Review: The Thinker Play Kit By Lovevery.

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Last month, we purchased and gifted Eva her first Lovevery box for her birthday. Lovevery is a toy company that sells products (subscription kits, and baby and kid items) that are scientifically designed, aesthetically pleasing to the eye, and heavily rely on Montessori principles. The materials are thoughtfully recommended (and automatically shipped if you have a subscription) for your child based on their birthday. I wanted to share all the things we loved about our first kit (and a few things that surprised us.)

Subscription kits like Lovevery are great because they take a lot of the guess work out of the equation. They diminish a parent’s choice, or wonder, or anxiety of “what should my child be learning?” or “what skills should I teach her”? They make things a bit simpler, give ideas, and offer fresh materials. If you’re a toy rotator, a subscription kit will perfectly align with your style because a new kit will be shipped to you every couple of months like clockwork. These are great because they are curated to meet a child based on their age; the items in the Lovevery kit are solid and sturdy and honestly, they’re pretty to look at!

I chose the Thinker Play Kit which is advertised as being geared for 11-12 month olds and came in at about $80. I had a coupon which brought the cost down a bit and I’d be happy to share a coupon code with you, too. This kit was the perfect one for Eva. Here’s what was included:

Baby Avery + “Animals I see” mini book – Avery is definitely popular. It both fascinates and frustrates Eva that the doll’s clothes can be completely removed. She works really hard to take off the clothing (sometimes becoming very frustrated her little fingers aren’t making the right movements) and then I re-dress Avery, so that Eva can take them off again. It’s a really soft doll and I’m constantly reminding Lola that it’s not her doll. So I’d say it’s a favorite all around.

The mini-book is the perfect size for Eva’s hands. She flips through the board book again and again. 

Wooden Stacking Stones: These are great. I love the colors of the stones, and they feel really nice to the touch. They are very smooth. Eva has discovered that they make a lot of noise when she bangs them together which she loves. The older kids have been using them as pretend phones — holding them up their ears! 

Surprised Me: I was a bit shocked when she put the smallest piece entirely in her mouth. For this reason, I took it away and she only has access to the other three pieces. But I actually think using just three pieces might be easier for her to learn about the concept of stacking. I might re-introduce the fourth and smallest piece in a few weeks. But I haven’t decided yet.

Opposites Balls: These are definitely the hit of the whole kit! One is weighted (heavy) and one isn’t (light) so she’s able to explore heavy and light. Her favorite thing to do is throw one at a time. She thinks it’s so funny that one can be thrown pretty far away from her, and one just drops. The balls can also be used in the bath to explore the concept of sink and float! 

Sliding Top Box: Truthfully, this one toy sold me on the whole kit. Since she was turning 12 months, I thought about skipping this box and starting with the 13-15 month box instead. But when I saw this included, here, I couldn’t resist. And I’m so glad. It’s so well made. The top slides really nicely. It offers just the right amount of resistance to strengthen fine motor skills. The yellow ball feels like it might be wool which is a nice change from the standard wooden balls that typically come with these types of materials. Plus object permanence materials are all the rage at this age. Every single time she pushes the ball through the hole, she leans forward to look inside, a bit perplexed. She’s also making other connections. She knows that she can put most small objects through the hole (not just the yellow ball) and then happily slides the top to the side to discover the object again. 

Pincer Puzzle: This is another favorite material. She loves taking the piece out, and putting it back, taking it out and putting it back. It’s great for fine motor skills, hand eye coordination, and developing a pincer grasp. 

Surprised Me: We discovered, pretty unfortunately, that the wooden balls we have for some other materials (object permanence, ball tracker, ball drop) fit perfectly into the hole in the block — and then they are nearly impossible to remove! So that it doesn’t happen to us anymore, I have this pincer puzzle in one room and the other materials in another room. That way she can’t combine the activities anymore!

First Wallet, Wooden Coins, Big Spender Cards: This wallet is cute! It has slots and a zelcro pocket. The wooden coins are solid, well-made, and big enough so that she can’t fit them totally in her mouth. I like that they have numbers on them (though the teacher in me dislikes that the “4” is written that way.) The cards are definitely a nice touch and it’s true that babies (and toddlers) are fascinated by wallets and credit cards and the whole thing. So I can see why this is included!

Surprised Me: The wallet isn’t a toy she can use herself at 12 months. She doesn’t know how to zip and unzip and while she’ll learn eventually and it’s definitely something that can be rotated on and off our shelves for months (maybe even years), it would be better if the wallet opened and closed with velcro or some other easy opening mechanism so that it was more independent for an 11-12 month old as that’s who it’s marketed for. Also, the way the wallet is made doesn’t allow it to lay flat when opened. So when it’s opened and she’s trying to take things out of it or put things inside, she’s frustrated that it keeps closing on her.

The kit also came with a small booklet with ideas of how to introduce the items to your child, games to play and songs to sing. Honestly, I haven’t looked at the book yet! But I think it could be helpful to a lot of people. 

I ended up purchasing the next kit called The Babbler Kit (for 13, 14, 15 month olds) and will give it to Eva for Christmas (so I haven’t opened it yet.) I’m not sure what I’ll do after that in terms of my subscription. The kits that cover a three month age range come in at about $120 which I do find to be pricey for a few reasons. The first is that I do already have some of the materials offered in the older kits (or items that are very similar because they are Montessori-inspired.) The second is that Eva is my third baby. So it’s not as though we don’t have toys in our home! I have an array of offerings for her and there’s really no need for us to acquire more toys.

Bottom Line: I love observing my children and figuring out what they’re interested in and making/buying/supplying activities that are catered just for them. I see value in a toy subscription kit, and feel like the activities included in this kit provide meaningful practice for broad concepts that children of the age range are naturally gravitated toward. That said, I absolutely love hand-picking and independently choosing what goes on our shelves in our home. Maybe it’s the teacher in me! 

How about you? Does choosing activities for your child cause you stress? Are you interested in trying Lovevery?