Girls play a variety of games. One type of game girls have enjoyed for ages is dress up game. Playing dress up allows girls to be creative and live out fantasies and characters. Finding awesome new twists to standard dress up games can give kids extra choices when they want to play such a game. The games can be done alone or with a group of friends.
Going Global
Putting a global spin on dressing up can open the door to more imaginative play and is also helpful in letting girls express themselves in new ways. This version of the game requires a little more adult intervention and pre-planning in order to make sure you have some extra items available for the game. Have girls dress up in clothing, hairstyles, shoes and jewelry from notable cultures, such as Japan, Africa, India, Holland and France. For example, girls can put on a sari or make one out of sheets to represent how women in India dress.
Celebrating the States
An alternate idea for the dress-up game is to have girls dress up in clothing representative of U.S. states. For example, girls can dress like Eskimos with furry coats, hats and boots to celebrate Alaska. To dress up like hula dancers in Hawaii, have the girls wear grass skirts and flower leis. This game has many possibilities, as just about every state can be depicted through clothing. Additional ideas include high fashion to suit New York, cowboy attire for Texas and surfer girl clothing for California.
Wedding Party
Pretending to be a bride or dreaming about a wedding is a game many girls like to play. You can make this fantasy into a dress-up game by gathering fancy dresses and white gowns from friends, family and colleagues and even scouring racks at flea markets and thrift stores. Girls playing this game can dress up as brides and bridesmaids, complete with up-do hairstyles and flower bouquets.
Wild and Crazy
Dress-up games involve using imagination to dress in a way that is not part of everyday life. To take this concept one step further, have the girl or girls dress up as wild and crazy as they can imagine. This version works best on the fly as girls can find items in any house to mix, match and un-match until they are content. Allowing silly hairstyles, crazy makeup and even multi-colored nails is part of the fun. You can have the girls use a digital camera to snap photos of one another, and then the fun can continue if they play around with photo editing software and make the pictures even sillier.
Choose a Generation
If you find that girls can’t decide on a theme for a game of dress-up, offer the option of each girl dressing up in the style of a certain generation. Options include prairie girls from the 1800s, hippie chicks from the 1960s, flower children of the 1970s and even Valley girls of the 1980s. This game also works if an adult can help the girls figure out what was fashionable during the period, and using photos from your own past can give the game a personal touch. For example, if you show a girl a picture of yourself dressed in ripped lace gloves, torn leggings and crimped hair from the 1980s, she can mimic your look.
