1. Brain Building – Dress-up engages your child’s brain and memory. Dramatic play requires kids to remember what they’ve seen or heard. They remember how their parents behave when performing household chores when they are imitating them. Or they recall the details of a fairy tale they’ve heard before acting it out.

2. Vocabulary Building – Dress-up play builds vocabulary as a child decides what his or her character would say. It gives them a chance to expand their vocabularies with words and phrases that they might have heard in stories, but wouldn’t ordinarily use. Children may then begin to use these new words in conversations.

3. Problem-Solving – Who’s going to be the doctor? Who’s going to be the patient? Children must make decisions when they engage in dress-up play. They practice problem-solving problems when deciding on what costume elements and props each character needs to act out a scenario.

4. Empathy – When a child is engaged in role-play, it helps her see the world through another’s eyes which increases empathy – whether pretending to be a parent nurturing a baby, a doctor taking care of an injured patient, or a firefighter putting out a fire. Dramatic play helps children understand the role that helpers play in our lives.

5. Emotional Development – Children are constantly confronted with scary situations that they don’t understand – whether witnessing an accident in real life or seeing violent images on TV. Children process their fears through play, which helps them make sense of the world, and overcome their feelings of helplessness. By allowing children to act out their fears through dress-up and role playing, we are helping their emotional development.

6. Motor Skills – Children develop fine motor skills by putting on dress-up clothes, whether buttoning a shirt, zipping up pants, or tying on a pirate’s bandana. They use their large motor skills when engaged in role-play, whether they are jumping like a superhero, running like a baseball player, or twirling like a ballerina.

7. Gender Exploration – When children choose costumes and characters to be, they are able to explore different gender identities and the behaviors of those characters. It is normal for children to want to act out roles that are traditionally associated with the opposite gender.  A boy can be the/ one who takes care of the home and chores, such as cooking dinner, and a girl can be the one who is the police officer or firefighter.

8. Imitation – Children are naturally imitative creatures. They learn about the world by imitating the lives of the adults and others around them. Through dress-up and dramatic role-play, children explore the lives of other people by imitating their actions, feelings and words.

9. Socialization – Dress-up play encourages cooperation and taking turns. Children learn how to negotiate as they agree on stories and rules. They develop interest in others and learn how to give-and-take.

10. Imagination – Children’s imaginations are limitless, and have not yet been hardened and constrained by the “realities” of the world. Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education, believed that imaginative play in early childhood is the key to creative thinking during the adult years. When children engage in dress-up play, their imaginations are given free reign. There is no limit to who, where, or what they can be.