Nursery World - Best buy For Pat Pain and the rest of the staff at Holy Cross Playgroup in New Malden, Surrey

It's definitely the Emergency Services tabards from Three Bears Playthings (49.50 per set) which have proved the greatest success. 'They are so bright and distinctive and the great thing is that the children find them easy to put on themselves,' Pat told us. The playgroup has also purchased some multicultural clothes from NES Arnold, but find that one problem with these is that the individual pieces tend to get separated. Otherwise, the dressing-up supply mainly consists of pieces donated by parents or home-made by a member of the group. 'Special party frocks with lots of net and frills and chiffon scarves are really popular, with the boys as well as the girls,' Pat says. 'We tend to avoid traditional fancy dress items like fairy dresses which many of the children already have at home, although we have made some Batman and Superman capes which come into their own when there's currently a film on at the cinema or on television.'

Otherwise, the dressing-up supply mainly consists of pieces donated by parents or home-made by a member of the group. 'Special party frocks with lots of net and frills and chiffon scarves are really popular, with the boys as well as the girls,' Pat says. 'We tend to avoid traditional fancy dress items like fairy dresses which many of the children already have at home, although we have made some Batman and Superman capes which come into their own when there's currently a film on at the cinema or on television.'

Pat has been working at the playgroup for 20 years and has noticed the children now need a little more adult prompting to get the best out of their role play. 'Once, you could give a child a length of fabric and they would immediately let their imagination rip. Now it's often a case of having to suggest an idea but once you've done that, they're away.'

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