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