For a few months now, Orla has chosen what she wants to wear. I open the wardrobe and let her pull out the dress or top she likes the look of that day, and add any extras that she needs to wear with it. She has quite a lot of little hairclips from a great little shop on eBay (look up 'otyats' - Sarah has a huge range and is very quick and reliable!) which I clipped to a long piece of ribbon, hanging next to the bathroom mirror. She likes to choose her accessories and watches me clip them into her hair in the mirror - are girls just born knowing how to do this?!
Recently, she's also started collecting items of clothing from around the house while she's playing, and trying to pull them over her head or to put them around her shoulders. Time to start a dressing up box, I think!
I bought a patterned cardboard box with a lid and have put in a couple of pairs of old sunglasses (sturdy ones!), a baseball cap, cotton and silk scarves, a sarong and a few strings of beads. At the moment, Orla doesn't have much concept of role play, so the box contents will grow with her. For now, she has a few items to experiment with; they are fairly easy to put on and there are a range of interesting fabrics for her to choose from. We can talk through the items together, building vocabulary and colour recognition, and can dress her up in front of the mirror, developing motor skills and coordination.
I'll continue to build her costume box with items from second hand shops, a few readymade costumes bought in sales, and my own castoffs. It's actually better to have random items that your child can use to create his or her own imaginary roles - shop bought costumes are obviously more directed and prescriptive. Let your child create pirates and princesses from lengths of fabric, old shirts and beads rather than a 'perfect', manufactured costume.
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