When a child knows something still exists even if it is out of sight which skill has been developed?

As your baby grows physically, she’s also gaining knowledge and coming to understand how the world around her works. One of the cognitive skills your baby will develop in her first year is understanding the concept of object permanence. Learn what exactly object permanence is and how you can help foster your baby’s understanding of it. You may be delighted to know that you’ll be playing lots of peek-a-boo!

What Is Object Permanence?

Object permanence is the concept that objects continue to exist even when they’re not in sight. Early on, babies don’t yet have the cognitive skills to understand that what they can’t see still exists. For young infants, the world around them contains only what they can see in front of them at any given moment. For example, if you were to leave your baby’s room, she may assume you’ve vanished into thin air. The same goes for concealing objects, such as when you cover a toy with a blanket. She will think the toy has disappeared forever. In time, your baby will begin to understand that you still exist even if she can’t see you, and that a hidden toy is still there under the blanket.

When Do Babies Start to Grasp Object Permanence?

Your baby will begin to understand the concept of object permanence when she is around 7 or 8 months old. You can tell that your baby is starting to understand object permanence if she starts looking around for a toy you've just hidden. Separation anxiety usually starts around this time, too. That’s when your baby may "cling" to you and may fuss and cry especially when you leave her sight or go away. In a way, separation anxiety is related to your baby not full understanding object permanence. With separation anxiety, your baby most likely will be in great distress when you leave the room because she doesn’t know that you’ll come back. Once she understands the concept of object permanence, she’ll know that she can expect your return, and she may even cry less while you’re away.

When Do Babies Have a Complete Understanding of Object Permanence?

At around 10 months old, your baby will most likely have a full understanding of the concept of object permanence. For example, if you hide a toy underneath a blanket, he’ll know to pick up the blanket and look for the toy. And if you hide the toy and then remove it from its hiding place and hide it someplace else, he will assume it still exists and will keep looking for it.

How Can You Help Your Baby Learn the Concept of Object Permanence?

Object permanence is a natural part of your baby’s cognitive development, and your little one will come to learn that objects continue to exist even when he can’t see them. You can help foster this aspect of cognitive development by playing hiding games like peek-a-boo and hide-and-seek, or by hiding and revealing objects. When your baby starts to understand object permanence — around 7 or 8 months old — try this simple game: Hide a favorite toy underneath a blanket, and when she’s looking away, remove it. Your baby may be puzzled as to where the toy went. Keep doing this game and eventually — closer to 10 months old — she’ll search for the missing toy, knowing it exists even though it’s not clearly visible. At this point, she'll have a fuller understanding of this concept. As your baby observes all the things that happen in the household, such as the comings and goings of siblings, parents, and pets, the concept of object permanence will become reinforced.

Is Peek-a-Boo an Example of Object Permanence?

Peek-a-boo is actually a great example of a game that can help your baby understand the concept of object permanence. You could also play other similar games with your baby. For example, during diapering hide your face with your hands, and then reveal your smiling face.

The Bottom Line

Seeing your baby grow and develop is a wonderful thing. There’s so much for your little one to learn about in the world. It’s incredible to watch your baby’s horizons expanding at breakneck speed. The concept of object permanence is just one of important things your baby is learning during this time, and it’s something you can help along. Try playing hide-and-seek with a favorite toy or peek-a-boo to help encourage your baby’s development. In time, your baby will learn that the toy hasn’t disappeared for good, and that mommy and daddy will always return.

Babies have so much to learn — not only the world but also how their own little body and brain works — that it’s a good thing they aren’t aware of it. Otherwise, we’d have a lot of overwhelmed and stressed infants among us (join the club, kiddos). In addition to figuring out how to communicate by talking instead of crying uncontrollably, there are so many other parts of a baby’s cognitive development. This includes the idea of object permanence.

Even if you aren’t familiar with the term itself, it’s probably something you’ve seen in action. One example? During a round of peek-a-boo with a little one. Understandably, you may still have questions. So, here’s what to know about object permanence, including its definition and the age it develops.

Looking for more ways to understand your baby? Check out our pages on baby fullness, hunger cues, and relieving baby gas.

What is object permanence?

To break it down to its most basic definition, object permanence is the understanding that when an object, person (or persons, like parents), pet, etc. is out of sight, it doesn’t mean that it has ceased to exist completely. This is something babies have to learn, and it’s an important milestone in their cognitive development. Let’s go back to the example of peek-a-boo. Before developing object permanence, a baby might cry or become visibly upset when their toy or the face of a loved one suddenly disappears. To them, it’s gone forever. But when the toy or person reappears, they have the opportunity to learn that something that is out of sight isn’t necessarily gone forever.

Object permanence is one aspect of psychologist Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Specifically, it is part of the sensorimotor stage of development, which lasts from birth until around age two. Piaget thought that children understand the world through their motor skills — including touch, vision, taste, and movement — and object permanence is an important part of that. This is because babies are essentially tiny egomaniacs. It’s funny because it’s true! They don’t understand that the world doesn’t revolve around them, or that it even exists beyond what they experience themselves. In order to overcome that, they have to develop a mental representation of an object after it has been taken away to get a grasp on the fact that it still exists.

What are schemas?

Per Merriam-Webster, a schema is defined as “a mental codification of experience that includes a particular organized way of perceiving cognitively and responding to a complex situation or set of stimuli.” OK, admittedly, that sounds like… a lot. But we can put it more simply! Remember that “mental representation” we talked about above? That’s the gist of schemas. They are mental pictures. In the context of this article, they’re mental images your baby has of things in their world, like a bottle for food.

When does object permanence develop?

Like any of the other aspects of a baby’s cognitive development, it’s important to keep in mind that all children are different and develop at their own pace. Having said that, there is a general timeline, and Piaget had some thoughts on this too. In his own theory of cognitive development — which was first published in 1936 — Piaget suggested that object permanence doesn’t typically begin until a baby is around eight months old. But after several additional decades of research, psychologists now think this happens a little earlier. Specifically, they believe it happens between the ages of four and seven months.

Not only that, but this part of the development process begins when a child is around two months or three months in age, when they’re starting to recognize faces and objects. And like many cognitive milestones, object permanence doesn’t just start one day, like flipping on a light switch, and immediately become part of your baby’s brain’s repertoire. It takes some time for this concept to really sink in.

What are object permanence games?

If you’d like to teach your kid about object permanence, we all know the game peek-a-boo, but here are several other activities your nugget will love. Surprise your baby with your reappearance using more than just your hands!

Outdoor peek-a-boo

This is like next-level peek-a-boo. The next time you and your dumpling are outside, hide behind an umbrella or wall and pop out to reassure your baby that you’re there.

Hide toys

You can do the same trick with their toys. Make it hard for your child to locate their toys. This shows your kid that just because something isn’t in the spot they left it, does not mean it’s gone forever.

Put a ball under a cup

Set out three cups and put one ball under one cup. Then switch the cups around. In front of your baby, lift each cup so they can see what’s underneath each one.

Hide a toy in a box

Put a toy in an opaque box. Then take the object out of the box and show it to your baby. Allow them to see the object in the box and then show it to them from an angle where they cannot see the toy.

What does object permanence look like to a child with ADHD?

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have a unique relationship to object permanence. They enjoy the game of peek-a-boo just as much as the next kid and understand things exist even when you can no longer see them. However, when they no longer see the object, they do not know or really consider when it is. Unfortunately, this can affect their organizational skills. For example, when they can’t find a misplaced bookbag, although they know it exists, they won’t feel the need to look for it because they no longer see it. Their relationship to object permanence is best described by the phrase, “out of sight, out of mind.”

This article was originally published on Dec. 9, 2020

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