Lovevery Play Kits review: “My newborn really did flourish thanks to the play kits”

Having been a parenting journalist for 8 years, you’d think I’d know everything there is to know about babies. And while I probably know a bit more than the average first-time parent, one area I still felt a bit lost with is how to play with a newborn. Enter, Lovevery.

The Lovevery Play Kits are a thoughtfully curated subscription service designed to support the developmental needs of babies and toddlers from birth to age four. Each Play Kit is expertly crafted by child development specialists and packed with age-appropriate toys and activities that engage your child’s growing mind and body. The Play Kits are delivered every two to three months, ensuring that your child always has fresh, stimulating materials that align with their current stage of growth.

From the first moments of sensory exploration to the complex problem-solving skills of a preschooler, Lovevery’s Play Kits are designed to nurture cognitive, motor, and social-emotional development in a fun and engaging way. The toys are made from sustainable, non-toxic materials, reflecting a commitment to quality and safety.

Testing the Lovevery Play Kits

The Looker Play Kit

As someone who likes to be prepared, I actually set up our yearly Play Kit subscription while I was still pregnant. This was a very quick process and involved me filling in a few details including my due date so it could then work out when to deliver each kit. As it turned out, my son was over two weeks late so his first Play Kit sat waiting for a little while. As each Play Kit is delivered ready for each new ‘stage’, I fired off a quick email and Lovevery were able to amend his birthday so the Play Kits wouldn’t arrive too early for him to use.

After eventually finding our feet in the chaos of the newborn days, it was soon time to work out how on earth to fill my son’s wake windows. If I’m honest, I didn’t ever realise you could ‘do’ much with newborns other than cuddle, feed and change them and while you are certainly limited to a point compared to older babies, Lovevery helped me to discover that there were still plenty of ways to play with my son while also helping him develop.

The very first kit, the Looker Play Kit is designed for babies aged 0-12 weeks, offering a perfect introduction to the world of sensory exploration. It focuses on engaging your newborn’s developing senses, particularly sight, with high-contrast, black-and-white patterns that captivate their attention.

The kit includes a variety of expertly designed toys and tools to support early visual development. The standing card holder, for example, is ideal for tummy time and allows you to display visual stimuli that stimulate your baby’s brain as they learn to focus. It was fascinating popping the black-and-white mittens onto Theodore’s hands and watching as he observed his hands, helping to foster self-awareness and early motor skills.

In addition to visual stimulation, The Looker Play Kit offers items that nurture auditory and tactile senses. The organic cotton sensory links provide satisfying textures and sounds, encouraging exploration through touch and hearing. I popped one above my son’s play mat, one above his highchair and another in his pram and each one did a fantastic job of holding his attention and as he got older, he began to bat at them with his hands.

It was with the Silicone Rattle With Removable Ball included in the play kit that Theodore learnt to both grasp and to track objects, something that was SO exciting to watch.

I was really grateful for the guide that was included for parents, helping me to understand my baby’s early development and providing tips to make the most of those precious early weeks. It also made suggestions of when exactly to introduce each of the toys and the different ways to use them.

The Charmer play kit

The Charmer Play Kit is designed for babies aged 3-4 months, focusing on engaging their growing curiosity and emerging social awareness. At this stage, babies typically begin to respond more actively to their environment, and The Charmer Play Kit offers a selection of toys and activities that nurture their cognitive, motor, and sensory development.

One of the highlights of this kit for us what the soft book, a ‘tactile book that builds connections between seeing and feeling’. Each page has something for baby to touch or look at and it’s been a huge hit with our son who adores touching the pages and different textures, so much so we took it on the plane with us on our recent holiday to keep him entertained on his first flight.

The kit also includes a rolling bell and wooden rattle, which encourages tummy time and helps develop upper body strength as babies reach and push toward the gentle sound the toys make. Theodore was really drawn towards these toys and was especially useful when we were teaching him how to roll. The mirror was also a great way of getting some tummy time in as he was fascinated with looking at his reflection.

For early auditory and tactile exploration, the crinkle bag provides satisfying textures and sounds, helping baby discover the cause-and-effect relationship between their actions and the world around them.

I was a little unsure why there were two teethers included in this play kit, I think one would have sufficed and actually, my baby was only interested in the natural rubber teether and didn't even bother with the triple teether and organic cloth. However, it’s worth mentioning that our son hasn’t started teething yet so this might have been a different experience for those babies who are.

The hand-to-hand discs wasn’t something Theodore showed much interest however I do think this will be something we come back to when he’s a bit older.

The Senser play kit

Aimed at babies between 5-6 months, the Senser play kit comes right at the stage where sensory exploration and motor skill development take centre stage. At this age, my son was eager to touch, grab, and explore everything within reach.

The Spinning Rainbow in this kit is a standout item, encouraging baby to practice sitting up while promoting hand-eye coordination as they spin and reach. After showing him what to do, Theodore quickly copied me by spinning the drum himself and went from doing it on his belly to spinning it while sitting.

I was impressed by how quickly my baby got to grips with the Magic Tissue Box and he loved pulling out the colourful magic tissues out of the sturdy box. We would then play with the tissues with peek-a-boo and together stuff the tissues back in. The tissue box was also very helpful in helping him sit for longer periods of time as he would have something to focus on.

Our son is at the age where he’s comfortable spending time on his stomach so he doesn’t need an incentive as such, however, the Wobbler was great at encouraging his reaching skills and he had great fun batting it about - sometimes a little too vigorously.

The Play Socks were probably the one toy my baby didn’t have much interest in, simply because he had already discovered his feet by the time we received The Senser box so he wasn’t too bothered. It would have been more useful for us to have these socks in an earlier box.

"The play kits gave my husband and me so much more confidence as first-time parents"

The Inspector play kit

As your baby approaches 7 to 8 months old, their desire to explore, touch, and investigate everything around them kicks into high gear. That’s where the Inspector Play Kit comes in. This play kit is all about supporting sensory exploration, object permanence, fine motor skills, and early communication.

One of our favourites from this kit was the Nesting Stacking Drip Drop Cups. Great for the bath or dry play, these cups encouraged my son's fine motor coordination and problem-solving. While he hasn't learnt to stack them himself, he adores knocking down the towers we build and bashing the cups together. Because the cups nest neatly in one another, these are a great one to pop in your bag for fun while out and about.

Theodore also really liked the 'Things I See' Texture Cards. These visually engaging cards feature various textures and common objects, ideal for vocabulary development and sensory play. I can see how helpful these will be when my son is learning to talk, but for now, he loves stroking the textures with his fingers.

The First Puzzle wasn't something my son was interested in for very long but this is a great early introduction to puzzles. Likewise, while 'My First Signs' Board Book didn't hold his attention much, I think this is a brilliant inclusion in the box. I do think it would have been helpful to have a QR code to scan to see videos of the signs in action as I wasn't quite sure if I was doing them correctly.

The Ball Drop Box is another toy that while right now Theodore mostly enjoys picking up the balls and whacking them on the box, will be handy for helping teach object permanence. It gives babies a fun, hands-on way to understand cause and effect and I can already see him watching as we drop the balls into the box.

The Explorer play kit

Between nine and ten months, babies' curiosity and mobility are rapidly expanding. To support this critical phase of development, The Explorer Play Kit is designed to engage and support your baby's growing skills and interests.​

The Stainless Steel Tip & Turn is one that Theodore continues to reach for and is brilliant for helping him to practice bilateral coordination by spinning the ball using both hands, enhancing motor skills and understanding of cause and effect.

While I think the play scarf had a lot of uses and we had lots of fun playing peekaboo, I do think most people have something similar lying around the house so I'm not sure this was entirely necessary to be included in the box.

Like most babies, he always reaches for our keys so I thought the addition of the Stainless Steel Jingle Keys was great. We just need a remote now please, Lovevery!

The Transparent Tube Tower, Montessori Egg Cup and Roll & Build Cone Set were all toys that my son fairly quickly abandoned although I can absolutely see the benefits of them.

Of all the kits we've tested so far, I'd say this one was our least favourites, simply because there were only a few of the toys that held my son's interest at this age. This may of course change with time and we will continue to offer them for play.

Final verdict

I didn’t buy any toys for my son’s first few weeks as I just wasn’t convinced he’d need anything. And while arguably, you could probably make do with things around the home, the play kits gave my husband and me so much more confidence as first-time parents in exploring early play with our child.

I was really impressed with the high quality of every single product in our play kits. I love that they are sustainable, something that is really important to me as a parent and will clearly last to be passed down to siblings and family members' children.

Many of the toys can be used in different ways, so you’re really not limited and with the help of the play guide, it’s easy to understand just how each one helps your little one develop. We loved watching how our son developed in his early weeks and his skills really did flourish thanks to the play kit.

Each play kit costs £80 to buy separately or you can choose a subscription plan like we did, costing £228 for three kits. For some, this cost might be steep but if you try to match the box by sourcing your own similar high-quality products (as others have attempted), you’ll soon find it’s pretty hard if not impossible, to do so without spending more.

The fact that I don’t need to research the best toys for our son because the experts at Lovevery have done the hard work (and that they’ll be delivered straight to our front door) is an added bonus. After the experience of our first two boxes, we’re already looking forward to the delivery of our next play kit!

A journalist since 2015, Emily Gilbert is the Features & Reviews Editor for Mother&Baby and has written for the website and previously the magazine for seven years. First-time mum to Theodore, Emily writes about everything from the top baby products to pregnancy, fertility and maternal mental health. Specialising in product reviews, Emily is the first to know about all the exciting new releases in the parenting industry.