Peekaboo! How playing this simple game can improve your baby’s brainpower

It goes without saying that peekaboo is a popular game among infants worldwide and a fantastic method to keep them entertained from an early age. However, as they wait for their turn to respond, did you realize that this simple activity can have a significant impact on their early language development and even improve your baby’s brainpower? One could argue that this pattern of waiting and responding is an early example of conversation. Here’s how it helps:

A great game for emotional and cognitive growth is peekaboo. It's amazing how a game this basic can have such a big impact on a baby's developing brain. A baby's cognitive growth is greatly aided by peekaboo, which appears to be a straightforward game of concealing and exposing faces. The idea that things exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched is known as object permanence. A baby may act as though a toy doesn't exist if you keep it out of their line of sight before object permanence develops.

Understanding that things exist and that things happen outside of me is the primary growth at this initial stage. That is, my universe doesn't only revolve around myself!
The infant is in the present at this sensorimotor developmental stage. He or she lacks a sense of permanency because they do not yet have a mental image of the world recorded in memory. Put another way, a child believes that something doesn't exist if they are unable to see it.



Peekaboo serves as a cognitive development exercise in addition to being a game. Although it is startling when a caregiver's face appears out of nowhere, babies eventually learn to expect it.

Visual tracking is the process of observing how hands or faces move.
Memory: Recalling the item or face that is hidden.
Predicting the "boo" moment with pattern recognition and prediction.
Emotional Control: Acquiring the ability to control happiness and surprise.


Peekaboo promotes emotional development in addition to cognitive development. You are gaining the child's trust by constantly coming out after hiding behind your hands. The infant gains confidence in you, which lays the groundwork for stable attachment, which is essential for a child to develop positive relationships in the future. Games that foster trust, like peekaboo, provide kids a sense of security and understanding, which promotes socialization and emotional control.