DIY Personalized Peek A Boo Book

This post is made possible with support from the Association of University Centers on Disabilities through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” program.

All opinions are my own.

Peek A Boo is probably the first game my kids learned how to play. I can still hear their laughs and the giggles once they had an “aha” she’s playing with me moment. It’s pretty funny because at first, Zoe thought I disappeared behind my hands and two years later, Baby E thought the same thing. But the aha moments soon led to each of them playing peek a boo with me, with each other and with anyone else willing to play.

I still remember feeling relieved when my kids started playing peek a boo. Reading over the milestones lists can surely make a new mom feel overwhelmed and nervous if their kids were not doing certain things by a certain milestone age. I was the mom that read the CDC website, discussions on mommy forums and called our pediatrician more times than I care to admit. I think this is common for all moms but all the advanced maternal age and high-risk talk I survived, spilled over into me worrying about if my age or health issues affected my kid’s development post birth. So milestone markers like playing peek a boo were fun but also a relief for this worried mom.

Baby E was particularly funny with peek a boo. He loved to use hold my hands and covering my face with them. By around 9 months old, peek a boo was a part of our daily routine. I would take a piece of paper and cover pages in his picture books so we could play peek a boo along with the story. And that’s how this DIY Personalized Peek A Boo Book idea came to life.

If you’re anything like me, you take a ton of pictures of your kids. Those beautiful pictures end up living on your phone, on your hard drive or hanging out somewhere in the cloud with all the other moments. But this year, I’ve decided to print some of these pictures and make art projects with the kids. A personalized peek a boo book is a fun project that even the youngest artist can help with. Baby E started experimenting with painting a coloring with me by his side at around 6 months. Some of his artwork brings, even more, life to the pages of his personalized peek a boo book.

Here’s how to make this book with kids. It’s fun and you can add to it celebrating more milestones along the way.

DIY Personalized Peek A Boo Book

Supplies

• Pictures
• Poster board
• Paint or crayons
• Scissor
• Felt & construction paper
• Glue or tape

Instructions

• Let your child create their little masterpieces on the pages you will use for the book. Keep a few pages blank so you can add your own notes or memories to them. If using paint, let the pages dry before continuing on.
• Select and print your favorite pictures to add to the book.
• Once the masterpiece pages have dried, fold them in half.
• Using glue or tape, attach pictures to each page of the book. 
• Glue felt or paper cut out on the top, side or bottom of each picture. Babies will enjoy the textures and  flipping the pieces in different directions. 
• Use a stapler to bind book together
• Add pages as time goes on to make a fun memory book.

You can make the DIY personalized peek a boo book theme specific like monthly “birthdays”, milestone achievements and even body part specific for learning fun. Use the CDC’s Milestones Tracker tools to mark milestones in your memory book. The site features checklists, videos and activity ideas for meeting milestones. It’s a great way to calm any fears you have and to know what to do if you have any concerns about your child’s development.

Baby E still enjoys saying peek a boo “me” or “baby” when he flips through his book. We have added pages from his first two years of life in the book and plan to continue on so it becomes a keepsake later on in life. Hello, LOL moments at his future graduations, birthdays and engagement party.

You order a free “Parent Kit”“Parent Kit” from the CDC to track growth and milestones and tech savvy moms can download the CDC’s Milestones Tracker App.

Did you worry about your baby meeting their milestones? Which milestones were the most fun for you and your baby?