THE faces on Lego toys are getting angrier- and it may be harming childrens development, researchers warn.

The number of happy faces on Legos is decreasing, and more angry faces are taking their place, research by Christopher Barneck of New Zealand’s University of Canterbury’s has found.

Dr Barneck studied all the 6000 figures offered by the iconic Danish toy company, including Harry Potter and pirate-themed toys, and says they are increasingly angry and based on conflict - with potentially harmful effects on children's play and development.

Lego started introducing a greater range of faces in the 1990s, but "happiness and anger seem to be the most frequent emotional expressions," he found.

"We cannot help but wonder how the move from only positive faces to an increasing number of negative faces impacts on how children play."

Legos are also increasingly based on conflicts, "often a good force is struggling with a bad one," he found.

"Designers of toy faces should take great care to design the expressions and to test their effect since toys play an important role in the development of children," says Dr Bartneck, who is acting head of the university's Human Interface Technology Lab, which studies how design and technology impact users.

Instead of focusing on realistic expressions, it may be worthwhile to increase the number and variety of facial expressions, he says.

