Dress Up & House Games for Kids

Some of the most beloved children’s games include playing dress up and house. With only a little effort and minimal materials, kids can spend hours in imaginary play. Help kids select games appropriate for their ages and abilities. Consider the children’s interests as they discover time-tested dress up and house games.

Dress Up Games

Traditional dress up games provide hours of entertainment for kids. Rummage through closets, sift through yard sales and go through thrift shops to find kid-size clothes and shoes for dress up games. Very young children will imitate characters they know from storybooks and fairy tales. Kids can dress up as princesses and princes living in castles, as well as magical creature,s such as dragons. Let kids use their imaginations in selecting clothes and accessories. Older kids tend to pick characters from television, movies and books, like “Robin Hood,” “Harry Potter” and “Jane and the Dragon.”

House Games

House games give kids activities during cold or rainy weather, as well as outside. Traditional house games are often the most beloved. Hide and Seek is a favorite. To add extra fun, watch “Narnia” with you child and then enjoy playing Hide and Seek, with an additional trip through a real or pretend wardrobe that opens into a magical land. Alice in Wonderland is another variation on the discovery of a new world. Kids can pretend to fall down a make-believe rabbit hole. A Peter Pan house game lets children pretend to fly from their bedrooms to Neverland, where they can fight pirates and visit mermaids. For house games, kids only need their imaginations and grown-up safety guidelines.

Online Dress-Up Games

Online dress up games have sprouted all over the Internet. Check the sites before sharing them with kids to select the most age-appropriate and with the fewest intrusive ads. Once you have chosen some sites, share them with your child. Figures for dress-up online paper dolls include Teddy bears for younger kids. Older children can dress up fairies, pirates and holiday dresses. Other choices include getting ready for school or dancing.

Online House Games

You can find lots of online house games to occupy young kids. Help a young child decorate a gingerbread house. Preschool and elementary school kids can spend hours arranging furniture in a Barbie House. The Earth Day House Hunt activity game provides energy-saving information and tips for kids to learn about energy consumption. For kids interested in housing construction, Bob the Builder Design a House lets youngsters select housing features including windows, doors, roofs and chimneys, as well as selecting paint colors before printing the final product.