Learning by viewing - Insights from the Babylab
Toy manufacturers integrate research findings into their product development
How do babies perceive the world? What do babies think about the world? How do they make the world their own? And how do researchers study the mind and thinking of a tiny human being who cannot speak and is unable to follow instructions?
Babies’ brains grow and develop at a breathtaking pace. One of the first to focus on this insight was the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget. He developed the theory that babies possess the equipment to actively acquire knowledge. Scientific research on infants was advanced further in the early 1960s by American developmental psychologist Robert Fantz. He studied how long babies looked at something and how much attention they paid to the object observed. For example, a two-month-old baby looks twice as long at a drawing of a human face as at a target.
Such insights are now part of the standard repertoire of the researchers who work in so‑called „Babylabs“ worldwide, using state‑of‑the‑art methods to gain the best view yet into the developing brain. One of them is developmental psychologist Prof. Dr. Gert Westermann. He teaches at Lancaster University, UK. His research focus: curiosity‑driven learning.
Interview with Prof. Dr. Gert Westermann
Prof. Dr. Westermann, one of your most important findings is that babies learn primarily driven by curiosity. Is this approach different from earlier research results?
Jean Piaget showed in the middle of the last century how young children construct their own knowledge from intrinsic motivation. Today we have methods to examine precisely how curiosity influences learning behavior, what generates curiosity and how babies explore their world in detail. In infant research, a lot of work involves presenting stimuli to children without giving them the opportunity to choose themselves. This approach is valuable and has given us many important finding, but it doesn’t tell us how babies choose what to engage with and how they actively control their own learning.
Multimodal learning is also a focus of your research. What is meant by this and how can this type of learning be actively encouraged?
It means that the child takes in information through different sensory channels: seeing, hearing, touching and also social cues. That can make learning easier because the information is connected across these channels. If you talk a lot to babies and engage with them and with objects such as toys together, that is good support.
Your findings are immensely important for companies that develop toys for babies. The company Ravensburger, for example, relied on your research when developing the Play+ baby line. How intensively were you involved in the development process?
That was not specifically my research, but rather the general findings we have gained about babies, their preferences and how they learn. I am one of many who contribute to this field. At the largest conference of infant researchers (ICIS – International Congress of Infant Studies - The origins) roughly 1,000 scientists at all career stages meet every two years to exchange the latest findings. I have discussed new concepts with Ravensburger’s product designers a few times, but I was not directly involved in the development of Play+. Nevertheless, I was impressed by how well thought‑through the whole concept is and what great toys they are. The company really put thought into this and integrated current research findings into development.
ICIS is committed to improving the understanding of infant learning and development worldwide by creating, disseminating and promoting cutting‑edge scientific findings. The vision is a world in which policies and practices affecting infants are based on scientific knowledge about infant learning and development so that all infants can thrive optimally in supportive environments.
The next congress will take place from 6–9 July 2026 in Panama City.
Are you frequently consulted as an expert because companies are increasingly keen to offer really good toys for this very young age group?
I believe companies today really put more value on understanding what babies want. But to do that they must know what babies at certain ages are already capable of. For example, a toy for a six‑month‑old that requires fine motor skills might not be suitable for that certain age group.
In the past, baby toys, as it seems to me, were mainly intended to entertain. Rattles, beeps, squeaks, to pacify the baby for a while. Now they have to do more. How should the fun factor and the learning factor be balanced when developing (baby) toys?
Well, fun is not a bad thing. Such toys can also promote multimodal learning. Of course, it can also become too much and lead to sensory overload, and then the baby becomes cranky. Screens, for example, are often unfortunately used to keep babies quiet, but that is less conductive to concentration and learning. I would say: a highly didactic toy that the child does not enjoy will not become a favorite. At home, our favorite toys were the wooden train set and the marble run to build ourselves. Both provided years of fun and creativity.
For baby toy designers, color choices are extremely important. Parents often reach for pastel or nude tones. Which colors would babies choose if they could, and why?
That’s a good point: babies are different from parents and have other preferences. I would say that pastel colors do not harm babie. But because infants perceive high‑contrast colors particularly well, they would probably prefer primary colors like bright red and vivid yellow.
You live in Lancaster, UK. Have you noticed a big difference in the purchasing decisions of young parents compared with Germany or—globally—other countries?
Of course there are cultural differences, even within cultures. Some toy shops still have the pink girls’ section and the blue boys’ section, and the price parents are willing to pay for good toys also varies individually. I know education‑oriented parents who bombard their babies with flashcards and then claim the child can already read at two. I would say: you can also train pigeons to recognise words (study from the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand), but that has nothing to do with reading. Children thrive best when their parents are lovingly attentive; everything else is of secondary importance.
About the study “Orthographic Processing in Pigeons”
What are you currently researching and working on? Will there be new, surprising findings in the field of early childhood?
With ‘surprising’ findings it’s often the case that they later turn out to be wrong. In my team we are currently investigating whether the mechanisms of curiosity and active knowledge acquisition change in the first years of life. For example, whether children, as they grow older, increasingly search for information in a more targeted way and what influence brain development has on this. I am also involved in a large multinational project called „ManyBabies“. We want to develop methods to better measure and understand curiosity in young children. For example, we ask what roles novelty, surprise, unpredictability and uncertainty—each subtly different—play as causes of curiosity. We are also studying cross‑culturally with teams in Japan, China and other countries whether there are differences in how positively parents evaluate their children’s ‘curious’ behavior.
ManyBabies is a large‑scale global collaborative project in developmental research that brings together researchers from around the world. The aim is to address some of the most fundamental theoretical and methodological questions that underpin much of developmental science.
Toys are cultural goods. They reflect technical and social developments. In which areas have the most profound changes occurred?
You sometimes hear: “We used to play with sticks and stones, so we didn’t need all that plastic.” Of course you can do great things with sticks and stones, but well‑designed modern toys also have many advantages. Imagination, creativity and learning can take many forms. I would say the most profound changes have been driven by plastic, because it is easier to shape and colour, by electronics, because they can respond to the child in various ways (for example, a song when a button is pressed) and by complexity (for example, construction kits). But many toys like plush animals and figures are timeless.
Finally, I don’t ask you as a scientist but as the father of two children: How important is the aspect of learning in general and specifically at this early age to a parent?
It is certainly important. You want to give your children the opportunity to develop. My children are now 13 and 15 years old, and looking back two insights come to mind. First: sometimes you give toys too early, that is, before the child can really do anything with them. If the child is ready two or three years later, the toy is already out of date. So when in doubt, it’s better to wait a bit. And second: every child is different, and you should start from the child, not from yourself. It may well be that my child finds a toy or book boring that used to be my favourite. That’s how it is. And vice versa. My daughter has just set up a nail salon at home. My wife and I didn’t care about decorated fingernails when we were younger, but to see with what enthusiasm and concentration my daughter devotes herself to nail designs, acquires expert knowledge and creates artistic patterns is wonderful. So children don’t just learn from us—we also learn from them. And as I said: loving and respectful attention to our children is the most important thing; learning then often happens by itself—and not always in the areas you would expect.
Thank you for the fascinating insights into your research, Prof. Dr. Westermann.
Knowing how play works
The toy industry is increasingly investing in studies, tests and research to develop high‑quality, safe and pedagogically valuable toys. This takes place against a backdrop of strict safety regulations, growing awareness of harmful substances and the aspiration to optimally support child development. And it increasingly happens side by side with renowned scientists, developmental psychologists and toy researchers.
Prof. Dr. Gert Westermann, Professor of Developmental Psychology, Lancaster University, UK
Wiebke Waburg, Professor of Education and Toy Expert, Universität Koblenz, Germany
Paul Ramchandani, Professor of Play, University of Cambridge, UK
Pablo Busó, Head of the User Research Department at the AIJU Institute, Spain
Prof. Dr. Jens Junge, Game researcher and director of the Institute for Ludology, Germany
Katriina Heljakka, Researcher in Toys and Play at the University of Turku, Finland
Prof. Dr. Thomas Voith is researching gamification at Nuremberg Tech University (TH), Germany
Product Group Baby and Infant Articles at the Spielwarenmesse 2027
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About the author
Sibylle Dorndorf has been writing about the toy industry for almost 30 years. Most recently the journalist was editor‑in‑chief of the TOYS magazine family at Göller Verlag, Baden‑Baden. Her passion: companies that reinvent themselves, brands that position themselves credibly, people who have something to say and products with a future.
