Role play in Child Development
Children have the wildest imagination and it is further developed through dress up and role playing. Taking on another persona whether it be a character from a book, movie or profession allows children to be creative, expressive and it is just simply fun to be someone else.
5 Benefits of role-playing
- Self-care – children learn to dress themselves in costumes, which is a developmental achievement as they further enhance their motor skills to use a zipper, buttons, or velcro.
- Fosters their imagination – children have the best imagination and will slip into character and mimic the character’s behaviour or create new ones within the boundaries of the character. By dressing up and role-playing, children learn different identities, ideas and feelings that further build on self-awareness.
- Improves communication skills – when children are in character, they start to widen their language skills by expanding on the use of phrases and use of different words. It also improves their memory skills by re-enacting scenes or lines that the character has displayed.
- Gender exploration – while girls want to be Elsa and boys want to be Buzz Lightyear, children are encouraged to dress up in any costume and try different gender roles. This encourages children to have an understanding of the world and the differences in people around them.
- Empathy – through play, children start to learn the role of others in their lives. By pretending to be a doctor, they learn a doctor can make a patient feel better or that a teacher can help her students read through storytelling.
Role playing and dress up is encouraged throughout the year as we celebrate different early childhood events as they occur. Costumes are readily available at our services for children to engage in role playing during free time.