Lovevery “The Thinker” Play Kit Review For 11-12 Months: Worth It?

Organic Cotton Baby Doll

Super soft organic cotton baby doll that you can choose the skin tone for.

My daughter LOVES dolls and they are great for building empathy/social skills!

Wooden Peg Drop

A fun fine motor skill puzzle for kids to work on problem solving with the lever release.

The lever release is a unique feature and it's actually not easy to find a toy exactly like this as a result. Here's a similar dupe from Amazon though.

Sliding top box

A wooden box where the lid slides back and forth to build strength, problem solving skills, and hand-eye coordination. The top video is to show is in action, but in the February 2021 update, they shrunk it (bottom picture).

I'm kind of sad about the smaller size… we used the original larger box as a “bedroom” or “apartment” by sitting it on it's side while playing. Granted you could use a shoe box to do that I'm talking about though!

“Animals I See” Mini Book

Another item we throw in our zipper pouch from the last playkit for traveling or doctor's appointments!

We also keep it at our changing station sometimes to make diaper changes easier.

The pages are really chunky and the book is small enough that your little one will most likely be able to hold/turn the pages on their own at this age.

Organic Cotton Sensory Pouch

This works on object permanence and the pincer grasp.

Basically it's a reversible bag to hide something in, then try to get it out. Lots of skill development here!

Pincer Cylinder Puzzle

Working gross and fine motor skills with this puzzle! A little cube with a round puzzle piece and the puzzle knob is tiny so you're child will have to work on their pincer grasp.

Opposites balls

One ball is really heavy and the other is light weight (made of a thick rubbery material though so it's very different than the ball from the ring stacking toy in Lovery's “The Explorer” Play Kit.

You can use these balls, obviously to teach opposites in the bath. We just use them in our hands since I get nervous about the little hole and mold growth.

Play Guide

Researched backed explanation of the skills your 11-12 month old is working on and ideas for playing with all the items in The Thinker play kit.

Baby Avery!!

While we LOVE baby Avery – I'd suggest skipping it.

First, you get a doll in this play kit. Second, my daughter always preferred these dolls (<– 20% off with that link!) over Avery.

We do use Avery in the the Lovevery block set car and drive it all around the house though! But another soft small toy would work fine for that.

More Opposites Book

My daughter LOVED this book for SO long! She's now just over 2 and has gotten more into story books over pictures books like this though.

With that said, I do still hand it to her all the time – car rides, nap time, potty time, and tell her to read it to herself and it does engage her.

It's a great Montessori style book teaching the concept of opposites to add to your collection. Depending on what they've priced it at in the subscriber shop, you may be better off with this one on Amazon though!

Wooden stacking stones

Stone shaped wooden pieces for stacking and banging.

I don't have much to say on this item, as it wasn't in the first iteration of this play kit so we don't have them – and they've since discontinued it.

I do know these “stacking stones” are quite popular though and work a ton of skills. But I would skip getting it from Lovevery and instead get larger, more diverse arrangement off Amazon here!

Baby's first wallet, credit cards and coins

Words cannot even describe how obsessed my daughter was with this! We introduced it to her around 6 months and she played with it nonstop for about 6-10 months.

However around 18 months, she totally lost interest in it, and it hasn't returned (she's now 25 months).

I think when she was little she liked the credit cards as teethers. And as she grew older she got frustrated that she couldn't do the zipper of the wallet on her own (my daughter LOVE independence).

Lastly, in the playkit that comes after this, you get wooden coins in a different toy, so you aren't missing out on that.

So for that reason, I'd say skip it and get this one instead since it's velcro and your child should be able to do it on their own.