Lovevery Toddler Kits – At a Glance Review

Lovevery recently launched their toddler kits earlier this year. Out of all the products they offer, I was personally really excited about the toddler kits. I put a lot of thought and research into the toys I buy for J. A while back I shared my 5 approaches to purchasing toys and to this day I stand true to this.

When I was looking into the baby play kits, I actually reached out to Lovevery back in 2018 to learn more about how their products are made, where they are made, what paints were used. From what they shared with me, all their playthings (including the books) go through rigorous testing and exceeds the ASTM F963 standards. The items are made in Ningbo, China at the Hape facility. This factory is German-owned – so that Hape can make their own products, as well as products for IKEA and other brands. All their printed materials are printed using soy ink. They don’t use flame retardants, toxic dyes, perfumes, formaldhyde or pesticides. They also test for BPA, phthalates, and other harmful metals and chemicals with results of less than 10 parts per billion. So this is everything I want to hear as a mother.

Fast forward to August 2019, we’re extremely excited that we were able to partner up with Lovevery and test the kits for ourselves.

Shipping was surprisingly fast. I thought it would take longer coming from the US to deliver here in Canada. The shipment information was created on July 30th and the package was at my door on August 1. As a millennial mom who’s used to Amazon Prime (hello same day shipping!) this was great.

Boxes were larger than I imagined. Upon opening the package with J, he was immediately entertained for over an hour (and so was I). It was so interesting to see him properly playing with his toys versus just discovering via banging, tasting, touching. Just based on his initial interaction with the toys, I can tell how carefully thought out these toys are based on what’s developmentally appropriate for him.

Currently, J and T are 14 and 18 months old, so we received the Babbler Kit and Realist Kit.

In both of the kits we’ve received it included:

• 4 larger toys
• 2-4 “smaller/medium-sized” toys
• 4 books (two standard board books and two mini books)
• Play Guide
• Care Instructions

I’ve been watching J’s interaction from toys from both kits. And it’s clear that the Babbler kit is more developmentally appropriate for him. But I also notice the items from the realist kit also interests him. He hasn’t figured them 100% out, but he’s able to pull the critters out of the quilted pockets. His pincher grasp is also good enough to take the community garden puzzle apart, and he’s able to open some of the doors in the lockbox and fit other smaller items into it.

We had his cousins over earlier this week and the two girls were immediately drawn to the slide and seek ball run. J has always enjoyed his wooden balls, so in addition to the shaker balls included, he’ll also test other items down the slide such as: his wooden balls, smaller puzzle pieces, the felt ball… pretty much whatever he can find.

The Books

I think Lovevery does a wonderful job showing diversity. Their books include children of different genders and race. Growing up, I didn’t have access to books that were inclusive. So I love the fact that J can look through the book and see different children and children that also look like him.

We really enjoyed the picture books. From the cute kids and the way they help teach simple concepts such as color and opposites.

For the smaller books, at first I thought were an awkward size, but quickly realized that they are perfect for little hands. He loves going through the books.

In terms of the story books, they are great for the pictures but the story isn’t the most interesting or fun for me as the parent to read.

Overall for my first impression… I’m really impressed with the kits. I love that they mainly include wooden toys – but the aesthetic also speaks to me. I like that it features the natural wooden tones with pops of colors that are not too obnoxious (Hape is a bit loud for my taste). My husband was also impressed by the kit – which says a lot. He described it as “if Apple were to create children’s toys”.

The kits are available for purchase at their own website on lovevery.com. The toddler playkits are $120 USD which seems like a heavy price tag at first but if you take a closer look at how much is included in the kits, I think it justifies the price and to me the value is there.

Disclosure: Play kits were sent for review. All thoughts are my own.