Paper dress up dolls were one of my favorites as a little girl. My sister and I would play with these for hours, changing the outfits and making up stories. Today we have this set of free printable paper dolls for you to download and share with the kids.
If you’re looking for something traditional and easy to keep the children entertained, print out a set of our free paper dress up dolls from around the world.
Bonus – playing with dress up dolls is great for your child’s fine motor skills, with all the cutting and folding.
These color your own dress up dolls come with different national costumes from every continent, and you can even make your own clothes to extend their wardrobes even more.
Let’s learn about cultures all around the world. From Africa to Europe, these dress up dolls can help bring a smile to kids of all ages, and this activity is a wonderful way to broaden our kids’ horizons via imaginative play.
We have 32 different countries national dress included within this free printables set, and you can also use them as national costume traditional clothes around the world coloring pages.
You can download the free PDF file with all the dolls and costumes at the end of this blog post.
Free Printable Paper Dress Up Dolls With National Costumes from Every Continent
Here are the three different paper dolls that we will be using for these dress up games.
You can mix and match which doll will wear which costume, and play pretend with these three characters together.
Color in the paper dolls with different skin tones, and hair colors to add variety to the paper doll collection, and accurately represent all the children of the world.
Have your child pick a paper doll to color in just like themselves, too. Then they can dress up their own doll in the different outfits.
Paper Dress Up Doll Boy
This paper dress up doll has short hair and works great to use as a boy dress up doll.
Dress up games are great for girls and for boys. All children can enjoy playing with clothes, making outfits and learning about kids around the world.
Paper Dress Up Doll Girls
These two are more like girls with slightly longer hair (one long, one medium)
Have your children pick out some names for each dress up doll to add some personality (would they like Irish names, autumn names, royal names or something else?) Write the names onto the back of the dolls
How to Use Paper Dress Up Dolls
Print out the PDF file (download at the end of this blog post)
Cut out each of the dolls, and the outfits from the free files (making sure not to cut off the tabs)
For durability, glue down the three paper dolls onto some cardboard for backing.
You can print on regular A4 printer paper, but if you have card stock available to print onto, this also helps your paper dress up doll set to last longer.
To dress up the paper doll, place the outfit on top and then fold down the tabs to secure onto the paper doll.
If you like, you can add magnet dots to the back of the paper doll sets, and use together with a magnet board, cookie sheet or any magnetic surface to create fun paper crafts that are also magnetic.
Like these personalised dress up dolls I made for my daughter.
Color the outfits using crayons, markers, watercolor paints or whatever you prefer. You can try all kinds of different ways!
National Costumes around the World
Kids will have hours of fun dressing up their new little friends in their own outfits.
Dress Up Paper Dolls for Asia
The Asia National costumes page includes traditional clothes from
- India
- Japan
- Philippines
- China
- Vietnam
- Indonesia
Africa
The page of African National Dress Paper Doll clothes includes traditional outfits from
- Zimbabwe
- Algeria
- Nigeria
- Kenya
- Egypt Morocco
Europe
The European traditional dress for your paper dress up dolls set includes outfits from
- Russia
- Spain
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Ukraine
North America
Color your own traditional North American clothes for your paper doll set. This continent includes clothes from
- Canada
- Bahamas
- USA
- Panama
- Haiti
- Mexico
South America
The South American traditional costumes included are from the following countries
- Colombia
- Peru
- Argentina
- Chile
- Brazil
- Guyana
Oceana
The continent of Oceana includes the following countries, and here are their traditional clothing for your paper dress up dollies
- Samoa
- Palau
- Kiribati
Find Out More About National Costumes
National costumes help to preserve a sense of a country’s heritage. In some countries, traditional clothing is worn only on special occasions whereas in other countries traditional clothing is still worn regularly.
Learning about traditional clothing around the world is great for history lessons, geography lessons and more.
To find out more about national costumes, and life in countries all around the world, you could visit the library with the kids and check out some books.
Children Just Like Me from DK books is a brilliant accessible way of introducing kids to this concept (Amazon affiliate link)
Or visit this guide for some more background information along with pictures. This can help kids pick out which colors to use for each of the national costumes on these printable pages.
Download PDF
Free download. Click below to download the PDF file with the three paper doll characters and all 32 different national dress designs to use with your dress up dolls.
Terms of use – free for personal use, free for classroom use.
Please do not re-distribute the PDF file. Direct your friends here so they can download their own copy for free here on the blog.
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We hope you enjoyed this free printable national costumes coloring dress up dolls activity. Kids of all ages will have a great time playing with these free paper dolls and printable paper doll templates with lots of different clothes. It’s so much fun!
Please go ahead and share this blog post with friends and family, so that other parents can download a free set for their child.
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More Free Printable Games and Activities
We have tonnes of hands on printables and fun activities for kids here on our site In The Playroom.
Holidays Around the World
- Free Printable Diwali Colouring Pages for Kids & Adults
- Ramadan Color by Number Activity Pages (Free Printable)
- Ramadan Colouring Pages Free Printables for Kids
- Chinese New Year Greetings (with Free Printables for Crafts)
- Chinese New Year Color By Number Pages (Free Printable)
To extend this topic, check out our post on crafts around the world. Or our my world paper plate craft.
Print out our world map coloring pages (we also have British flag coloring pages)
Take a look around, and you’ll find all sorts to keep your children busy!
Here are just a few more of our fun printable activities.
- Van Gogh Starry Night Craft Template [Free Printable]
- I Can Make Numbers Playdough Mats (Free Printable)
- Printable Saving Tracker for Kids to Color
- Travel Bingo Free Printable Game for Kids
- Emotions Playdough Mats (Free Printable)
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
Hi there! I noticed your free downloadable dress up dolls only come with women’s cultural costumes. Do you have men’s available too?
Hi! We don’t but that’s a great idea for us to add in future, thank you