What is object permanence in babies?

Anna Martin

Object permanence sounds daunting

It sounds like a magic trick or a module in a physics class but the reality is it’s as simple as playing peekaboo with your baby.

Object permanence is just one of the many milestones your little one will reach within their first year of life – but what exactly is it?

What is object permanence?

Object permanence means that you know an object or person still exists even when they are hidden and you can’t see or hear them.

The concept was discovered by child psychologist, Jean Piaget, and is an important milestone in a baby’s brain development.

Before your infant can understand that out of sight doesn’t mean gone completely, they seem to believe the item just doesn’t exist anymore.

Once they start to learn, babies will begin to look for the toy they lost or seem unhappy that they don’t have it.

Developing object permanence is important because it’s the gateway to other types of symbolic understanding and reasoning, such as pretend play, memory development, and language development.

It requires you to have a mental representation of an object.

This concept of things and people in their world having permanence is also important for their emotional development, including developing attachments.

When does it start to develop?

According to recent research, babies start to understand object permanence pretty early on; between 4 and 7 months of age.

Most babies develop object permanence by the time they are 6 months to one year old.

This development milestone takes time for your baby to understand and doesn’t happen overnight just like when anyone tries to learn a new skill.

Your baby may also enjoy activities that test object permanence on some days but not on others.

How to practice object permanence?

There are plenty of fun ways to practice this cognitive skill and it doesn’t involve buying any fancy equipment – you might have even been doing some of these without knowing the benefits.

Classic peekaboo: You first cover your face with your hands, then remove your hands and call out “peekaboo!” cheerily with a smile.
Peekaboo with a toy: Take one of your baby’s toys, hold it behind you and then make it appear again.
Hiding and finding toys: While your baby is watching, place several layers of cloth or blankets over one of their favourite toys. When you’re done, encourage your baby to find the toy. As your baby learns to crawl, you can hide a few toys around the room. Let them watch you hide them.
Pop-up toys and books: These types of toys have the toy hidden from sight until the object pops up, and there are books with tabs you or your child can raise to show the hidden image.