PARENTING TIP
Six Months to 1-Year
— Develop Your Baby’s
Brain with Peekaboo
by Cynthia Wilson James
Y
ou’ve played the game. You put
both of your hands or a light cloth
over your face. Your baby atten-
tively watches your every motion as
you say “I see you.” Before long you reveal
your smiling face behind your hands or the
cloth. Or your baby may place your hands
down from your face or remove the cloth as
you laugh. Without a second thought, you
say the familiar “Peekaboo I see you.”
Parents have probably played the
“Peekaboo” game with their little ones
for centuries. The majority of parents play
the game without realizing, according to
research, the game enhances brain develop-
ment in babies.
“Playing and connecting with our
babies gets their brain development going,”
says Roni Cohen Leiderman, Ph.D., dean
of the Mailman Segal Center for Human
Development at Nova Southeastern Univer-
sity and co-author of Let’s Play and Learn
Together. “Our love, attention, time, and
touch with our baby are the most important
parts of developmental activities. Everything
is underlined with parent-child interaction.”
Leiderman says fine motor skill devel-
opment and object permanence are learned
through Peekaboo.
According to leading child experts,
object permanence means that the baby
begins to understand that objects continue
to exist, even when they cannot directly
be seen, heard, or touched. The majority
of babies develop this concept between 6
months and a year old.
So the next time you play a game of
Peekaboo with your baby, don’t rush. Enjoy
the game because you’re boosting your
baby’s brain development!
Cynthia Wilson James is the founder of
InSeason Mom Blog.
www.himpowermagazine.com 27