I know play time for children is vital as it helps them learn about the world around them in ways I can’t teach them in a book, so I always make play time a priority. From unstructured playtime to working together to create a talent show, a fairy garden, or a circus, we fill our days with as much play as we possibly can. 
So, I was a little taken aback the other day when I told my kids I wanted them to wear play clothes if they were going to be out digging in our backyard and they both looked at me like I was crazy. “Do you mean dress up clothes?” my daughter asked. Clearly, they aren’t of my generation where we had two categories of clothing: play clothes and fancy. 
To my kids, everything is play clothes, even if they really shouldn’t be. We’re talking fancy holiday dresses year-round at the beach and white button-up shirts and dresses while gardening. After looking through their closets it became really clear that they could both use some new “play clothes” for summer that would allow them to swing on monkey bars, skip rope, and do all the other things kids should be doing all day without worrying about restrictive clothing getting in the way.
