Lovevery Review 6: The Thinker Play Kit Months 11-12
October 17, 2023
Disclaimer
My son was born prematurely. He was born at 26 weeks and 6 days (3 months and 1 day early). If this box is for a baby 11-12 months, that means it should have worked for Aryi at 14-15 months, in theory. I feel that all of this makes our experience with development and play particularly unique, and our thoughts on the playkits particularly unique.
Play Guide Months 11-12
This play guide is arguably the most important part of the kit. It includes great information about milestones, how to play with the toys and in what order, along with other ways to play with things you might have around your house. We really appreciate the information that is laid out in these play guides.
Lovevery: Not Included in price breakdown
Organic Cotton Baby Doll
This doll is super cute. It is gender neutral, so you can say what you want it to be. I usually say he, just because I have a son and maybe he will relate more. There are 3 different skin tones; a white version, a more tan version, and a dark version. I got the tan doll since I am white and my husband is tan. Aryi looks closer to my color when he is staying inside, but as soon as he steps outside he starts to tan up closer to his dad. I thought this was the most appropriate for him to relate to. At first Aryi just hugged and kissed the doll. We teach him he needs to be gentle with babies like he is gentle with our cats. Now he feeds the doll. We use the dall when practicing our body parts. Where is the baby’s hand? Where is the baby’s hair? It has been great having a doll. I know some people do not agree with giving dolls to boys. I think those people are pretty ignorant. It is good for every child to learn the empathy that comes with taking care of a doll. It is great for them to model the things that are happening like getting dressed and brushing their teeth. I also think this doll will come in great for potty training.
The Amazon dupe I found comes with 6 dolls and is more than twice as expensive. The reason I chose this as a dupe is that they are very much gender neutral like the Lovevery doll. They also do come in different skin tones. The only unfortunate thing is they don’t really have a darker doll.
Lovevery: $11.94
Amazon Dupe: $26.99
Wooden Peg Drop
Aryi really loves this. He is so posty. Aryi loves posting. Like the sliding top box, the quality of this big piece is beautiful. However, the posts that come with it lack quality in paint or finish or something. We did not even make it two months, and I rotated the toys, without all of the paint coming off the ends. Aryi does use these to teathe as well as just the normal posting play. Since they use such safe materials I am not really mad about him ingesting the paint or anything. It is just kind of weird and something to note that the paint was peeling and fading on these posts, especially when this is not something I have come to expect from Lovevery.
Again the amazon dupe is nearly twice as expensive with unknown quality.
Lovevery: $11.94
Amazon Dupe: $19.98
Sliding Top Box with Ball
This is definitely a grow with your child toy. Aryi is just figuring this toy out at almost 18 months old. It might seem so easy to us, but the concept of sliding the top. The fact that you can’t pull or push it open was so hard for him to understand. But, he is getting it. I want to mention this is one of the big benefits of toy rotation. I have been throwing this in here and there. Every time I introduce it he has tried to figure it out, but it has never worked for him. I put it away, and then when I pull it back out, it is something he is excited to try to do again, until one day he just got it. I want to mention the quality here. All of their toys are of such high quality, but these big wooden pieces are where they shine. The quality of this toy is absolutely beautiful.
I found an amazon dupe, that is a little different, still the concept of sliding, but sliding a door. It is almost twice as expensive and quality is unknown.
Lovevery: $11.94
Amazon Dupe: $17.99
“Animals I See”
Aryi loves this book. Just like he loves books with real people, Aryi loves books with real animals as well. Maybe, he loves them even more than the ones with real people. This book has a great selection of animals in it. Dogs Cats, Ducks, and Ants are things Aryi sees all the time, so to have pictures of them in this little book that Aryi can hold himself and flip the pages is super fun for him. He will now name alot of the animals. If he can not name it, I will name it as he points them out. I will even make it like a quiz and ask him which animal is the cat and let him point. I think Aryi has amazing language skills, especially for his age being 3 months early. All of the Lovevery books have helped tremendously with that. Since we want Aryi to learn Nepali as well as English, I have written in the Nepali for each of the animals like I have in other books. This is mostly just a reminder to me for now to use those words for the animals too.
The Amazon dupe is almost the same price and looks like it also includes an animal book. You do get 12 of these books with the Amazon dupe.
Lovevery: $11.94
Amazon Dupe: $12.58
Organic Cotton Sensory Pouch
This pouch is an interesting toy. Aryi does love it. He loves to put things in and take them out. We do Ms. Rachels “put it in put it in put it in” and “take it out take it out take it out” songs when playing with this bag. I like to use the heavy and light balls, even though I don’t really know if that concept is being understood. I do explain this ball is heavy, this ball is light. He will also just put random other toys in there when he is playing around. The carrots and bunnies from other kits are some of Aryi’s favorite things to put in containers like this. I like that the top is attached to a plastic ring. It makes it easy for little fingers to put things in and take them out.
I found a 4 pack of little pouches on amazon that would serve the same purpose for a few dollars less. However, you are really missing out on that big circular opening that does not really close.
Lovevery: $11.94
Amazon Dupe: $7.98
Pincer Puzzle
Aryi did not get this toy at first, but caught on quickly. I will say there is basically no longevity in a toy like this. Once he learned to do it, there was no more interest. He just wanted to move on to puzzles with more pieces.
The amazon dupe is nearly twice as much but includes an egg puzzle. So maybe you would consider them about the same price.
Lovevery: $11.94
Amazon Dupe: $20.99
Opposite Balls
This is very unique to Lovevery. I could not find a dupe for this toy. As all balls, Aryi loves these. We now have a basket filled with all of our balls from Lovevery along with the few other balls we have. I think the concept of understanding that one thing is heavier even though they look the same is an interesting one and one that we will one day be able to talk about. However, I have found that there is no way to know if that lesson is being learned. But, Aryi loves balls and that is good enough for me.
Lovevery: $11.94
Amazon Dupe: Nothing quite like this
“Math Book”
Aryi did not gravitate to this book at first, but he loves it now. He has really gotten into the touchy feely books lately. And, he wants to count sooo bad. But, every number is two or tee.
Lovevery: $9.40
Amazon Dupe: $11.00
“My First Words”
Again, Aryi did not like this book at all at first. But it has definitely grown to be one of his favorites. Aryi loves to point out the dog and the ball and he thinks it is funny when the dog eats the kids bananas. He feeds our cats all the time.
I don’t even want to talk about book dupes this time. I couldn’t find anything really similar. The dupes for these last two books are a stretch.
Lovevery: $9.40
Amazon Dupe: $7.98
Worth it?
Amazon Dupes total out to be $137.03 after taxes are added.
The Lovevery Playkits come in a few buying options(7 items/playkit and 2 items/book bundle):
$80 for 1 box ($83.56 after taxes) – $11.94/item
$98 for 1 box with book bundle ($102.36 after taxes) – $11.94/item + $9.40/book bundle item
$228 for 3 boxes ($238.14 after taxes) – $11.34/item
$282 for 3 boxes with book bundle ($294.54 after taxes) – $11.34/item + $9.40/book bundle item
$432 for 6 boxes ($451.20 after taxes) – $10.74/item
$540 for 6 boxes with book bundle ($564.00 after taxes) – $10.74/item + $9.40/book bundle item
Since there are only 7 items, it seems like you are paying a lot more per item. However, there were larger, longer lasting toys in this kit. Every single item in the box has been a hit. I would really recommend this box. I don’t even think I can have a favorite or least favorite item in this box. Everything has been exceptional.
Lovevery: $102.36
Amazon Dupe: $137.03
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