Heuristic play is a type of play where children discover the world around them by exploring and experimenting with various objects. These objects are not necessarily traditional toys, but can be anything that sparks children's interest and allows them to act on their curiosity and manipulative skills. Heuristic play fosters a creative and intuitive way of thinking in children and gives them the opportunity to use their own ideas and experiences. To build a good collection for heuristic play, it is important to use as many different objects and shapes as possible so that children can try out different things. We'll show you how it's done!
💎 Special topics: By the way, you can find more articles like this in our Paul & Lori app!
As a baby, you were fascinated not only by finding out what things were, but also by what they would do. Your natural inclination was to pick things up and explore them using your fingers, hands, feet, or other body parts. What is the texture, shape, color, weight, flexibility, and malleability of different objects? You waved things around to see how they moved, dropped them to hear how they sounded, and knocked them against each other or a hard surface to see if they would change shape or even break. With your manipulative skills, you pushed and shoved, pressed and squeezed, pulled and turned, and through this, over time, you learned how different objects behave and what exactly you can do with them. You were interested in finding out which parts of an object move and which remain still, whether objects roll or bounce, whether things can be stacked on top of one another, which things fit into others, and how objects can be moved from their place.
The educator Elinor Goldschmied (1910–2009) offered parents and educators in the 20th century suggestions on how they can support this learning in toddlers. Among other things, she suggested materials that help children in their exploration of the world and can be easily used by adults, such as everyday objects from one’s own household that differ greatly from each other in their form and feel, are difficult to stack, but can be curiously inspected by your baby with creativity, imagination, and through trial and error.
IMPORTANT: Since everyday household objects were not specifically manufactured for children and therefore have not been subjected to the usual safety tests for toddlers, we have incorporated various elements of heuristic play into our play kits.
Materials and objects that were not specifically manufactured for toddlers should only be used under the intensive supervision of experienced educators. If you have any doubts as to whether a household item is permitted and safe, we recommend that you do not make this item available for your baby to play with, but rather fall back exclusively on specialized baby toys designed for that purpose, such as those in our play kits!
According to heuristic play, children should be offered the opportunity to experience learning processes independently by discovering the world for themselves. In doing so, they prefer to use all their senses and are not always careful. Trying out new things, tinkering, discovering, experimenting, making connections, and getting to know objects again and again… that is what heuristic play is all about.
In many places in our educational play kits, we have hidden elements of heuristic play. For example, in addition to concepts like inside-outside and object permanence, the Paul & Lori treasure basket in the SENSORY Play Kit (months 7-9) is also intended to offer your baby experiences with heuristic play concepts. Searching, finding, taking, discovering, trying, analyzing, having experiences - the treasure basket is perfect for this.
Which toy will your baby take out of the treasure basket and how exactly are they trying to explore this object? From observing play with the treasure basket or with heuristic toys, educators can recognize the developmental stage the baby is currently in and how exactly they are learning. Can you also recognize which play action your child is currently performing frequently? In the accompanying Paul & Lori play guides included in every play kit, we describe the current developmental stages, what your baby likes during the respective period, and how exactly they learn.
It is important that you also pay attention to Montessori pedagogy, especially during heuristic play, as both principles complement each other perfectly!
"Help me to do it myself" is considered the essential core idea of the Montessori pedagogy developed by Maria Montessori from 1907 onwards.
Montessori pedagogy is an educational concept for the time from toddlerhood to young adulthood. It places the child at the center as the "architect of their own self" and directs the adult to create a suitable environment in which the child has the opportunity to develop individually and experimentally in freedom. Through mindful observation, the adult should recognize how the child is currently learning and apply suitable didactic techniques to optimally promote the learning and developmental step. Observe and allow ROOM TO EXPERIMENT - SUPPORT RESPECTFULLY so that the child learns to do things themselves. It's that easy to implement "Montessori" at home!
So, during heuristic play, make sure not to intervene too early in your baby's play, but rather offer a safe environment (with safe baby toys!) in which your baby can try things out in peace. Observe how your baby learns and plays, and show understanding for so-called destructive play, which to adults sometimes looks as if your baby wants to break something. Only through personal experience does your baby get to know our big world and understand over time how different objects behave, how one can change them, and ultimately use them purposefully for one's own goals!
And now, feel free to get started and just try out heuristic play! Finally, we would like to give you a few valuable tips for heuristic play along the way. It is best to apply these tips as soon as your baby can sit upright or crawl (approx. between months 6-10):
Sources and Literature:
Bostelmann, Antje (2019): Das Spiel der Kleinkinder. Frühes Lernen verstehen, begleiten und fördern
Phase-based play and learning with educational toys so that your baby gets exactly what they need in each of their developmental phases. All information about the new Montessori play kits from Paul & Lori can be found here!
✓ 6 play kits ✓ Delivery every 3 months
✓ For 0-18 months ✓ Incl. tips for your baby
© 2026 Paul & Lori GmbH: Play starts here ❤️️
