Why Toddlers Love to Hide

Cause and Effect

• Your toddler will be learning the concept of cause and effect: his ability to change or influence what happens. The California Department of Education illustrates that most children start experimenting with this at around 18 months of age. Hiding is a great way for him to try this out because he knows he is making you look for him. He also feels in charge for a minute or two as he hears you searching for him, before making a noise or popping up when he wants you to find him. He is then able to make you surprised and happy as you find him.

Being Found

• Of course one of the joys of hide-and-seek is being found, and your toddler will delight in the feeling of joy and security as you find her and scoop her up in your arms for a big cuddle. She no doubt wants to keep hiding just so she can experience this feeling of reunion again and again. Shirah Vollmer, M.D., associate clinical professor of family medicine and psychiatry, says on the "Psychology Today" website that this feeling of being found makes her feel loved. She experienced this same thrill during games of peeka-boo as an infant, when your face reappeared, only now she is able to do the hiding.

Independence

• Up until now you will have done everything for your baby, but between the ages of 1 and 3 he will want to experience his first feelings of independence; this might be by feeding himself or even trying to put on his own shoes. Hiding is another safe way for him to test this, as it is one of the rare occasions he can go off and do something by himself. He will enjoy finding and waiting in his hiding place without you, safe in the knowledge that he can be apart from you without coming to any harm and knowing that you will find him very soon. He will want to keep testing this to reassure himself that you always get back together again after the separation.

Adventure

• She may hide in the same two or three places, but hide-and-seek is still a great adventure for your toddler. This is a game where she may be allowed to explore areas she would not normally go in -- the closet, under the bed or behind the couch. The game also allows her to have what she will see as her own little secret places, away from the rest of the big wide world; these places will become even more appealing as she starts to realize you are too big to fit into them. As quoted in an article on the Junior website, child psychologist Dorothy Einon says that toddlers often enjoy the security of being in a small place, perhaps because it is similar to the womb.

Rules

• Your toddler will enjoy playing hide-and-seek because it is a game with rules that he can easily learn and understand -- you hide and I will find you. Child development expert Alice Sterling Honig, Ph.D., says on the Scholastic website that children of this age delight in the interaction of playing a game together.