He boys interest in dressing up I find it from another world. My daughters have a huge basket full of old clothes, disused shoes and a multitude of accessories such as handbags, scarves, cotillion wigs, necklaces, bracelets.
This fascination for costumes appears towards 2 years and is one of the many symbolic games, also called imitation or fiction, that take place during the subsequent 5 years. The appearance of the symbolic game coincides with the appearance of language, which is what allows the child “express and represent things and people, desires and actions carried out or that are still to be carried out”(Martínez Sarandona). We owe the details of the symbolic game to Piaget, who observed that her little daughter took a piece of cloth very similar to the one that covered her pillow and pretended to sleep, all accompanied by a smile.
Returning to the theme of costumes, after a little thought, I have found a nice alternative to the costumes that are sold in specialized stores (they usually cost a lot of money and serve for a single brief opportunity) without complications of making and sewing or budgetary shocks: create them ourselves. With paper bags, scraps of cloth, cards painted with watercolors and tempera, a little glue and other elements of affordable price it is possible to conceive a wide collection of original models for our children to have fun. Moms can give us the pleasure of creating fairies, clowns, butterflies, soldiers, cats, cowboys for them. Another important advantage of the costumes made at home is the limited time required for their entertaining preparation and, in addition, for the simplicity of these attire, even children can collaborate in their preparation.
Awake the imagination, mommy!
