Imitation

I realize it has been quite a while since I've last blogged, but from now on things will be a little different...I'm going to continue my observations as usual, but instead of blogging about everything that I observe, I'm going to chose one or two key thing, such as behaviours and try and do some more research on them.

The thing that I really noticed over the past few weeks was how kids copied other kids' behaviours. The first time I noticed it was when one of the older girls got very excited and put her arms in the air and started yelling and jumping around. No more than ten seconds later, her younger brother, who is only 22 months, was doing the exact same thing! Another example would be when the kids are doing art activities: I've noticed that when one child draws a certain pattern, there is usually at least one other child trying to copy her (the specific example I have in my mind involved two girls, both 4 years old).

So...I decided that I wanted to know more about why kids were copying other kids.

The first thing I did was talk to my mom about what I had noticed. She told me that the technical term for this sort of copy-catting is imitation. Right off the bat, I had learned something new! Although I didn't find out exactly WHY children imitate one another, I did find some other information that I found quite interesting.

Imitation: the copying of patters of activity and though of other groups or individuals

Imitation starts right from birth. Babies learn to talk, stand and eventually walk all without formally being taught how so really, when you think about it, how else would they learn if they didn't copy what they see all around them? Another logical point is that, as children age and develop, their ability to imitate develops. Around 8 months, they only imitate simple actions and expressions at the time of the action, but around 18 months children are able to imitate actions with more than one step as well as simple actions that they observed earlier. Similarly, at 36 months, they are able to imitate more complex actions that they observed at an earlier time. As they get older (up until around 7 years old), children mimic almost everything in their environment. That means not only sounds and gestures, but also the attitudes and values of the people around them.

References

Imitation

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/imitation?&qsrc=

Waldorf Education- The Essential Phases Of Child Development

http://www.whywaldorfworks.org/02_W_Education/child_development.asp

Foundation: Imitation

http://www.cde.ca/gov/sp/cd/re/itf09cogdevfdimit.asp