Hide and seek can be a little scary for young children, so introduce it slowly by first hiding items such as stuffed animals around the room and having the children look for them. For example, tell the children to close their eyes, and then hide a toy elephant somewhere in the classroom (don’t hide it too well!). Ask the kids, “Where is the elephant?” Help them understand the game by pretending to look for the elephant, saying to yourself, “Where is the elephant? Where is the elephant?” After you’ve tried this a few times, have the children hide the object while you cover your eyes.
You may want to read some picture books with hidden objects first. Try reading “Where’s Spot?” “Where’s Maisy?” and “Where’s Maisy’s Panda?” to get the children used to hiding and looking for something. When you feel the children are ready, tell them to hide. Make sure you have some places for them to hide! If there is nothing for them to hide behind, bring some towels or blankets to class and scatter them around the room.
While playing Hide and Seek try to use words such as “closer,” “nearer” and “farther away” to describe how far away the object or person is that your child is trying to find. Likewise, saying things like “hotter” when they are close to the person, or “colder” when your little one is farther away will teach them the concept of distance. This will allow your little one to develop the language of location and of distance.
Some psychologists think that by as early as 3 months old your baby will begin to understand that things still exist even when they cannot see them. This is called “object permanence” and is a vital milestone in the way your baby understands the world. You can play games where you hide toys or balls under a cup or hat and then allow your baby to ‘find’ the hidden toy.
They love to lift and move the obstacle to find the toy that they know is there.This will show you that they understand object permanence. Peekaboo is a social variant of this game where you hide your face and then abruptly reappear. Your baby loves to look at your face and is thrilled to see you reappear when you disappear.
Peekaboo helps your baby to learn that even when they cannot see you, you still exist. This is a very important concept for when you need to leave your baby with somebody else whether you are having a shower or going to work. Here below you can see some really funny pictures 5elected from the web, of hidden kids. Take some pictures of your kids too… they will like them to remember once they grow.