FM.C Object Permanence

This sequence is concerned with the conceptual side of Fine Motor development. It is a short sequence, but a very important one – and one that is fun to teach and learn!

In the very earliest stage of development, out of sight is out of mind. When an object disappears from view, the young baby behaves as if it no longer exists. For him, the only ‘real’ things are the things he is seeing right now.

Gradually the baby begins to realise that things continue to exist once they are out of sight. He is learning the concept of object permanence. This is the beginning of what we recognise as memory and is the basis for later memory training

We will present just 6 skills here, but you will invent many games of your own to develop your child’s concept of object permanence. Look in the Personal and Social Sequences, too, for ways to involve people in your object permanence teaching, through games of peek-a-boo (PS.A.10,14).

Below we list all the skills in this sequence.