It's one of the oldest, and simplest games you can play with your little one! It's surely as old as time itself, and is completely universal in its appeal...it was first recorded as being played all the way back in the 1520s!
When to start playing peekaboo?
There is no lower age limit to peekaboo. It has different benefits at different ages! As your baby gets older, you instinctively adapt the game to match baby's ability. In it's earliest version, the parent or carer can announce they are coming with their voice, before bringing their face into focus for the baby. As the baby gets older they start to enjoy hiding and reappearing (and once they can laugh aloud at around 3 months you'll reap the rewards!) and then after a year or so, baby can start to take control by hiding and reappearing themselves.
Why is peekaboo beneficial for your baby?
Before 8 months when object permanence begins to develop, when you leave the room, to them you could have disappeared forever. They don't yet understand that just because they can't see something, it still exists.
Peekaboo is a gentle, fun way to help develop this skill in your baby, and has been thought to help with separation anxiety.
Once your baby can play peekaboo themselves (at around 9-12 months) it also begins to help them with gross motor skills (finding their own eyes to cover/ pulling a blanket off their head) as well as strengthening visual tracking and carrying on developing the object permanence skill.
How to make peekaboo more interesting.
Babies and toddlers love repetition, but as adults it can make us begin to flag pretty fast. If you're wanting a way to make peekaboo more interesting you could start using a muslin, blanket or colourful scarf to cover yourself, your baby or a stuffed toy. Our song 'Peekaboo' is a great way to use music to play Peekaboo, and the video gets laughs from pre-schoolers as well as babies!
Does your little one love peekaboo? Do you have a favourite game? Let us know in the comments!