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Toys for children 0 to 5 years old
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If you are a new mom, mom-to-be, or have been a mom for a few years, chances are you have heard of Lovevery. This is a toy company that targets parents of children 0 to 5 years old. Their goal is to help parents feel confident by providing toys specially designed by child development experts, to be exactly what every kid needs in each stage.
Our family and friends have tried their products. We all agree they are wonderful and provide endless fun for all ages. Everyone I know who has tried their boxes agree that the quality is great: beautiful wooden objects, high quality fabrics, well made toys, expertly engineered, among other amazing qualities... but we will let you form your own opinion based on our reviews, your own experiences, and people's testimonies.
Here I will tell you about the few products I have personally tried with my children. They have more options in their website, but if they are not here, it's because I haven't tried those yet. The one thing I can say for all of the kits and products that the company offers is that they all come with a booklet that walks you through different activities for every toy and how those activities impact your child's growth, so it is really easy for you, as a parent or caregiver, to know exactly what you are prompting the kids to learn and develop while interacting with these.
*A brief disclaimer: this post is not sponsored in any way.
I have divided the products I will review into the categories Lovevery sells their kits. These are for children that are under 12 months, 1 year olds, 2 year olds, 3 year olds, and 4 year olds.
0-12 months:
From this play Kit I have only tried the black and white loose cards. I put them in my Lovevery playmat for both my kids. It is amazing to see how much they can entertain themselves and develop stronger eye muscles and sight with simple objects such as black and white pictures.
The Charmer Play Kit is wonderful for your newly "very interactive" baby. I had a few pieces from this kit (our family gave us some hand-me-downs) and both of my girls loved playing with these. The high quality and smooth wood, the beautiful design, and knowing that everything is perfectly safe for this age makes these kits a wonderful investment.
This one was my first-born's favorite. Pulling "mystery" cloths of the box means hours of entertainment (and a big plus that she stopped being interested in pulling all the wipes out of the package!).
This one was my youngest's favorite: she would try to chew on it, hug it, shake it, etc.
There are three more play kits in this age group, but I have not tried them. I know people who have and the opinions are always the same: perfectly engineered, wonderfully crafted, and hours of playing and learning time for the little ones.
1 year olds:
Stacking by color, creating different -or same- size towers, filling all the spots or leaving some empty... Children at this age love to stack things and experiment with categories like sizes, colors, shapes, etc.
This very simple puzzle allows them to match two identical images, figure out the right position, develop vocabulary, practice color recognition, and if you want to take it a step further, you can describe why these vegetables are together in this puzzle and why there is a shovel: this is a great pre-gardening activity.
Playing with all the different latches is something I never though of interesting or fun, but it was a huge success for my daughter! She loved closing and locking all the doors and kept doing it over and over and over for about 1 hour!
Different thickness sticks were perfect for the girls to try and put them in the right hole. It also reminded me of a science flask holder, so I though it was the perfect hand-eye coordination activity to prepare them for an activity involving flasks.
This simple 4-piece puzzle is good for them to learn how to assemble two pieces together (like putting one on top of the other before joining them, etc.). We also used them for color scavenger hunts, or learning who would go first, second, third, and last by naming the colors and realizing who had the right one, etc.
The peg board is great for children to play with colors, experiment with shapes, etc. I do need to say though that my daughter was not too interested in following any of the provided patterns... she would just prefer to insert and take out the little pegs and play however she wanted to (which is ok too!).
Flashcards with patterns and routine activities, etc. The pattern cards I used them for her to "copy" them in a blank paper, allowing creativity and deviations from the activity. The routine cards were great to show what needed to be done and in what order.
The colored chips and holder was great to practice colors, motor skills, dexterity, and play connect 3 (or 4, or 5).
The pretty boat, fish and sun puzzle -which I just now realize I may not have put the right piece as the sun lol- is great to work with colors, shapes, a specific theme (ocean, boats), and it develops spacial awareness by allowing one and only one shape per placement, so kids are able to succeed in building it.
Finally, this is the last box I have tried products from. I have not tried the 3, 4, or 5 year old boxes, but I am looking forward to doing so! Just by seeing the time my girls spend playing with these (instead of watching tv) is worth the subscription.
Color sorting, side counting, shape naming, correct placement of the elements, etc. The possibilities are many with a versatile toy like this.
Playing picnic tea time is perfect for every girl (and boy). They love pretend play and this allows them to expand their imagination.
This balance is great for children to explore weight and equality (without the fancy terms, of course).
As you can see, we have experimented with a lot of their toys and there is not a single one they did not like. They are all appealing to kids with their colorful presentation, beautifully and quality made with wood, plastic, metal and fabric.
One last thing I wanted to point out is that even though every box comes with different activities and information for parents, free play is really important for children to develop their independence, problem solving skills, etc. so playing in a different way is not wrong! And in the same way, if kids want to explore their own ways of interacting with things (for example, being on their belly in a swing) let them! (as long as it's safe) because this promotes better thinking, movement, and development in all areas.
As always, thank you for reading, and have a blessed day.
Maria Ignacia
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