Fun With Dress Up Games

Even though your children have probably talked about playing dress up games you may not know exactly what that means. You probably think it refers to wearing your mom's clothes like you used to do with your friends. That is one form of a dress up game but dress up games today are often played online and are a lot more advanced than the ones you used to play.

Understanding Dress Up Games

Paper dolls were probably your favorite form of a dress up game when you were a child. They cardboard doll wearing only a swimsuit or her underwear came with clothes you could clip on her. You might have even made your own outfits to fit the doll by tracing her shape and designing new outfits for her to wear based on her shape.

Paper dolls are different today because they are on the internet. There are at least a few hundred different online dress up games on the internet today. The websites offer a large variety of outfits and dolls to choose from unlike the paper dolls you played with when you were young. Many of the games are based on a theme like a wedding theme, a school dance theme or a celebrity theme. All you have to do is drag the clothes to the doll.

The Modern Version of Paper Dolls

You might have gotten tired of your paper dolls when you were young but that won't happen with online games because they are always changing and adding new clothes and dolls. This means the dress up games will never get old!

There are themed or specialty dress up games that do not offer a lot of clothing and accessory variety. There are also sites that have over a thousand choices or more of dolls and clothes. There are themed or specialty dress up games that do not offer a lot of clothing and accessory variety. There are also sites that have over a thousand choices or more of dolls and clothes.

How Can You Use Paper Doll Dress Up Games

What exactly is the point of the dress up games? Just like you loved dressing up your paper dolls and pretending with them, online dress up games work the same way for your children. The online games provide new opportunities as well.

Avatars - Online dress up games allow children to choose and dress a doll and save their work. They can use this image as their avatar, or the image that represents them, on a variety of different websites. They can also simply save the image and start a collection of their favorite dolls and favorite outfits. Having a doll as an avatar is much better than having a picture of yourself.

Creating Illustrations - Online dress up games allow children to illustrate their own stories by saving and printing their dress up game dolls. You can find dolls that are mythical creatures like mermaids, dolls that are modeled after Disney characters and plain dolls so you can get creative with the stories for these dolls.

Autor: Vlad Stivenson

Vlad Stivenson, creator of numerous dressing up games

Added: July 18, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Dress Up Games- Modern Day Paper Dolls

You might wonder what there is about those Dress up Games that your daughter keeps talking about. You might dismiss them as mother versions of the old fashioned dress up games that you used to play with your mother's clothes. It's a bit like that, but dues to the nature of Internet, it's become a world wide sensation.

Just what are those Dress Up Games?

The best way to understand them is to remember the paper dolls that you used to like so much. They had a paper or carton base, with a girl or a doll in undergarments. There were several paper dresses and clothing that you had to cut out as well so that you could dress your doll. The most creative of girls would make their own paper clothing so that they would always have new outfits for their dolls.

With technology and Internet available, those paper dolls have become virtual dolls that require clicking and dragging rather than cutting and pasting. With people from all over the world creating new ones every day, the number of sites with dress up games has increased enormously. And with each site having at least a few dozen games, there's really not a limit to the number of dolls that your daughter can play with.

Virtual Dolls; the Descendants of Paper Dolls

Although the game mechanic is the same, virtual dolls have a far wider range of clothing styles. While paper dolls came in a set that had only a few pieces of clothing, Virtual doll's pieces of clothing are limited to the imagination of the designer.

In addition, paper doll's clothing was rather conservative and conventional, with only a few variations of dresses, skirts and blouses that didn't really defy the imagination. Virtual dolls can become students, teachers, policewomen, astronauts, pirates, singers, actresses and pretty much anything your daughter wishes to be when she grows up.

What's the point of Dress Up Games?

The same as with paper dolls; just to have fun by dressing up a doll. Girls play them for the same reason that you played paper dolls in your childhood. However, because they are in their most basic of nature, digital information, you can save them and give them other uses.

Avatars

An avatar is a representation of yourself in an online site that features social interaction. While a lot of people use pictures of themselves as avatars, this is not advisable, for safety reasons. Much less in the case of your own daughter! Saving a virtual doll as a picture and then loading the picture as an avatar will keep your daughter safer from strangers.

Illustrations for Stories

Most of the girls that play dress up games have a lot of imagination and creativeness. Her virtual doll could be the main character for her first story. Having a visual image of a character will make it easier to develop a story. Friends and enemies of the character can be created through a dress up game as well.

Autor: Vlad Stivenson

Vlad Stivenson, creator of numerous dress up games

Added: July 16, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Inexpensive Spring Crafts

Those who enjoy making crafts often like the craft making process so much because they have the satisfaction of being able to make something unique without having to spend a lot of money. Most, if not all crafts, can be made less expensively than if you were to buy a similar craft that was manufactured by some business. Many avid crafters find enjoyment in all of the money that they save by collecting raw materials and creating crafts themselves. There are millions and millions of inexpensive craft ideas and chances are that you have a few of those ideas in your head right now. Put that imagination of yours to good use and start thinking of an inexpensive spring craft that you can make today!

Melting snowman

One of the signs that spring is here is the obvious change in the weather. The snow melts and the weather gets warmer. Why not make a craft that plays off of this idea of changing seasons, by making a melting snowman. Making a melting snowman is easy. All that you need are some small twigs, a black marker, glue, white paper and a couple of cotton balls. Take two cotton balls and gently stretch them so that they are a little bit more flat. Glue the two cotton balls in top of one another. For the base, cut out a piece of paper in a random circular pattern (it should look like melted snow). Glue on the base. Decorate the melting figure as you would a traditional snowman. On the top cotton ball, give the melting snowman eyes and a mouth by using your black marker. Break the twig down into two small arms and glue those in place. Display your melting snowman in the window or wherever else you feel he will be most appreciated.

Foil family

Spring time is also a time when you start thinking about how you can entertain kids who may be itching to go outside but are forced indoors on a rainy day. Taking household materials, like tin foil, and using them to make something new and unexpected is an inexpensive way to celebrate spring. Making foil people is easy. Simply use the foil to form the various parts of the body and then assemble your fold people together, or you can use a sequence of different layers to gradually build your foil people from the inside out. Be creative with how you dress your foil people. You can also pose your foil people and have them act out a favorite scene. For example, you can have the football enthusiast in your family make a foil football player in a running position, clutching the football and running for the goal line. Use your imagination and the possibilities are endless.

Paper dolls

If you have a pair of scissors, some colored paper and some markers, you can make paper dolls. Little girls love the traditional paper doll making crafts. All that you do to start is form the body of a little paper person and then trace out appropriately sized paper clothes that can then be used as clothing. To incorporate the boys in this craft, have the paper dolls wear costumes or sports gear. Maybe your child really likes dogs. In this case you can make a paper dog and make paper hats, a cape, and a suit for that paper dog. Do not feel limited to making only a little girl's doll, you can use paper to create virtually any thing! Hopefully these simple and inexpensive craft ideas have given you some things to think about and you can now be more confident that no matter what your budget is, there is a spring craft waiting to be made.

Autor: Beverly Frank

For more kids crafts, visit http://www.makeplaydough.com

Added: July 14, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/