As a significant part of national material cultural heritage, traditional clothing serves as a reflection of ancient living customs and cultural practices. In recent years, the influence of Hanfu has grown considerably. However, the development of children’s Hanfu still faces numerous challenges. This study takes YingXi Painting by Xia Kui of the Ming Dynasty as a reference to explore the digital innovation of children’s Hanfu. The painting vividly depicts diverse game scenes and the elaborate clothing of Ming Dynasty children, offering insights into the social culture and familial aspirations of that era. Through an analysis of the surface patterns, colors, wearing modalities, garment styles, clothing patterns and fabrics of children’s Hanfu in the painting, this research employs 3D modeling software to reconstruct children’s bodies, children’s Hanfu and children’s accessories. The restoration effect is then evaluated by both human experts and artificial intelligence models. The findings indicate that children’s Hanfu performs well in terms of restoring traditional craftsmanship and wearability, though there remains room for improvement in achieving consistency between virtual representations and real - world artifacts. This study not only provides a foundation for the exploration of traditional children’s clothing culture but also offers valuable insights into the digital narration of cultural heritage.