Tap into role-playing and storytelling in this app-wide Halloween update!
To celebrate the scariest season of all, some of your favourite experiences in Pok Pok have new tricks and treats only for Halloween! So, don your costume and light your jack-o-lantern, it’s time for a spine-tingling exploration across the Playroom!
Here are just some of the Halloween updates you’ll find:
Town: A Spooky fair is visiting Town, including a Hot Air Balloon Festival, creepy decorations, hidden candy baskets to find, and a parade of costumed characters.
House: House has transformed into a Haunted House, with dusty furniture, cobwebs, a functional cauldron and a wardrobe full of costumes to play dress-up with.
Shops: Shops gets a Spooky makeover with new toys, freaky food items, and creepy toy-wide decorations. Play dress up and go trick-or-treating!
Silly Blocks: More like Spooky Blocks! The addition of new themed blocks and ghastly Block Characters takes building to new heights!
This Halloween update unlocks new opportunities for imaginative play where the lines between reality and the fantastical are blurred. Is the zombie in Town a character dressed up or a real brain eating monster causing havoc in the community? Are you mixing a real magic potion in the cauldron or a spooky sip for an afternoon snack? For the very first time, Pok Pok explores the fine balance of imagination vs reality and unlocks new, robust storytelling opportunities for your child to explore.
Dress-up and the power of imagination.
Every Halloween we’re reminded of the joy of dressing up. Although it may appear silly, when your child dons that cape, crown, or pirate’s eye-patch, their brain is developing in more ways than you can imagine. From buttoning a jacket to negotiating roles and engaging in teamwork, the learning opportunities of dress-up play are endless.
So whether you’re going on a trick-or-treating adventure or raiding the dress-up bin at home, here are three ways dress-up play is benefiting your child’s development:
Self-Exploration
When children play dress-up, they frequently choose to portray their role models, ambitions, or career goals. This can be vital to their understanding of themselves and their dreams and goals. When children imagine themselves to be someone else, they learn about their likes, dislikes, preferences and how they like to interact with others. What’s more, dress-up can act as a means of gender exploration. It is normal and beneficial for children to try on different gender roles as they learn about the world and through dress-up play, children are given a safe space to explore. Ultimately, when children are permitted to experiment with multiple gender roles, they have a better grasp of gender identities and behaviour.
Empathy
When children play dress-up, it gives them an opportunity to step into another’s shoes, see life from their perspective, emulate their emotions and understand their situation. For instance, when your child role-plays as a doctor, it can teach them to care for and help other people. Dramatic characterisation can be very useful in developing empathy.
Motor Skills
Dressing up and role-playing can assist your child’s motor skills development because they will be mimicking the actions of the character they are portraying — ones that are often different from their day-to-day. They will jump and run like their favourite superheroes, dance like ballerinas and fight like warriors. Even the simple act of dressing up requires them to navigate buttons, pin capes, tie laces or attach velcro — all of which will ultimately improve their coordination.
From emotional development to the fine tuning of gross motor skills, there are numerous benefits to role-playing and dressing up. So let your little one don costumes and play pretend often. Not only will it allow them to express themselves and have fun, but they’ll be learning countless life lessons along the way!
We’re always so inspired by the way kids interact with Pok Pok and continue to play, learn and grow, and we can’t wait to hear what families like yours think of our newest update! We’d love to receive your feedback, see your play videos and hear your ideas — share your thoughts and say hello at hello@playpokpok.com.
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