Encouraging infants to play with food rather than follow etiquette could be a better way to sharpen their learning skills.

A latest study from University of Iowa has found that children find it easier to learn things when they are allowed to sit at their highchair and throw stuff around.

"It may look like your child is playing in the high chair, throwing things on the ground, and they may be doing that, but they are getting information out of (those actions)," said Larissa Samuelson, associate professor in psychology at the UI.

Previous research has shown that toddlers learn words for solid objects earlier than semi-solid objects such as oatmeal or glue because solid objects don't change shapes.

In the present study, researchers found that children can be taught the names of gooey stuff by sitting them in a highchair and allowing them to get a little messy. According to Samuelson, children are used to seeing objects in their highchairs.

"And, if you expose them to these things when they're in a highchair, they do better. They're familiar with the setting and that helps them remember and use what they already know about nonsolids," she added in a news release.

In the study, 16-month-olds were exposed to 14 non-solid objects such as pudding, soup and applesauce. Researchers used made-up words like "dax" or "kiv," to identify these items. The experiment was designed to test the child's ability to recognize the object by exploring what the substance was made of rather than memorizing the name.

Researchers report that all their test subjects were quite responsive and probed, prodded and threw the items around. The team found that children who made the most mess were the highest scorers by associating the items with the hypothetical words.

The study also showed that children are most likely to learn when they are sitting in their highchairs than when they are seated at a table.

The study is published the journal Developmental Science.                                       

On a related note, letting kids play in the dirt and get exposed to microbes could help strengthen their immune systems.