Our neighbors at Theatre Peckham are moving whilst their space is being renovated, they had a big clear out and were kind enough to donate to us lots of weird and wonderful objects. They also gave us a few bags of brilliant dressing up clothes which the kids were really enthusiastic about.
We had princesses...
Skeletons and vampires...
and chefs...
It was a joy to see how the act of wearing a costume had such an impact on the way the children were playing. There was an element of freedom beyond what we normally see, the children were able to become someone else entirely and role play so naturally.
A group of girls created a whole narrative around their costumes and played together for the entire after school session, hardly interacting with an adult at all the whole time they were there.
We also had a team of chefs...
Who worked together in a methodical but messy way to make chalk dinners...
Our staff got into the spirit of things too, here's our happy Play Local elves joining in the fun!
Gender roles were simultaneously adhered to and challenged, with a little girl in a flowing red dress aggressively sword fighting a scary skeleton.
We also had sword fighting lions...
Sword fighting chefs...
A frog...
...who became a lion frog...
...then a dead frog skeleton...
...then finally a super scary frog gorilla skeleton chef!
It's easy to underestimate how the simple act of dressing up can help you let go and enjoy the world of make believe. The kids are experts at doing this, so it's nice to now have a big box of dressing up clothes for when they want to become something else for an hour or so.
Thanks again to Theatre Peckham for their kind donations.
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