Imitation is the outward manifestation of imagery.
You can make it more difficult to challenge the infant who has made headway with the concept by hiding it under two or more pillows and later by switching the pillows around like the old “shell game.”
Imitation is both a sign of imagery (object permanence) and a tool to develop it.
Piaget notes that imitation is the outward manifestation of imagery. Encouraging the child to imitate exercises those neural process for imagery.
Patty-Cake and Peek-a-boo are also excellent activities for very young infants to facilitate the development of object permanence. Endless variants of these games can be created.
4. Symbolic Behavior: This is more of a process than it is a concept. It is, nevertheless, an important activity that we look for and try to facilitate in the first two years.