A 5th grader's imaginative costume play

Gabe likes to play. When he plays, he prefers to play historical war games.

When I was a young lad, I grabbed my plastic guns and went outside with friends and we pretended we were in the Old West, Civil War, World War II, or even the Revolutionary War, depending on the guns available and the latest movie we watched or book we read.

Gabe does the same thing, only he needs a bit more realism. No, he doesn't use real weapons. He puts together outfits that resemble uniforms. Here he is as a Union Civil War soldier. Looks like infantry to me.

He had us snap a photo and then modify it until we created a Matthew Brady-like portrait. Looks pretty good to me.

Gabe has costumes for the following:

Civil War: Union soldier (pictured), Union sailor, Confederate soldier
Davy Crockett: the Alamo look with coonskin cap
Roman Legion officer: with armor and short sword and the brush helmet
Conquistador: with the funny shaped helmet
Pirate
Cowboy
Orc and Ranger from Lord of the Rings
Indiana Jones
Assorted scary stuff: ghoul, Grim Reaper, zombie, and the Beastmaster
And I think he has some sort of Darth Vader stuff. I know we have a few lightsabers.

Yet, this is the gentlest, most well-behaved, politest kid on the planet.

But he's got a great imagination. We indulge it.

Did you have a favorite costume or make-believe game that you played as a kid? Or do you have one that you still play? Paintball comes to mind as an adult version of a pretend game (with sometimes painful and colorful consequences.)