"Unscripted" Costumes

Costume play has always been a fairly significant part of life at Woodland Park, or rather, I should say we have a lot of magnificent gowns and crowns, and we have an assortment of capes, all of which get quite a bit of use in the expected ways, while our animal, vocational, and other costume bits tend to get the short shrift. 

Among those bits that haven't been fully "discovered" are some colorful pieces made by an Icelandic company called Fafu. Unlike the other costumes that lend themselves fairly unequivocally to princess and super hero play, these are a sort of blank-slate approach to children's dress-up clothing. You might say they're "unscripted" costumes. Check out their website to see what I mean. I really like the quality of their stuff. Some of the felt pieces have endured outdoors in our wet climate for two years. And Fafu has, in my view, consistently demonstrated a strong commitment to children and creating high-quality, play-based environments for them.

All of us adults are enchanted by these Fafu items and over the years, many of our two-year-olds have allowed themselves to be dolled up in them, but when the older kids are making their own choices, they've almost always gone for the scripted stuff. 

We've started this year, however, engaged in a sort of informal experiment with our environment. We've removed the scripted costumes from the room, leaving only these unscripted Fafu creations. 

I'm planning to let the experiment run at least through October, possibly through the end of the year, depending on what transpires.

Being less than a month into the school year, it's too early to draw any conclusions, of course, but I am watching a few things already. 

Typically, I would have expected full-on princess play by now, at least with the older girls, with some amount of competition over the most prized dresses, and some amount of bonding over favorite Disney characters. I've heard no mention of Frozen.

Typically, I would have expected full-on super hero play by now, at least with the older boys, with some amount of intensive classroom discussion about the "rules" that go with that sort of play, and bonding over favorite Marvel or DC characters. I've heard no mention of Spiderman.

It may well be a coincidence, of course, the fact that we've started our year without princesses and super heroes. I have nothing against either, but it's interesting nonetheless.

Instead, these Fafu costumes have been used more as toys or enhancements to the regular flow of play. Yesterday, a group of boys donned some of the felt hats and hands and got a little wild dancing and just generally messing with each other. A couple of girls, both big time princess players in the past, put on the hats and hands to explore the coffee beans in our sensory table, challenging themselves to engage in fine motor manipulation without the full use use of their fingers. There have been more costumed animals than we've had in the past, like frogs and octopi and sharks. And the younger children have been using the "hats" for carrying collections of small objects around the room.

Interesting, huh?

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