Dressing up

Peppa and George find a box of old clothes in their parents' bedroom and dress up as Mummy and Daddy Pig. Staying in character, Peppa pretends to work at Mummy's computer and visits Daddy Pig, played by George, digging in the garden. The children get muddy playing along, then Mummy Pig appears with ice cream. She plays into the game before revealing she recognized them all along.

S01 E10

Jessica's Big Little World

Family Photo

Jessica, a young girl, learns her family is heading to her grandparents' house for their yearly family photo and is asked to pick a special outfit. With help from her imaginary alter-ego Big Jessica, she tries on a dress, a soccer uniform, a monster costume, and a bunny suit, but each one is rejected as too tight, too sporty, or hiding her face. Noticing that nobody in the family likes their dressed-up clothes, she suggests everyone wear what they truly want. The family agrees, sings together, and poses for the photo just as they are.

S01 E04

Esme & Roy

Two Can Play That Game

recommended age co-watching from 3

Esme, a young girl, and Roy, her large monster friend, are monstersitters looking after a group of monster children. When two of the children fall into a competitive disagreement over a game, Esme and Roy help them name the problem and try a new idea. The conflict turns into a shared pretend pirate adventure, with everyone dressing up and playing on the same crew. The episode ends with all the characters playing happily together.

S01 E11

Ready Eddie GO!

Opticians

A boy named Eddie is guided through what happens at an optician visit, from arriving with Mum and waiting to be called, to a series of eye tests in a special room. A calm narrator explains each step while Eddie tries on glasses, looks into the picture machine and sits through a test in a darkened room. The optician tells him his eyes are perfectly healthy, so he will not need glasses today. Eddie is briefly let down, then delighted when he is given a pair of sunglasses to wear.

See all Dressing up shows for 3-year-olds

For 4-year-olds

Four-year-olds start building whole scenes around a costume: a doctor needs a patient, a shopkeeper needs a customer. Dressing up becomes a way to negotiate roles with other children, which brings both fun and friction over who gets to be what. A series that shows characters agreeing on roles, swapping them, and repairing things when someone feels left out gives a four-year-old useful language for their own games. Small silliness in the costumes is welcome; the social back-and-forth is what sticks.

S01 E46

Bluey

Chickenrat

At bedtime, Bingo cannot find her toy Floppy, so Mum helps her retrace the whole day backwards through the family's suburban home. Each step reveals the imaginative game Bluey and Bingo played, turning Dad into a 'chicken rat' with a magic wand, laying a pretend egg, dressing as ninjas and running a restaurant. Bingo finally remembers she hid Floppy inside the pretend chicken rat egg to keep her safe, and the toy is found. The family settles down with warm goodnights.

S01 E15

Pete the Cat

Trick or Treating Ghost

On Halloween night, Pete the Cat and his costumed friends set out trick-or-treating, determined not to fall for Pete's yearly scare. Along the route they brave Wilson's Backyard of Terror, a whispering tree at Radley Manor and a dark stretch of woods, discovering each time that the frightening thing is grapes, wind or their own imagination. A song reminds them that 'the scariest place is just a space in your mind.' In the end Pete fools them once more by posing as 'Bob' the trick-or-treating ghost, and the friends promise to help him face the same spooky spots.

S01 E05

Little Einsteins

Pirate's Treasure

Leo, June, Annie and Quincy dress up as pirates in their Rocket Room and discover a musical map that leads to buried treasure. Guided by the map's crescendos, beats and buoys, they travel across the Pacific Ocean and underwater in Rocket, racing the rival Big Jet who wants the treasure first. The children invite the viewer to pat, count and whistle along at each step. They reach the X, dig up a nautical whistle, drive Big Jet away, and close with a Curtain Call reviewing the art and music.

See all Dressing up shows for 4-year-olds

For 6-year-olds

By six, a child can hold a character over a longer stretch and stay in it while a real plot unfolds. Dressing up shifts towards costume as craft and as performance: making the outfit, showing it to others, caring how it looks. That also brings a new self-consciousness, an awareness of being watched. Series that treat dressing up as something a child can plan, build and be proud of suit this stage better than pure make-believe, and they open the door to trying it for real at home.

S01 E11

Dora and Friends: Into the City!

Buddy Race