Peek-a-boo is one of the most known baby games, the one all adults have on the top of their mind when they want to get a smile out of a baby’s face. Why is it so popular? What’s the big deal about peek-a-boo? Well, it’s more than just a silly game. It’s a great resource to bond with your baby while you stimulate their cognitive development, plus, it’s easy! All it takes is your undivided attention and something to cover your face with. Playing peek-a-boo can have a big impact on your baby’s cognitive, social and emotional development. Let’s go through the different ages and benefits of playing peek-a-boo with your little one.
1 to 3 months
You can start playing peek-a-boo with your baby as soon as they can focus their eyes, usually around 2-3 months old. At this age, they can already recognize faces (it’s one of their favorite things to look at, too!) and they’ll enjoy watching your face disappear and reappear.
Benefits
- Stimulates vision
- Practice on focusing on an object
- Bonding
Ways to play
- Place yourself close to your baby in such a way your face is around 10 inches away from their eyes, and wait for them to focus on your face. Then, slowly and gently, move your face from one side to the other, to see if your baby tracks your face.
- Towards 3 months old, you can disappear from their line of sight and pop in! You can say whatever feels natural like “boop!”, “peek-a-boo”, “mama!”, “hi!”, for example.
4 to 9 months
Between 4 and 9 months is the peak of enjoyment of peek-a-boo for babies. This is the time when you will finally get your little one to giggle and have a back-and-forth game going. This is because in this age range, they start to develop object permanence, the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they can’t be seen.
Benefits
- It helps them understand object permanence (cognitive skills).
- It promotes social interaction and helps your baby learn to trust and bond with you (social and emotional skills).
Ways to play
- Cover your face with your hands or a blanket and then uncover it, saying “Peek-a-boo!”
- Hide a toy under a blanket or basket and then reveal it.
- Hide behind a door or wall and then pop out.
- Cover your baby’s face with your hands or blanket, pretend like you can’t see them, uncover and act surprised!
10+ months:
Peek-a-boo will continue to be fun for quite a while! As babies get older, they may start to initiate the game themselves, adding their own unique touches. It evolves into more of a hide-and-seek type of game where they might hide their whole body, or enjoy the surprise of you popping out from a hiding place.
Benefits
- It encourages babbling and can help them learn new words and sounds (language development).
- Putting up the blanket and pulling it down helps their coordination (motor development).
- hide-and-seek promotes crawling, squatting, walking and running.
Ways to play
- Hide objects under a blanket or other object and then reveal it.
- Hide objects around the room or house
- Hide-and-seek
- Peek-a-boo in the dark with a flashlight
- Hide your baby or toddler under a blanket and pretend you can’t see them, uncover them and act surprised!
