Costumes Ahoy!

www.fridayschildmontessori.com

Some parents who send their children to our

Montessori early childhood centre do the Halloween thing and some

don’t.

But whether you do or whether you don’t, most children enjoy the chance to dress up in a costume

at some stage.

And seeing as this time of year is when you get nearly every single

department store sending you catalogues containing a selection

of costumes for Halloween,

this is a good time to talk about fancy dress and costumes in

general.

Sometimes, it’s fun to have a good fancy dress costume handy for a special party – whether or not

this is a Halloween party.

Most children love the role-play aspect of dressing up, and even adults like fancy dress now and

again.

(Puzzling question for the day, adults: is it worse to go to a

normal party in fancy dress by mistake, or is it worse to go in normal clothes to a fancy dress

party by mistake?)

But even at other times, children love to play dressing up – and

that’s boys and girls.

Dressing up is a great stimulus for fantasy play. By donning a

costume, children get to act out a role and use their imaginations. 

Sometimes, this fantasy play is preparation for the adult world – they get to dress up as people

from various occupations and play at having a real adult job.

This helps them to think about the world around them and the roles

that people play in the community.

Just think about how a child plays when he or she puts on a police

uniform.

Usually, they’re out to catch the “bad guys” and put them in jail. Or think about a child playing doctors

or builders or fire fighters…

or any other job that has a recognizable uniform. It’s easy to

see that this fantasy play is helping them become good

citizens – which is one of the goals of Montessori education.

But fantasy play using dress up costumes isn’t always as realistic

as this.

Fantasy play using costumes also gives children to explore a world of the imagination and to really

stretch the “fantasy” part. 

This helps children develop their creativity, if you want to put an

educational spin on what they’re doing.

And they’re also having great fun! 

And, depending on the costume, playing dressing up also gives

children the chance to exercise their self-care skills using zips,

laces, buttons and other fastenings.

And it’s easy to start your own collection of dressing up clothes at

home.

In best Montessori fashion, it’s best to have these separate from “regular” clothes, probably in a

box as a sort of “set”.

And remember to tidy them all up and put them back in the box once

the play session is over.

Enjoy the costume party!

www.fridayschildmontessori.com