Kindergarten readiness is not just learning a package of information; after all, children are not robots. Instead, to help children become powerful learners we need to support them as they discover how to make sense of their world.
It seems like children already have some built-in learning strategies. As I was watching a baby less than a year old she was making a variety of sounds. As the family cat sauntered by, the baby meowed. Sounded just like the cat. Later, she went to visit a family with a small dog. The dog wasn’t sure what to do and growled at the baby that was sitting on the floor. Quite quickly, the baby changed her position from sitting to being on her hands and knees and growled too. She was imitating. No grownups had taught her that strategy. Fortunately, children’s brains seem to come already wired with this ability.
Imitating is a valuable learning skill. What are some ways to encourage kids to practice imitating? Play phones, dress-ups, kitchen sets, airplanes, doctor kits, and other toys promote imitating. Kids will imitate reading a story. Some games are appropriate for different ages such as patty cake, peek-a-boo, and all the way up to Simon Says. Movement activities done with an instructor and small groups of kids require lots of imitating. Sometimes, there are free community programs for parents and tots where kids have time for both free play and some structured see and do games.
Because April started with April Fool’s Day, I got the idea to write about how kids can help adults learn. As I thought about the strategy of imitating I realized that as adults we dismiss imitating as an easy skill; instead it is very powerful. Did you know that imitating is used in robotics to make programming more efficient? We usually think that children who are struggling with some activities are having difficulty with attention but it could also be that they are having problems imitating. Can you find some ways for your child today to play and practice imitating?