Over the past term our son J has been studying Greek Mythology. To celebrate his learning, J and his class friends took part in a ‘Greek Day’, where each of the children were asked to bring along greek themed food to share with the class and dress up as either a greek god/ goddess or a greek myth.
After spending almost three hours scouring the internet for greek god themed costumes, I found very little other than Julias Caesar outfits which weren’t entirely authentic but seemed to be the only option. As J and I had decided that he would be dressing as ‘Zeus’ (the god of thunder and lightning, who was also known as ‘The King of the Gods’), I had also ordered a beautiful gold, leafy headband which didn’t arrive in time.
However, with a little thought, creativity and craftsmanship Paul created an amazing accessory: He found a large piece of wood which he then drew out a lightning shape upon, he then carved this out with and covered it in silver foil, LED lights and sticky tape. J was elated with his accessory and with a white toga-style robe, purple sash, gold belt and leafy headband J’s costume was complete.
In total we probably spent about six to seven hours finding, creating and putting together J’s greek costume, but my word was it worth it! J had the biggest smile on his face and was desperate to get to school that morning, along with his platter of pitta bread, humus and olives.
Children love to get dressed up (who doesn’t?) and role play can play a huge part in their emotional and academic development. Role play/ dressing up engages children’s imagination leaving lasting, happy memories which they can recall in the future.
Children learn through imitating and copying others, this is especially true when taking part within role play. When children are given the chance to dress up and to become ‘someone else’, they are far more able to view the world through another’s eyes. Dressing up and role play provides kids with the chance to develop and to process their understanding of the World, this in turn increases their emotional development which all-in-all is a win-win!
I’ll be honest, I usually cringe when I receive the letters regarding costumes and dressing up for school. However, seeing our son with such a huge smile on his face was well worth the extra expense and hours of effort. It doesn’t really matter what you spend, it’s the extra effort and time spent with your children creating something which they will wear with pride which makes all the difference.
