Young children are paying attention to the world around them every waking moment – watching what their parents and caregivers do, and learning from the things they see and hear.

You probably have, at some point, been amazed when your children have repeated something they have seen or heard – hours or even days later. Truly, children are the world’s best copycats!

Imitating others is your children’s foremost tool for learning and skill development.

Infants and toddlers often observe others demonstrate how to do things and then copy those body movements. It allows them to learn new things quickly and efficiently by watching those around them.

Children learn gross motor movements, speech and social skills by watching parents, caregivers, siblings, and peers perform these behaviours.

It’s how little ones know, usually without explicit instructions, how to hold a toy phone to the ear or guide a spoon to the mouth.

IT'S A NATURAL BRAIN REFLEX

A research study by the University of Washington and Temple University have found the first evidence revealing a key aspect of the brain processing that occurs in babies that allows this learning by observation.

Babies’ brains showed specific activation patterns as they watched adults perform tasks with different parts of their body.

When 14-month-old babies watched an adult touch a toy using her hand, the hand area of the baby’s brain lit up. When the adult touched the toy using only her foot, the foot area of the baby’s brain showed more activity.

Other studies have found correlations between the amount of imitation that takes place during the first two years of a child’s life and subsequent language and social development.

A newborn may try to match gestures they see in caregivers, while a baby who is only three months old may try to talk and “coo” back when their parents hold them close and talk to them.

Older infants with more developed gross motor skills learn to imitate how others handle objects, such as holding their own bottles and playing with toys like stacking and filling boxes.

Toddlers may attempt to participate in activities they see adults doing.

HERE'S HOW PARENTS CAN HELP

You can help your children develop their ability to imitate others, even from their infant years!

1. Prompt face-to-face imitation

When you’re playing with your baby, look at them face-to-face and imitate their expression. Your baby may just copy what you’re doing!

This is remarkable because the baby cannot see their own face, and yet produce the same facial expressions from observing you.

2. Vocalise and wait for response

Even before your baby can speak, when they coo and babble, carry out a "conversation" with them, using their vocal sounds as a prompt. This is known as "proto-conversations".

Adults who play with, imitate and talk to young children during daily routines help facilitate imitation skills and learning opportunities for their kids to build cognitive, motor and language abilities.

A child will follow a pattern of imitation, when their own movements are imitated first. Imitating a child’s sounds and gestures during daily routines provides early experience in mapping the similarities between the child and others, and provides a model for the child to imitate.

3. Encourage symbolic play

Children learn and develop symbolic thinking best through play. As children go through caregiving routines, such as bathtime, they can play with open-ended mediums like water to develop symbolic thinking.

Object substitutions in play, such as using a beaker to pretend it is a cup, are strongly linked to language learning.

Imitation is a powerful form of learning used by both children and adults alike. It is faster than individual discovery and safer than trial-and-error learning.

Remember you are your child’s very first teacher and your children are the most amazing students.

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