Imitation and imagination

We all know the scene: a child, wrapped in his or her own imaginary world, fights off aliens while flying through space on a rocket made from an empty box. But could such flights of fancy be critical to humanity as we know it?

For children between two and seven years old this may have been an important step. Here’s why.

A cornerstone of human cumulative culture is our overwhelming propensity for copying what others do. Research has shown that children will imitate extended action sequences shown to them by an adult, even if those actions clearly serve no functional purpose.  This is important given that children grow up in environments saturated with tools and objects they must learn to use, adopting a strategy based around exact copying may have fewer costs than attempting to selectively choose relevant components.
 
But copying everything others do won’t allow anything new to be created. Fundamental to our progression as a species is our capacity for invention. We are constantly developing new ways of doing things – and constantly providing new answers to questions that once seemed beyond our reach.  Our capacity for creative thinking sets us apart. But it doesn’t just emerge in us as adults. It very likely finds its origin in the imaginative play that children engage in from very early in life.
 
When children play they pretend – they let their imaginations run wild. Without this glorious period of child play in which the imaginative mind can flourish, it’s hard to see how such a mind could emerge at all.  So we have two core traits that seem necessary for cumulative culture to emerge – a tendency for copying others with high fidelity, and time for play. Both of these are laid down when we are children.  So it may be the mind that gives rise to cumulative culture emerges only after being first established in the mind of the developing child.
 
In sum, imitation and pretend play are critical developmental domains in the evolution of human cumulative culture.  So next time you see a little one being a copycat or pretending to be an astronaut, take the time to reflect that, without these things happening, we may have never got to the moon.
 
The sight of children playing in the streets seems to be long gone in many parts of Western Europe, but the wane of outdoor play also means losing many of the learning benefits. 

The great outdoors is one of the oldest play places in the world, where children play some of the most interesting games. Playing outside today is rare as children: spend more time indoors in front of the television or computer and being taken everywhere in the car. 

The fun of outdoor play 

Besides being out in the fresh air, one of the big benefits of outdoor play versus indoor play is being free from parental and adult constraints. One theory says all the taunts, calls, rhymes and teasing that go on when adults aren't around actually give children the chance to:

• understand complex speech and language patterns like phonology, lexis, grammar and syntax
• develop more complex skills around friendships and social engagement
  
• encourage young children to play outside at least once a day - even when the weather is bad - children need to experience all types of weather, so don't allow bad weather to stop. Just dress appropriately.