Lovevery
One of my biggest concerns as a parent has been ensuring that I’m doing everything I can to support my daughter’s brain development and learning. Research shows the essential development linked to learning is established during the first five years of life, which means we must begin to intellectually engage our children long before preschool. Babies learn through play, and as parents we have the ability to make play more meaningful. In my quest to find different toys and activities to engage my infant, I came across the Lovevery Subscription Play Kits.
Lovevery is a company that offers educational play products for children designed by early childhood development experts from educational and medical disciplines. Their popular subscription kits provide families with stage-based age-appropriate Montessori toys. Montessori toys are toys designed to encourage independent play, exploration, and imagination. Unlike electronic toys that sing and make sounds, Montessori toys require some form of manipulation on behalf of the child to get them to function. These toys also typically support children in the development of fine and gross motor skills.
Each kit comes with a variety of toys, books, and a curriculum booklet that helps to guide parents regarding use of the toys and when it’s appropriate to introduce each item in the kit. Additionally, the curriculum guide also provides parents with a collection of activities that help stimulate brain development. You can subscribe to the service for $80.00 per kit, which you’ll be charged every two months if your child is between 0 and 12 months. Once your baby reaches 13 months, you’ll be charged $120.00 every three months. You also have the option to surpass the subscription and purchase each kit separately.
I was a bit late to the Lovevery party, so we didn’t receive our first kit until my daughter was about seven months old. Our first kit was “The Inspector” play kit, which came beautifully packaged and contained the following:
- A magic ball drop box
- Wooden ball set, which can also be used for the drop box
- Nesting Stacking Drip Drop Cups
- Felt ball set
- Treasure basket
- A zipper pouch to hold the ball sets
- A drinking cup
- My First Signs board book
- Things I See board book
My daughter’s favorites from the collection are the drop box, the wooden ball set, the nesting cups and the drinking cup. The most rewarding part is witnessing her development over time. It’s amazing because she wasn’t really sure how to use the toys when they first arrived, but with practice she was able to master many of them by the end of the stage. I was so excited the first time she successfully dropped the ball in the hole. Not only did this activity help reinforce the concept of object permanence, it also helped with her fine motor skills.
All of the items are incredibly well made and quite a few served multiple purposes. For example, once my daughter grew tired of the drop box activity, she got quite a kick out of clicking the wooden balls together. One downside, however, is that the toys didn’t seem to keep her attention for the entire two-month period. However, I suppose that can be expected at this stage. Its’ probably unrealistic to expect an infant to stack cups or drop a ball in a box when she just figured out how to do exciting things like stand by herself and clapping at the same time.
Overall, I would definitely recommend the Lovevery kits to moms who are looking to incorporate more meaningful play into their baby’s daily routine.
