Peekaboo

Two children playing peekaboo (1895 painting by Georgios Jakobides).

Peekaboo (also spelled peek-a-boo) is a game played primarily with babies. In the game, one player hides his or her face, pops back into the view of the other, and says Peekaboo!, sometimes followed by I see you! There are many variations: for example, where trees are involved, "Hiding behind that tree!" is sometimes added.

Peekaboo is thought by developmental psychologists to demonstrate an infant's inability to understand object permanence.^[1] Object permanence is an important stage of cognitive development for infants. Numerous tests regarding it have been done, usually involving a toy, and a crude barrier which is placed in front of the toy, and then removed, repeatedly. In early sensorimotor stages, the infant is completely unable to comprehend object permanence. Psychologist Jean Piaget conducted experiments with infants which led him to conclude that this awareness was typically achieved at eight to nine months of age. Infants before this age are too young to understand object permanence. A lack of Object Permanence can lead to A-not-B errors, where children reach for a thing at a place where it should not be.

See also

Look up peekaboo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Infant cognitive development

Further reading

• Bruner, J. S. & Sherwood, V. (1976). "Peek-a-boo and the learning of rule structures". In Bruner, J.; Jolly, A. & Sylva, K. Play: Its Role in Development and Evolution. Middlesex: Penguin. pp. 277–287. ISBN 0-14-081126-5. 

References

Children's games Clapping games "Down Down Baby" "Mary Mack" "Miss Susie" "Pease Porridge Hot" Guessing games Button, button, who's got the button? Hangman I spy Seven Up Twenty Questions Hand games Bloody knuckles Cat's cradle Hand-slap game Knucklebones Mercy Rock-paper-scissors String figures list Thumb war Hide-and-seek and tag Ante Over Capture the flag Four corners Kick the can Marco Polo Kho kho Baby games Fingerplays "Itsy Bitsy Spider" "Little Robin Redbreast" "This Little Piggy" Peekaboo Party games Hot potato Musical chairs Pin the tail on the donkey Simon Says Telephone/Chinese whispers Classroom and playground games British bulldogs Chinese jump rope Dodgeball Follow the leader Four square Hopscotch Hot lava Leapfrog Mother May I? Red Rover Skipping rope Double Dutch Statues Singing games and playground songs "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" Counting-out games Duck, duck, goose "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" "Tinker, Tailor" "Did You Ever See a Lassie?" "The Farmer in the Dell" "Here Comes an Old Soldier" "London Bridge" "The Muffin Man" "Mulberry Bush" "Pop Goes the Weasel" "Ring a Ring o' Roses" "See Saw Margery Daw" "Sea Lion Woman" Skipping-rope rhymes "Eeper Weeper" "Skip to My Lou" "The Song That Never Ends" Other Children's culture List of playground songs Street games Nursery rhymes (list) Video games