Is the concept that something is still there even when it is hidden out of sight and that explains why the game peek-a-boo is so much fun for babies?

Have you ever wondered why babies love peek-a-boo so much? As it turns out, there’s an actual scientific answer to this question.

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When to Play Peekaboo with Your Child?
How Does Playing Peekaboo Help Your Baby?
Peekaboo stimulates a baby’s senses and cognitive development
How to Play Peekaboo with Your Baby (Infant & Toddler)?
Why should babies play peekaboo?
When do babies play peekaboo?

Between four and seven months old, babies start to discover something called “object permanence,” according to the American Academy of Pediatrics’ HealthyChildren.org website. This cognitive development allows infants to understand that objects continue to exist, even if they can’t see them anymore.

photo: Esudroff via Pixabay

This also happens around the same time as the start of separation anxiety. Now that baby knows you actually exist after daycare drop-off happens, it’s very possible that the “I miss mom” crying phase will take hold. Even though the object permanence can usher in an era of separation-induced tantrums, it also makes your baby more likely to enjoy games, including peek-a-boo!

According to Dr. Gina Posner, a pediatrician at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California, in an interview with Romper, “Object permanence is a concept that something that is out of sight (i.e., covered) is still there even though they can’t see it. This is why peek-a-boo is fun for them, and helps stimulate their brain. They start learning that even when something disappears, it can still be there, but hidden.”

So go ahead and play peek-a-boo all day long—it just might help their development!

—Erica Loop

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Peekaboo is a classic game for infants and toddlers, played across the world and across cultures. Playing peekaboo with babies enhances their sensory capabilities. According to the Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget, “Object Permanence” is something that a child learns in the first two years of her life. That’s why when we drop something and it goes rolling under a table, we are certain that the object still exists, although we cannot see it. This is something we figured out in the first two years of our lives.

The sensory capacities of hearing, smell, sight, taste and touch rapidly develop during the first few years of life. The sensory tools help a child adjust to her surroundings but the child has to learn to do much more.

Rohini Vij explains How & Why to Play Peekaboo with Your Baby / Toddler

When to Play Peekaboo with Your Child?

You can start playing peekaboo with your newborn baby and continue to play till the baby loses interest or has developed motor, gross and sensory skills for more advanced play. In general, peekaboo can be played with newborns and toddlers. Research suggests that 4 to 5 months old babies begin to develop object permanence.

How Does Playing Peekaboo Help Your Baby?

Peekaboo stimulates a baby’s senses and cognitive development

Peek-a-boo is a game that can work differently at different stages of your baby’s development. Some senses, like touch and hearing, are fully developed at birth. Others, such as sight, take several months to mature. When you play the game with a very young baby, the game stimulates hearing and touch and strengthens visual tracking. As the baby grows up the game elicits a response and works towards enhancing language development too. When you play the game over and over again, using different mediums, for example, sometimes with a scarf, sometimes with your hands, sometimes simply by hiding behind a cushion, the baby begins to recognize a trend and predictability. This encourages cognitive development in the child too.

Builds gross and fine motor skills

When you play the game with very young children, they make an effort to reach out, this indeed is the beginning of motor skill development. When the game is played with a toddler it elicits movement and works towards improving their balance, agility and coordination.

Encourages early language development

When you play the game with a very young baby, it marks the beginning of language development, bonding, use of words and early conversations. The baby hears words followed by an action. Gradually the baby starts imitating you and this fosters language development. The baby learns meaningful actions followed by an instruction, for example, when the parent says, ‘Now let’s hide the teddy’ or ‘Where is mummy? Ah, here she is!’ or ‘Boo’, there is an action followed by the speech. This is how the foundation for language is set.

Encourages social development

When the game is played with very young babies they experience a variety of emotions such as surprise, happiness, anticipation, excitement and of course happiness. These emotions are foundation stones in their social emotional development.

When the game is played with toddlers, it encourages children to take turns, play with others, build their confidence and patience, independence and the ability to entertain oneself (you may find them playing this game alone with their toys).

Tickles a child’s sense of humor

Smiles, squeals and laughter are a form of early communication. The game encourages children to start seeing the funny side. They begin to understand how the activity is being performed to elicit a few laughs from them. Laughter is also an invaluable cornerstone for developing their ability to interact with others.

Object permanence

For very young babies, if something or someone is hidden they are not there. The game plays a massive role in helping the child that even though they can’t see the thing or person, it’s there.

When you are hidden behind the scarf, the child can’t see you but when you re-appear the child feels comforted that you are there. When you do this several times, the child figures out that even though she can’t see you, your smiling face is right behind the scarf. This plays an enormous part in building the social-emotional skills of a child, enhancing the child’s confidence and trust. This is also laying a foundation for their cognitive development. So remember, it may be a very simple game but that little brain is upto a lot of work!

How to Play Peekaboo with Your Baby (Infant & Toddler)?

You can play it in its most simple version by covering your face with your hands and saying ‘peek’ and removing your hands and saying ‘a-boo’.

You may also make it elaborate by using a scarf and some stuffed toys too.

Here’s what you can do:

Place the child in a safe space. The floor, on a rug, is usually a safe place for toddlers. You could do this with little babies on the bed and cot too.

You will need with you:

A stuffed toy
A towel/scarf
Another toy – could be a rattle or even a book

Place the stuffed toy in front of the child in plain sight. Now start with peek-a-boo

First, take the scarf and cover your face. Say peek-a-boo…

Now put the scarf on the teddy bear and say peek-a-boo again and pull off the scarf. Encourage the child to join in with you.

Now take the scarf and cover the rattle/book and sing the song. Wait for the baby to react. Does the baby attempt to remove the scarf? If not, encourage the child to do the same. Repeat this game as many times as you like. At some point, the baby will start copying you. Then you may cover the baby’s face with the scarf too and encourage some drama.

Games have also been found to change the brain structurally and functionally, according to many scientific studies. They can promote neurogenesis — the growth of new neurons in the brains. They can also promote neuroplasticity — changes in neural pathways and synapses that lead to structural changes in the brain.

Peekaboo, I see you! The classic game of peekaboo teaches so much more than anyone could guess from how simple it is. It’s free and easy, and it builds so much in your baby’s brain each time you play. But what if they’re not interested? We’ll go over when babies peekaboo and when to worry if they don’t.

Why should babies play peekaboo?

Babies gain a lot from the seemingly simple game:

Visual stimulation creates new brain cell connections, and the repetition strengthens them.
They learn socially about taking turns, eye contact, smiling, and give-and-take.
The game builds gross motor skills and strengthens visual tracking.
Laughing enhances learning (one survey showed peekaboo is the best way to make babies laugh around the world).
Peekaboo develops the idea of object permanence, the idea that something out of sight is still there.
It gives them an adult’s undivided attention.
It builds trust that you always come back.

“It’s a fun game, it’s a joyful game, but it’s actually getting at an emotional core for the toddler,” says Tovah Klein, director of the Barnard College Center for Toddler Development and author of How Toddlers Thrive. “They’re saying to the child, ‘I’m here for you every time you leave. I’m not going away.’” It can actually be used to rebuild trust with traumatized children.

Seeing your smiling face come out from behind your hands is so simple but your smiling face looking at theirs is one of the most important and beneficial foundations for your baby’s development. Even without all of the other benefits, this one alone makes it worth it.

When do babies play peekaboo?

Babies can love peekaboo even from a newborn stage and all the way up through being a toddler. The concept of object permanence develops anywhere from 4 to 12 months old, and the idea that you’re really “gone” will begin to fade then. However, waiting for you to come out of hiding is still fun even if they don’t think you’ve truly disappeared anymore. Their love of the game can stay throughout the whole time they begin to grasp the concept and trying to figure out if you’re really gone or not is part of the fun.

Even without the idea of object permanence, babies love the surprised and smiling expression you make when you pop out. Reactions to facial expressions begin around 3 months old.

Babies’ reactions to peekaboo develop as they do. At three months old or less, they may smile or coo at you when you play. At 3-6 months old, a baby can begin to visually follow your face where it reappears. At 6-9 months old, they may laugh at the game, and at 9+ months old, they may imitate or initiate the game.

Like with all milestones, expected ages are just averages and guidelines to give you a general idea, not a rule. If a baby isn’t reacting to facial expressions on the day they turn 3 months old, it’s no reason to panic. It becomes more of a cause for concern when months and months beyond the milestone guideline age pass and the baby is still not showing any interest.

Not playing peekaboo is not a reason to call the pediatrician between check-ups, but you can definitely bring it up with your baby’s doctor the next time you go if you are concerned.

Babies can begin laughing around 4 months old, but if they aren’t, don’t automatically worry. Babies all develop on their own time but discuss any missed milestones like this with your pediatrician.

Unlike a physical milestone like walking, laughing is about personality, and some kids are naturally serious. Some babies may never show interest in peekaboo just because they prefer other games and that can be chalked up to individuality.

Not showing an interest in peekaboo isn’t necessarily a reason to worry on its own, but you and your pediatrician will look at your whole child and see if it fits with other personality traits and parts of their development that all added together could help hint at a future diagnosis. Not playing peekaboo on its own cannot lead to any diagnosis without other contributing factors. If you have any cause for concern, always consult your pediatrician.