2024 Baby & Kids Retail Trends: Immersive Nature Experiences

This season children reimagine nature through a digital lens. Freed from the constraints of reality, design takes on a surrealist aesthetic, creating immersive spaces and phygital experiences for little ones to explore.

Awareness of the benefits nature provides for children’s development, education attainment, and overall well-being is increasing. As a result, ensuring all children have equal opportunities and exposure to nature is high on the agenda. 

To democratise nature, many experts are turning their attention to the digital space. This follows a growing number of research studies suggesting digital nature exposure may also produce the same positive outcomes on our mental health. As alternative digital (and phygital) worlds and wellness practises move towards the mainstream, this accessible online alternative will appeal to families with limited access to green spaces. 

 The integration of nature and tech not only provides opportunities for immersive, educational experiences and environments for children but is also driving new and exciting design and narrative direction for 2024.

2024 E-commerce and Retail Trends: Tracking ‘Natureverse’ 

Our Baby & Kids ‘Natureverse’ trend originally forecasted this shift in our seasonal trend forecast published in 2022.   

We explore the adoption of ‘Natureverse’, as we track and validate how this trend has been applied across retail trends and e-commerce this season.  

What we said 

This story sees children escape into a fantastical oasis, a beautiful and optimistic world filled with the very best nature has to offer. Here, the concepts of nature and time are reimagined. Human avatar characters traverse a digital utopia, discovering the eccentricities of the extraordinary organisms that surround them. Their features are depicted in unexpectedly bright hues, with a smooth, matt finish. Reimagined natural landscapes inspire form and finish; with untreated pale woods juxtaposed by bold vinyls and transparent bioplastics. Short fur with unusual patterning or long fringing makes objects feel alive.

What we saw 

A fantastical, optimistic mood was heavily referenced in retailers’ core summer ranges. This versatile trend transcended product categories, with vivid swirling repeats and utopian nature-scapes appearing across toys, textiles and accessories. Vibrant friendly creatures inspired motif across various retailers and regions, with bold clashing colours and patterns enhancing the sensory experience. Particularly notable in paper crafts, from retailers such as Fred Aldous and Paper Source, were surreal three-dimensional frogs and butterflies adorned with graphic patterns and unreal colourways, echoing a fantastical and otherworldly aesthetic. 

Are you ready for the next shifts in consumer attitudes towards baby and kids product design?  

Our seasonal trend forecasts provide inspiration for designers, product developers and creatives working in the baby and kids industries. These reports and full forecasts are available now on My TrendBible Premium.