You can play this classic game with your baby in a few different ways, depending on their age. The article also suggested that peek-a-boo is a “perfect balance of what your baby knows about the world, what they are able to control, and what they are still surprised by.”

Piaget suggested that children “spent the first two years of their lives working out,” the article reported. Fisher notes that before babies hit 6 to 9 months of age, they don't comprehend that something hidden is actually still there and think that if they can't see something, it's gone forever.Īs far as how peek-a-boo affects a baby’s development, Fisher says it is a “demonstration of advancing development in the areas of cognition and visual cues, showing that ‘object permanence’ has been achieved.” According to a BBC Future article, the phenomenon of object permanence came from Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget. We held our daughter's third birthday yesterday a Peekaboo Playland and it was magical I would give them a million stars if I could. They start learning that even when something disappears, it can still be there, but hidden,” Posner explains.

This is why peek-a-boo is fun for them, and helps stimulate their brain. “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. Gina Posner, a pediatrician at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California, tells Romper this all has to do with “object permanence.' At about 6 months old, babies start realizing that things that are gone are not necessarily gone forever. Danelle Fisher, pediatrician and vice chair of pediatrics at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, tells Romper that babies love peek-a-boo because “they are interacting with a happy face and it's a game to them - the person disappears and reappears right away and they think it is funny.” So they do think we actually disappear! Dr. Why do babies love peek-a-boo? Do they really think we “disappear?' Is it all just the magic and surprise of us reappearing?ĭr. My favorite part about patty cake was at the end when my parents would “throw it in the pan” and they’d tickle my belly, but peek-a-boo, I’m not so sure. My parents told me that the two games I was obsessed with when I was a baby were patty cake and peek-a-boo.

Peak or peek a boo