Some children may be finding facemasks intimidating, but lots of superheroes wear them – from our fabulous NHS workers to our nursery staff and even Spiderman – we look at the powers and potential of superhero role play.
Your children may not be able to play superheroes with friends or in nurseries at the moment, but it is still an important vehicle for imaginary play.
Now more than ever, the disguise element of a superhero costume – specifically those with masks like Batman, Catwoman or Buzz Lightyear can be used to help children deal with the new reality of carers and other people in their lives who they will see wearing masks of all shapes, sizes, colours and designs.
Role Models
As with any role play, parents and carers can enhance superhero play and help reinforce this positive message by becoming involved and gently adding to the play. Here are some easy ideas of how to support superhero play:
Added Development Benefits
If you can encourage your children to engage in role play by using the heroes in their lives, it can also help support a number of areas of their development including:
Don’t Forget!
The ways to benefit from superhero play are plentiful – well, in fact, they go ‘to infinity and beyond’. Here are three other ideas we really like: