Both girls and boys enjoy playing dress-up games. Fashion and dress-up games are great ways to spark creativity in children and to keep away boredom during school vacations. You don’t need to have a trunk full of elaborate costumes to play dress-up. You and your children can make your own fashions, using old clothing and materials found around the house.
Dress-Up in Old Costumes
Revisit the ghosts of Halloween costumes past by having a contest to see who can make the silliest dress-up costume re-using old costumes. Encourage your children to be as ridiculous as they can be, mixing and matching the costumes to their heart’s content. For instance, one child can combine an old princess dress with a clown’s wig or pirate’s hat while another mixes a cowboy outfit with stethoscope. Create awards for categories such as “Most Costumes Used” or “Best Combination.” Remember to keep the competition friendly and make sure everyone has a good time.
Fashion Show
Give your budding fashion designers a chance to strut their stuff by holding a fashion show. Section off a hallway or the front porch as a runway and provide the children with plenty of materials to design their own clothing. You can give them old tablecloths and napkins, tired but clean towels and cast off clothing to use for their designs. Encourage the children to use safety pins and tape to hold their fashions together. If the kids are a little bit older, you may want to use this opportunity to teach them basic sewing techniques.
Mystery Dress-Up
Keep the fun and giggles coming by playing mystery dress-up. Place a costume, such as an old men’s suit or an old work uniform, in a paper bag. Create one paper bag for each child. Give each child a bag at random, so that even you do not know which child has which costume. Send the children off to put on their costumes and prepare a character based on which costume they have. Each child should go in a separate direction so that they don’t reveal their costumes to each other. Once the children are in the costumes, have them come together and play together as their characters.
Photo Credit
- dress up image by Lisa Eastman from Fotolia.com
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