Lovevery Observer Play Kit Review: Worth It vs Amazon in 2023?!

Wondering if Lovevery's Observer Play Kit for Months 37, 38, 39 is worth it? In short: YES!

In this post, I'll walk you through each item included in The Observer Play Kit from Lovevery, our personal experience with it after 9+ months of use followed by how the items compare to Amazon Alternatives and other toy dupes (with links to shop those as well if self curating this Lovevery play kit!).

What's inside The Observer Play Kit from Lovevery? [+ Amazon Alternatives!]

Personal Experience:

There is no denying this wooden weatherboard for toddlers is gorgeous. However, I actually don't love it!

The seasons area is done absolutely beautifully and I love the smart design for storing the unused cards.

My biggest complaint, is that there's no spot on the board for the moon phases like this dupe or this one.

With so many women experiencing issues with trying to conceive today, often times related on some level to hormonal imbalances which are only further perpetuated by hormonal birth controls, I think we have a duty to teach our children, especially daughters, about the phases of the moon from a young age.

As human beings we are so connected to the moon, and women's menstrual cycles are even more so. I think having this on the board gives parents the ability to layer onto that knowledge as kids grow older and go through puberty and are looking for more natural ways to understand their cycle.

Even if that's not a concern for parents, let's simply be real, all kids go through a phase where they become intrigued by the moon.

I do like the days of the week and the little spot to depict whether it's a school or home day, but I find switching those out a little tough and they got bent up pretty quickly by my toddler and think they could swap that out for phases of the moon in future iterations. Let me know if you guys agree!

Dupes:

Additionally, living in Florida our weather changes minute by minute. It literally will rain on one side of the street and not the other. For us the concept of “wet, wetter, wettest” as shown in this and this weather board or this one are more accurate.

Furthermore, living in a coastal beach town wind factor is a huge thing we look at for a lot of reasons: it can be 90 degrees outside and feel like 110 or 80 depending on the wind that day. Additionally, the wind plays a huge role in beach conditions. Teaching my kids about both gusts and wind directions is a pretty big part of living in Florida, understanding surf conditions, etc.

Lastly, I'm a fan of this dupe as well because it has a humidity meter, which again in Florida is a big thing to understand.

There are also cheaper dupes that wooden weatherboards that are magnetic or velcro and do a good job hybriding a calendar meets weatherboard in an age appropriate way (just look at what matters most to you: moon, wind, rain levels, day of the week, temperature, general weather, dressing options, etc.):

Overall, if I were to purchase a dupe for this, I'd personally get this one… and honestly still may get it!

For this reason, I'm going to hold off on talking about our experience and dupes until I cover those.

Personal Experience:

This is one of my daughter's favorite items from this play kit!

It's such a fun concept in discovering all the ways the items can be utilized together or separately. The peg dolls from the car set, fit perfectly into the bed. The staircase can be used inside, outside, or even on top of the play house as a ramp.

The slide can act as a bridge, slide, or ramp for the people/car.

Additionally, one of the modular dollhouse pieces has a lock so it doubles as a little lock box. As a reminder, Lovevery has a “lost parts” policy where if you lose an item they'll replace it. But with that said, the keys/lock are compatible with the Camper van from the Free Spirit play kit – which can also be utilized with all of these items for an even bigger imaginative play scene!

Initially, I did not give my daughter the guide because I wanted to see what she came up with on her own. But then she found it in my office one day and started using it to set up all the configurations on her own and REALLY loved that.

Dupes:

As far as modular playhouses with various sections that can be moved/stacked there are a few dupes out there, but most are sold in Europe. With that said, I was able to find a few that are similar, but nothing that features the same level of fine motor skill (thanks to the locked door/key feature), or imagination (thanks to the ramp and staircase configurations).

• Hape's Geometric House (cheapest + furniture): Check price on Fat Brain Toys | Check price on Walmart |
• Slide N Go Dollhouse: Check price on The Tot | Check Price On Bohemian Mama |
• Babai Dollhouse with Magnets: multiple colors and individual dollhouses that can be purchased to create a modular dollhouse and reconfigured thanks to the magnetic sides
• LEGO DUPLO Town Modular Playhouse 10929: reconfigure this modular dollhouse at least 3 ways, plus it comes with furniture and a family.

Personal Experience:

We've actually never used these. I love the idea of them, but my daughter already knew her left and right before getting these.

They are a really nice quality that seem durable.

Dupes:

I found these which are the most similar with the animal in half concept.

And I know for a fact these shoe labels are most similar in quality as we have loads of their labels.

Personal Experience:

My daughter loves these little dolls, and my baby loves to mouth them!

She will pick them up and ask me “what's that one?” and I'll often pair it with the old “how I feel” book for the year 1 play kits as well as the puppets that come in the next play kit to bring things to life. Sometimes we'll use the dolls while reading a story as well to further identify/reinfice the name of an emotion.

Dupes:

There aren't many alternatives on Amazon, but Etsy has quite a few great options:

• My Felt Story: Offers a pack of 6 or 12 wooden peg emotion dolls in either muted tones or bright colors you can shop here.
• Unfinished Wooden Peg Dolls: You can shop various shapes and sizes here, then simply paint or use a marker to DIY your own emotion dolls like this.

Personal Experience:

“Quiet in my body” is a great little book that I do like and we read pretty often, but I can't honestly say has helped much. I wish the authors would've followed the child's instinct to pull his hand away, and met him where he was at in completing the stress cycle with a physical expression. Then moved into more “adult” processing styles with affection and breathing.

Two Big Feelings I held off on introducing to my daughter for a long time since we don't typically have issues at the store. We just tell her the items live at the store. However, she did become obsessed with getting presents and this book helped us a lot in the meltdown that looked very much like Amar's. What was interesting though, after reading it 10 times I asked how she was feeling and she said she was still angry. From the outside, she looked calm like in the previous book… which is why I think following the child's processing style is so important. For anxious kiddos, angry CAN look calm.

Happy Either Way I really love. It's a situation we deal with a lot as my toddler historically gets overwhelmed by big energy and kids kind of bum rushing her. So we work with her a lot on using her strong voice or creating exit routes and this big does a great job showing that she's not the only one who deals with being happy and worried.

Dupes:

I honestly don't want to recommend dupes for these because I've bought several of the best selling feelings books from Amazon and haven't loved any of them.

How much does Lovevery's Observer Play Kit Cost?

Lovevery's Observer Play Kit costs $120, but they do offer prepaid bundle options for up to a 10% discount here.

Is Lovevery Observer Play Kit Worth It?

Yes! I really do love this play kit, even though I had some sticking points!

Financially:

Financially it's 100% worth it. To re-create this play kit using the cheapest similar dupes you're looking at spending around $130 (I just assumed $10 per each book on the low end for a quality match if you were to buy 3 other books); if you were to buy the most expensive/highest quality dupes you're looking at spending $295.

Either way, the cost to recreate this is more than the cost of the play kit itself; most notably the cost of the most similar dollhouse is $160, which that alone puts you above the cost of this play kit and without the toy car.

Qualitatively:

The modular play house with all of it's accessories really carry this play kit in my opinion.

After looking at dupes, I do think that (the dollhouse), the wooden peg dolls, and the books make it worth $120 even if I didn't particularly care for the shoe stickers or weatherboard.

And again, my dislike for the weatherboard is 100% location based, if I lived further north, I don't think I'd have as many issues with it and I'd just buy a separate moon chart. But I do sincerely hope they re-work this and get rid of the clothes on the thermometer and put numbers as well as maybe get rid of the “weekday/weekend” and “home/school” slider since those are hard to change out anyway and can only display one, and do a phases of the moon slider instead which seems like an easy enough swap.

If you do not want every single item in this play kit, then it may make sense to just get

Shop “The Observer” Play Kit From Lovevery here!

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