scene from their favorite movie. Encourage them to change outfits and see what they like and can put together. Give them a prize for the most creative outfit or the look most resembling Mom or Dad.
Masquerade
Allow your child to host a themed masquerade party. For instance, have every child wear the costume of a Disney character with a mask. Kids will have to guess who everyone is. The child who correctly matches the most names with the character wins a prize at the end of the night when everyone removes the masks.
Makeup
Using basic makeup, instruct kids to paint an animal face on their partner. If the child wants to be a zebra, use white eye shadow and black eyeliner to create stripes on the face. Kids from the other teams must guess the animal correctly to get a point. The team that guesses correctly first gets to dress up with makeup next.
Guess the Character
Using simple materials such as newspaper, paper towels, markers, tape and scissors, kids divide into groups and dress up one person on the team as a character. The other team has to guess the identity of the person to win a point. This is an effective game to play when studying stories from history, the Bible or Greek mythology.
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