"For those who played make-believe as a child,
consider yourself lucky. According to Laura Berk,
the visiting psychology lecturer from Illinois State University,
children who play make-believe are better
and more prepared for the academic and social world."
"Pretend play also promotes abstract thinking.
The ability to use a prop (such as a block) as a symbol for
something else (such as a phone) is a high-level thinking skill.
Eventually it will enable your child to recognize that
numbers represent quantities of things, and that combinations
of letters represent the words she speaks, hears, and reads."
When one think about dress-up play, one imagine toddlers jumping and running dressing funny outfits. Raising my child with T21 has let me be witness that dress-up play can be a fun time for a child who has gross motor difficulties because of a genetic condition. We are supporting every single aspect of our son's development by giving him the opportunity of enjoying life as any other child; therefore, make-believe play is important for his cognitive skills.
My 28 month old boy plays dress-up regardless his level of gross motor skills. He is in the first stage of dress-up play. We have created a little area for him for dress-up play. We put a mirror with a little box with two hats, party bead necklace, sunglasses, an old t-shirt, a doll and a dress-up bear. My son favorite dress-up items are the hats, party bead necklaces and sunglasses. He likes to see at him-self in the mirror when he is wearing the hats. He moves the hats around his head and look at both sides to make sure he looks good. He likes to wear the sunglasses and crawl around while he point at them, it is his way to show them to me. I love to look at his face when he is wearing his sunglasses because he looks at me like an older guy, as shown in the photo below.
He has invited his plush animal "El Tucán" to play dress-up with him.
He put the party bead neckless around the toucan.
Creating a dress-up box for girls it is easier than for boys. I am currently looking for new items and costumes, I can adjust to my child gross motor skills while he can continue strengthening his make-believe play skills. It is becoming a very fun project for me. I will post a second article talking about what Items one can include in a dress-up play box for boys.
1 comment:
Imaginative play is wonderful!
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