Playing peek-a-boo is a great way to encourage sustained social interaction, focussed and sustained attention, anticipation,  shared pleasure and requesting repetition using looks and gestures. 

Most people have their own favorite way to play the game and here I show some of the ways I play the game. 

Using your hands to cover your face

You can use your hands to cover your face. Keep your hands over your face while you use your voice to build some anticipation. I will usually say something like: Where's Pam, where is she?  Then I move my hands away and say: There she is!

If your face is close enough to the child, they may reach forwards and move your hands away from your face.

Toddlers will often join the game and hide their own face. Here you see Lily using a plastic lid to hide behind.

Peek-a-boo with a scarf

You can also hide your face under a cloth or scarf and either pull the cloth away yourself, or move you head closer to the child to allow them to pull the cloth off.

You can pull the scarf off slowly to increase anticipation and excitement. Remember to allow plenty of time for the child to respond.

This I a good game for encouraging the child to make requests, either verbally or using hand gestures for “more please”.

Young children sometimes indicate they want you to repeat the game by passing the scarf to the play partner.

Once the child has the idea of hiding under the scarf and pulling it off the play partner's head, try putting the scarf over the child's head and encouraging them to pull it off.

Video clip Will 8 months 
In this clip you see Will and I playing peek-a-boo using a with a scarf. 
Notice how I pace tge activity, am sensitive to Will's non-verbal cues  and use anticipation to maintain a level of excitement and sustained attention. 

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Tutorials: Enriched environments to enhance development 

Games to get infants engaging, exploring and participating 

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