How the Look at Me Ladybird supports your baby’s visual tracking and tummy time

Have you heard the buzz about the Look at Me Ladybird? A new addition to The Looker Play Kit for weeks 0 to 12, this wooden plaything has quickly become a favourite for newborn play that grows with your baby ❤️

With a gentle tap, the Ladybird click-clacks down its ramp, capturing your baby’s attention through both sound and movement. The bold red colour with black spots is designed for newborn vision – red is one of the first colours babies can distinguish, and the high-contrast pattern is easy for their developing eyes to focus on. As the Ladybird slowly rocks along its path, your baby has time to notice the rhythmic sound, find it with their eyes, and follow its movement.

This is the beginning of visual and auditory tracking – when your baby uses their eyes and ears together to follow a moving object. And when the Ladybird goes down the ramp again and again during tummy time, your baby is motivated to keep lifting their head, building the upper back and neck strength they’ll need for future motor skills.

Here’s how the Look at Me Ladybird can support a progression of skills as your baby grows:

Around 4 to 6 weeks: newborn tummy time and early visual tracking

At this stage, your baby has practised focusing their eyes, holding a steady gaze, and staying alert for short periods. Now is a great time to introduce the Look at Me Ladybird to support the next stage of visual development and tummy time play.

Start by placing the ramp on a firm, level surface. Then gently roll your baby into tummy time, about 8 to 12 inches away. When they hear the click-clack sound, your baby may briefly lift their head to look for the source, then lower it again. Head lifting is hard work. Keep play sessions short at first. After just two to five trips of the Ladybird down the ramp, your baby may be ready for a break.

At first, your baby’s visual tracking may look a little jerky. With practice, these movements become smoother as their eye muscles develop and their brain becomes better wired to process movement. This is the visual processing skill they’ll eventually need for hand–eye coordination, reading, and sports.

Placing your baby in a variety of positions during awake time supports their overall development. In addition to tummy time, your baby can watch the Ladybird while lying on their side or on their back with their head turned to one side. You can also hold them upright in your arms or try tummy time on your lap.

Around 6 to 12 weeks: smoother tracking and longer head lifting

As your baby’s vision improves, they’ll begin to watch the Ladybird travel all the way down the ramp. Their visual tracking will become less jumpy, as the neural pathways responsible for managing eye movements grow stronger.

During tummy time, your baby will start to lift their head higher and hold it more steadily. Placing the Ladybird ramp directly in front of them, within their line of sight, helps motivate them to keep their head lifted.

Around 2 to 3 months: turning their head to follow movement

Now that your baby is getting stronger in tummy time, they may begin turning their head to follow the Ladybird. This is an important integration of systems – their visual and vestibular sensory systems are beginning to work together with their eye and neck muscles.

To encourage head turning, place the ramp slightly to your baby’s left or right, just outside the centre of their gaze, during tummy time. When you tap the Ladybird to send her down the ramp, your baby may lean on one arm as they turn their head to watch. This subtle weight shift is an important precursor to rolling.

The Ladybird can also support your baby’s developing head control when you hold them upright. Placing the ramp at their eye level gives them something steady to focus on, encouraging them to lift and stabilise their head as they watch.

Around 3 to 4 months: recognising patterns and anticipating what comes next

Once your baby is tracking the Ladybird smoothly, you can keep play interesting by briefly pausing her midway down the ramp every now and then. Babies tend to focus for longer when something behaves differently than expected – a concept sometimes called the violation of expectation.

At this stage, your baby may begin to anticipate where the Ladybird will go next or show excitement by moving their body or making sounds. This is a sign that your baby is starting to make sense of patterns, laying the groundwork for later learning and problem-solving.

The Looker Play Kit

The Looker Play Kit welcomes your newborn with tools to help them process the world around them and build brand new brain connections with high-contrast and black-and-white Playthings.

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