Teddy, technology and growing minds

Drop-in with your children to try out two technologies developed by University of Strathclyde researchers: an iPad movement game, and “Teddy”, a responsive toy for noticing the body's inner signals. Researchers and student helpers will be on hand throughout to talk and explain the purpose of the technology. Families can also share their views on the technology.

We often picture child development as something that happens in the head — talking, counting, reading. This event shares an idea now well-supported by neuroscience: a great deal of intellectual and emotional development happens through the body.

How young children move, and how they sense their bodies from the inside, are closely tied to how they learn to think and regulate their feelings. This reflects a shift in the psychological sciences known as embodied cognition: thinking and feeling are built on the brain's continuous modelling of the body in action.

Come and explore two playful research tools for children: The tablet station uses an iPad game to bring out how a child moves as a window onto how they think. The Teddy station introduces the body's inner senses, and how learning to read those signals helps children regulate emotion.

Parents and carers will take away a fresh way of seeing their child's everyday play: that moving is part of thinking, and that noticing the body helps with feelings.

Dr Olga Dobrushina, Developmental Psychology, University of Strathclyde; affective neuroscientist and counselling psychologist.

Prof Jonathan Delafield-Butt, Child Development and Autism, University of Strathclyde; researcher of child development and movement.

Anyone is welcome and no booking is needed.

Children (2-12 years) who like playing with smart but fun technologies, and to parents and carers who are interested in learning more about child development. Also of interest to professionals working with children.

The event will also run on Saturday 7 November 2026, from 10:30am to 2pm