3 Key Macro Trends Shaping Baby and Kids Product Direction in 2025
There are powerful global forces at play in 2025. Global ‘mega threats’ such as energy scarcity and the climate emergency as well as mass displacement, will challenge families’ sense of safety and security. Prompting a radical rethink of parenting styles, values and priorities.
An urge to do things differently drives a recurring theme of Rebellious Creativity for the year ahead, influencing design cues of intentional optimism and boundless experimentation. This propels children’s curiosity and imagination, with particular emphasis on the freedom to explore, get messy, ask questions and make mistakes.
“Family life for 2025 adopts a spirit of renewed determination to not only protect, and nurture but also enhance the joys of childhood. Importantly, this deeply child-centric mindset benefits not only the lives of children but also the entire village that surrounds them.” – Hannah Craggs, Head of Subscription.
Here, we explore three key macro trends, which are influencing product design and development for play, learn, feed and sleep throughout 2025.
This article, drawn from our insight report series for Premium subscribers on My TrendBible, delves deeper into the wider trends highlighted in our 2025 Macro Report.
1. Collaborative Caregiving
The concept of family is evolving, as highlighted in our 2025 Macro Trend, The Village, to further embrace multi-generational caregiving and a shift toward adopting more collaborative approaches when raising children.
Increasingly unaffordable housing, financial pressures and inadequate childcare costs are pushing many families to rethink their living situations. This is resulting in a wide-scale and varied reorganisation of the traditional nuclear home. As a result, design must work harder to ensure it meets the needs of this entire “village” of modern caregivers and families.
How can brands support and connect to multi-generational families through play?
Our Connecting Generations Through Ageless Play: 2025 report explores a number of joy-seeking coping mechanisms being adopted in response to living in a state of permacrisis.
Monitoring and tracking the types of toys Kidults are buying into will help gauge the play types that resonate with an adult audience. Use this to begin innovating towards ageless play experiences, ones that are designed to engage both children and adults alike. Market toys and games towards all age groups to encourage families to engage in collaborative, ageless play.
2. Embracing Errors
As highlighted in our 2025 Macro Trend, Colourful Revolt, cancel culture is coming under scrutiny. Parents and educators are questioning the detrimental impacts it may be having on children’s development, communication and growth. In turn, we’re seeing the opportunity to switch the narrative starting to emerge.
How can product design encourage a growth mindset for children?
Our Embracing Errors insight report explores the unique opportunity for brands and educators to create an alternative future for kids, one that explores disagreement, growth and redemption.
Practising a growth mindset (a theory researched by psychologist, Carol Dweck) allows children to believe that success can be developed through effort, persistence, trying different strategies and learning from mistakes. Toys, games, messaging and activities that embrace and amplify mistakes and the lessons they bring will be key to helping children move beyond a fixed mindset and towards one that is more open and honest.
3. Anti-anxiety design
As highlighted in our 2025 Macro Trend, Family Bubble childhood stress and anxiety become increasingly intertwined with modern living. Ensuring anxiety-reducing qualities are embedded in the products children use and consume daily will become increasingly sought after.
How can product designers incorporate wellbeing practices?
Our Anti-Anxiety consumer insight report explores how hidden wellbeing purposes merged within toys, products, media and entertainment are becoming a key opportunity area. Long-standing negative attitudes towards fidgeting are shifting. Moving away from the stigma that fidgeting means distracted or uninterested, more and more individuals are recognising the benefits it can have, from helping concentration and reduction in anxiety to improving focus.
This has led to the surging interest of fidget toys which is forecast to continue. As well as using this to inspire new sensorial play items, it’s important to also look for ways to embed fidget-friendly cues into other product categories such as back-to-school accessories, stationery and jewellery to help calm, soothe and instil focus in the classroom and on the go. Look to wearable fidgets such as Hükes and Tangle Creations for inspiration.
Need to know what’s next for the future of family life?
Our 2026 and 2027 Big Picture macro reports outline the pivotal overarching lifestyle trends shaping the future of caregivers, children and tweens. As part of our My TrendBible trend subscription we provide comprehensive insight reports, helping you to create commercially viable products for baby and kids’ markets.