At what age do babies develop object permanence?

If you've ever played peekaboo with your toddler, you've helped him work on object permanence. Your baby learns that people and objects exist, even if he can't see or hear them. Object permanence is one of the developmental milestones that your child will learn during the first year of life.

What is object permanence and why is it important?

Object permanence involves understanding that objects and people still exist, even if you cannot see or hear them. This concept was discovered by child psychologist Jean Piaget and is an important milestone in the development of the child's brain.

Before your child develops object permanence, things that disappear from his view disappear and do not exist from his point of view. For example, you may notice that when your child drops their favorite toy out of sight, they don't look around to find it. Once they begin to develop object permanence, they begin to look for the object or express their displeasure at its absence.

Developing object permanence is important because it is the first step to other types of symbolic understanding and reasoning, such as role playing, memory development, and speech development. This notion of the permanence of things and people in their world is also important for their emotional development, including the development of attachments.

When does object permanence occur?

Jean Piaget's research suggests that object permanence develops when a child is about eight months old. According to Piaget's Stages of Development, object permanence is the main focus of the sensorimotor stage.

However, more recent research suggests that children begin to understand object permanence between four and seven months of age.

This stage of development takes time for your child to understand and does not happen overnight. Your child may also enjoy doing object permanence activities on some days and not on others. This change is widespread.

What can you do to help your child develop object permanence?

Games like hide and seek are a fun way to help your child practice this cognitive skill. Activities, books, and games in which hidden objects appear nearby are good choices for developing object permanence. These games can also help your child begin to understand that even when things or people go away for a little while, they will come back.

What happens after object permanence develops?

Watching your child enjoy finding a hidden toy or playing hide and seek is exciting and fun. However, as your child learns about object permanence, you may notice other behavioral changes, such as separation anxiety.

Separation anxiety is an integral part of the developmental process of infants and toddlers. At this stage, they may be frightened or nervous about being separated from a parent or caregiver, and may cry when you leave.

This behavior starts to show because now your child knows that you exist, even if he cannot see you, and he is unhappy that you are not with him. This step is temporary. In time, you will be able to walk away from the baby without crying.

Object permanence is an important step

Understanding that people and objects still exist, even when they are not visible, is an important concept that your child will learn during the first year of life. Your little one will enjoy the object save action even after mastering this step.

So have fun playing hide and seek together. By playing these and other object permanence games, you will help your child's developing brain learn.