Remember the good old days of draping your mum’s dupatta as a saree and acting all grown up? Those were the days of childhood bliss. Walking in the giant shoes of your father, carrying a purse or applying makeup like your mother, we have all done it. As parents now we see our kids doing the same but it might irritate you sometimes, your shoes laying in two different corners of the room, or your lipsticks left broken, or maybe your dupattas are all over the place.
Your frustration is also genuine but you have no idea how beneficial is dress play for your kids. You can get your kids costume pieces like crowns, capes, pirate hats etc if you don’t want your kids to meddle with your things. But encourage them for role playing, its great. Read on to know how!
Brain Building
Kids need to remember what they have seen before in order to act it out in their play. For example not forgetting what their mom does in the house to imitate her or remembering the facts and scenes of comic to re-enact it! When kids try to memorize such things, they are building their brain, developing it!
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Vocabulary Building
Since kids have the power to decide what their character will say in their play, they try to keep in mind what the original character had said. This way they will practically use the words they have heard you saying or have read in the story they are enacting. Once they use them in their play and get knack of it, they will further their use of these words in their daily conversation.
Problem Solving
While playing dress up, kids face many problems and they learn to overcome them all by themselves. For example if the kids are enacting the famous movie, ‘Avengers’ they need to decide who will play which character and how to manage the props needed. What to use to make a cape or how to make weapons. These are the problems children come across and learn to deal with!
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Motor Skills
Kids are constantly developing but when they perform role play, they are targeting their motor skills to great extent. When they are playing the role of a super hero, they are jumping, running, kicking and increasing their physical movements. Also when they dress up for their role, like tying a cape or wearing a costume they are increasing the ability of their fine finger movements!
Socialization
When a group of kids are playing role play, they settle for some basic rules. They negotiate over who will play what role and who will go first or what will be allowed and what not. Kids learn to accept certain rules, frame them and implement them with everyone’s consent.. They also learn how to take turns and how to socialize with their peers without throwing their manners away!
Gender Roles
While acting different characters, kids learn about gender roles. Most of the times, boys are inclined towards trying manly roles like superheroes, cops, pirates and firemen and girls on the other hand act being a princess, fairy or a housewife. Though kids incline towards their own gender characters, it is normal for them to try a character of the opposite gender. This should not be condemned as kids are learning and exploring about the world and different genders!
Imagination
Kids while playing a character learn to imagine, they get creative and come up with new ideas. Kids have an imaginative mind that wanders off to far off places and ideas. Kids who indulge in imaginative play grow up to be adults with new ideas. Play is an important part of childhood and its not only entertainment for them but is learning so don’t stop them, set them free to learn!
The benefits of role play might have given you a peek into the kid’s world. Those broken lipsticks and stained dupattas are not going in vain. Your kids are learning and developing through it so encourage them and give them space to be the rulers of their play world!