While babies and infants are exploring the submarine, wriggling along the jetty and kicking back on the beach towels at Crawler’s beach; their physical, social and cognitive skills are also being enhanced.

Their playful antics are also teaching researchers at the University of Wollongong facility a thing or two about child development, says Early Start academic director Marc de Rosnay.

‘’The discovery space is not a laboratory, it’s a translational space,’’ he said.

‘’It allows us to start thinking about the richness of the child’s experience; so we can look at how we can build and design experiences that not only hit areas of learning and development but actually bring that to life in a way that’s fun and stimulating for the child.’’

The facility’s latest space has been specifically designed for newborns to two-year-olds.