Lovevery: The Looker Review
Is the Lovevery Looker Kit for newborns worth buying? I was skeptical because of the high price but I also wanted toys that were totally nontoxic and good for my baby’s development. My son is 3 months old now and I’m sharing all of my thoughts about The Looker play kit from Lovevery and what my son has thought about it so far.
My best friend already had twin boys who were 2 years old and she was telling me all about the Lovevery play kits while I was pregnant with my son. She sends me tons of videos of the boys playing and they were playing with their Lovevery toys in at least half of them. The only thing was she started the play kits when they were a little older, so she didn’t have any experience with the kits for babies.
I did tons of research (as I always do) and decided it would be worth the investment to get the play kits. Now my son is 3 months old and they were worth every penny! Seriously, I’m sharing my review on The Looker Play Kit (their 0-2 month kit) and I’ll go through each item included with it and how my son has reacted to them.
What are Lovevery Play Kits?
They are Montessori inspired play kits that are specially designed to help with your child’s development for the specific age they are. They start at 0 months and go up to 5 years old. As a first time mom it’s hard to know if you have the right toys out at the right time and even though I have a little bit of background in child development, Lovevery makes it much easier. They’re also made with safe non-toxic materials which is super important to me.
I feel like I don’t need to think too much about what toys to buy or what age each toy is for and I can just get the kits. With this first kit the only extra things I bought outside of the play kit toys was the Lovevery play mat, a few organic cotton stuffed animals, and books. Other than that, all of his toys are from the kits.
He’s only 3 months old but I can already see that the items in The Looker are going to last him a lot longer than 3 months. I also got the next kit (The Charmer) a month early and there were a couple of items in there he loved right off the bat at only 2 months old. So overall, the toys can be used way past when you receive them but I’ll probably still get a few toys out at a time so it doesn’t become overwhelming as we get more kits over time.
What’s included in The Looker play kit?
The Mobile
What it is
A wooden spiral mobile with black and white on one side and color on the other side. The black and white is designed for newborns and as your baby gets older you can flip it around so they can see the color side. They advise to hang it over top of the changing table so your baby has something to look at. They say not to hang it over their bassinet or crib because it’s stimulating so it can keep them from falling asleep.
How we use it and what my son thought of it
We happened to have a little command hook over top of our glider chair so we hung it there temporarily. My son really loving looking at it whenever we would sit and hold him in that chair so it ended up being it’s permanent place. It was great when I needed something to entertain him but I was so tired; I could just sit in the glider and tap the mobile to spin it. He’s loved the mobile so much that even if we’re just standing in the room holding him he’ll stare at it.
Black and White Card Set and Standing Card Holder
What it is
A set of black and white cards with a simple pattern on one side and more complex patterns on the other side. The simple side is for newborns before they’re eyesight is fully developed so it’s super easy for them to see the high contrast of the cards. The more complex side is great as their eyesight starts to develop, but they’re still high contrast black and white so they’re easy to see.
The card holder is foldable (like an accordian) and plastic sleeves on the inside to hold up to 4 cards at a time for baby to look at. It folds up so it’s easy to store and it has a pocket on the back where you can store all of the cards so they don’t get lost.
How we use it and what my son thought of it
At first when my son was a brand newborn we would just hold up a card in front of him so that he could stare at it. We would move it side to side so that he could start tracking it with his eyes. I also put the cards in the card holder and would stand it up next to his play mat so that he could turn his head and look at it. They say it’s great for tummy time, but at first he couldn’t lift his head up enough to be able to see it standing up, so I would lay it down in front of him so he could see it while only lifting his head up a little bit.
This pairs perfectly with the Lovevery play mat, because that comes with clips to hold cards above your baby’s head. He loves to lay on the mat and look up at the black and white cards.
Wooden Book
What it is
A wooden book with cute and simple black and white images on each page. It’s made of sustainable wood and doesn’t use any toxic materials in it. There’s 8 different pages in it with simple black and white images of a turtle, school of fish, whale, fish, owl, snake, mouse, and porcupine.
How we use it and what my son thought of it
My son loved this book right from the start! I would show him each page and describe what animal it was and whatever else I could think of to tell him about that animal. He would stare at each page for a while and then we would go to the next page. His favorite page was the turtle.
For me this is an easy one to throw in the diaper bag so that I have something to entertain him if we were over at someone else’s house. It’s durable wood so I know it won’t get damaged being thrown on the bag and being carried around with us.
Black and White Mittens
What it is
2 cotton black and white mittens with simple designs on them. They are supposed to help your baby discover their hands and start to learn to control them.
How we use it and what my son thought of it
This was the only item in the box that was a miss for us. My son never wore any kind of mittens so when I tried to put these on him he was mostly just annoyed that I put something on his hands. He started to find his hands all on his own without the mittens and he just liked having his hands be totally free rather than wearing mittens of any kind.
Silicone Rattle with Removable Ball
What it is
A silicone rattle with different textures on each end and a removable cotton ball in the middle. The entire thing is black and white so it’s great high contrast for newborns. The silicone is great for mouthing once they get to that stage.
How we use it and what my son thought of it
One of our favorites in the box, at 3 months old he’s obsessed with it now. When my son was a newborn we would just hold it up and rattle it so he could hear it. We would move it back and forth in front of him so he could track it with his eyes. That’s pretty much how we used it up until this month when he started to be able to grab things. Now he likes to hold on to it and try to put it in his mouth. Right now (at 3 months old) we took the ball out so he can hold the silicone more easily and put it in his mouth. The size and structure makes it easy for his little hands to grip it. I like that the ball comes out so it can be played with (or washed) separately. I think as he gets better at grabbing and putting things in his mouth he’ll enjoy that there’s two different textures on each side.
The Play Guide
Each kit also comes with a play guide for parents. They have a team of experts that put this together to give you ideas of how to use each toy to play with your baby and other activity ideas. I really liked browsing through the play guide when the kit came to give me a better idea of what I should be doing with my son on a regular basis to help his development and how to use the toys to help with it.
What is the Book Bundle?
The book bundle is an add on you can get with your kits for an extra $18 per kit. Most of the book bundles come with two books that, just like the play kit, are perfect for your baby’s age. T
Is the Book Bundle worth it?
For the Looker Play Kit I think the book bundle was completely worth it and I’d buy it again every time.
What it comes with
It came with 2 books and a set of wall decals.
The Wall Decals
The wall decals are what surprised me the most. I thought it was just a random useless thing they added to make it seem like you were getting more but those decals turned out to be my sons favorite thing from the entire kit. We put them on the wall next to his changing table and he was obsessed with them. He would stare and smile at them every time we changed his diaper. Even if we just walked in the room holding him he would immediately look at the wall decals. We had them on a white wall so I think the black and white stood out even more for his little developing eyes.
The Books
It came with two black and white board books. My son absolutely loved looking at the pictures but I found the words that went along on each page to be a little odd. I still read the books to him but a lot of the time we just used it for the pictures to flip through.
We spend a lot of our time up at our cottage and I didn’t want to bring a ton of toys with us on our first trip so I only packed these two books and the black and white book from the play kit. it gave him plenty to look at for the three weeks we were there. I used the books in the same way as the black and white cards and I would prop them up next to his play mat for him to look at.
Recap
I thought all but one item (the mittens) in the play kit were amazing. My son loved them so much and I didn’t have to spend time figuring out exactly which toys to buy and which ones would be good for his development. The play guide is a great addition because it gives you quick tips on how to help your baby play at this age and how to use the toys.
The book bundle in this kit was totally worth buying. It would have cost just as much to try to get each of them separately and the ones in the kit are great.
I totally recommend this kit to anyone, however I know they’re super expensive so you can also use the kit for ideas of what to try to buy separately. Lovevery doesn’t sell items in the kits separately but you can find some similar items and Lovevery does sell a few similar items at Target. If you’re only getting one or two items this is a great option, but if you want everything in the play kit, in my calculations it actually costs more to try to buy items separately somewhere else.
