Lovevery Review: The Playgym
November 14, 2023
Disclaimer
My son was born prematurely. He was born at 26 weeks and 6 days (3 months and 1 day early). This playgym is mainly for babies 0-12 months, that means it should have worked for Aryi at 3-15 months, in theory. Aryi spent more than 4 months in the NICU when he was born and did not start using this play gym for 3 months until he was moved into a private room. I feel that all of this makes our experience with development and play particularly unique, and our thoughts on the playkits particularly unique.
The Playgym
This is one of the best toys I ever bought for Aryi. We used this nonstop for the first year of his life. We even brought it to the hospital and played there. Aryi still plays with this gym today at 18 months. The playgym comes with a cloth mat with 5 different zones of play: The Learn to Focus Zone, The Making Sounds Zone, The Things To Feel Zone, The Exploring Colors Zone, and The Hide and Find Zone. It has a wooden frame to hang the toys that come with it, as well as a cover to turn it into a fort.
The Learn and Focus Zone is a space with 2 clear pockets to put the cards that come with the gym for your child to look at. I mostly keep mirror cards here, since Aryi has always loved to look at himself. The Making Sounds Zone has crinkle paper and squeakers for babies to make different sounds. The Things to Feel Zone has little flaps of different material for babies to feel different textures. The Exploring Colors Zone has flaps in each color of the rainbow for babies to discover color. The Hide and Find Zone has a pocket with a silicone teething ring inside for babies to learn object permanence.
Aryi has never really loved the zones other than the learn to focus zone. His enjoyment came from the toys that come with the gym, the frame itself, and the fort attachment. He did love it when I squeaked the squeaker in The Making Sounds Zone, but never learned to do it himself.
I will say, this playgym is very thin. For small babies doing tummy time on a hard floor, I would NOT trust this mat to protect their heads when they fling them around. We put a thick yoga mat underneath our playgym to help protect Aryi’s head. We also usually have it on top of a rug.
The Play Guide
This play guide is broken down into 2 month sections. Each section has a card that says what your child might be doing at that age (milestones they might be meeting), along with what you can do to help your baby in achieving these milestones. Each section then goes into detail about what toys in the gym will be best to play with at that time, and how to play. The wealth of information in this guide is very valuable.
Organic Cotton High-Contrast Ball
This is a black and white high contrast ball with large spaces for little fingers to grab and a space to hang it from the frame of the gym. At first, when Aryi was a little baby, he did not care much to play with this ball due to his tiny hands. He would just stare at it and enjoy his high contrast view. As time went on he would hold the ball, kick at it, and bat at it. We now just use the ball as any other ball, it is even in our ball basket.
Batting Ring
This batting ring is a heavy wooden toy with a bell hanging from a ring and some flaps that clap when it is jiggled around. This also comes with a strap to hang it from the gym. Aryi’s favorite thing to do at around 5 months was just kick at this ring. It makes a beautiful noise. It is also quite heavy. I believe this helps with leg strength.
Organic Cotton Teether
This is just a silicone teething ring with a teething cloth that crinkles wrapped around it. This also comes with a strap to hang it from the frame. This was super fun for Aryi to bat at when he was a few months old. This teether was one of the first few things Aryi learned to hold. It is a great size for baby hands. He also loved this as a teether, and just to crinkle the paper.
Teething Rings
This is a silicone ring that attaches to the mat in The Hide and Find Zone. Aryi just used this for a teether. He was never really interested in this pocket. He is way more interested in pockets on his clothes and ball drops for his object permanence play.
Black and White Card Set
Lovevery really gets it with all of the black and white high contrast material. I used to attach these to the frame of the playgym for Aryi to look up at. I put these cards in the card holder from one of
Aryi’s playkits and set it up on the playgym for Aryi to look at. These are absolutely beautiful to look at. We also used these in tracking early on.
Mirror Card Set
These baby safe mirror cards are amazing. I put them in The Learn To Focus Zone for Aryi to look at himself during tummy time. He really enjoyed looking at himself and other babies, even from the beginning.
Common Objects Card Set
These cards are beautiful. They have some of Aryi’s favorite things and Aryi’s first words on them like a ball and a dog. These are great things for babies to look at.
Faces Card Set
Like I said earlier, Aryi loves faces. These cards, along with all of the Lovevery books have real babies and children in them. Aryi would enjoy staring and smiling at these cards.
Card Set Clips
These clips are a great feature. They allow you to attach cards to the frame of the playgym for your baby to look at.
Sensory Strands
I don’t believe this comes with the Playgym. I think you have to buy it separately, but these sensory strands are made to hang from the frame of the playgym. These strands are made from different materials, some with crinkle paper, some with beads on the inside, and even one has a squeaky toy. These are great. When Aryi was little, he used to bat at and kick the strands. He loved when I would squeeze the squeaky toy and has since learned to do it himself. Aryi would try to grab and hold onto the different strands.
Play Space Cover
This play space cover turns the playgym into a sort of tent. I added this to the playgym near Aryi’s first Birthday. It now stays on all the time. It’s Aryi’s favorite thing, if I throw a swaddle blanket over the opening he can play peek-a-boo in his tent.
Is it worth it?
Overall, I do believe this playgym is worth it. It is a big expense, but you will use it every single day for at least the first year of your baby’s life, and even after it. The different zones and attachments create tons of opportunities for learning through play. There are endless ways to play with this gym.
You can check out the companion youtube video by clicking the link below.