3 Best Baby Toy Subscription Boxes, Tested by Real Parents

Lovevery is the brand that made high-quality, Montessori-toy subscription boxes popular, and our Parenting and Toy Lab experts are particularly impressed by the quality of the parent guides that are included in each box.

Each guide explain the milestones your child is hitting, what activities will interest them most and ways you, the parent, can help foster growth. They're golden in the baby months when your infant is changing by the day, but also super helpful up through the preschools years. (Did you know that age 4 is when kids should learn to cut with safe scissors, for instance?)

As simple as they look, the toys are unique — it's hard to buy some of the playthings elsewhere, like the two-sided mobile that comes in the first box for a newborn, or the wood-box-based ball run in the Play Kit for a baby's first birthday. "I used the Lovevery boxes for the first year of my son's life. The toys were all practical, fun to play with and engaging," a parent told us. Another said, "Hands-down one of the best items for parents to invest in."

One caveat is that you have to sign up for the subscription, even if you just want to try one box. You can cancel or skip a box at any time, but there's no buying one and being done.

The brand does sell some toys outside of the Play Kits. It makes one of our favorite baby play gyms (called The Play Gym, with a five-star Amazon rating) and, at Target, Lovevery sells a book bundle and learning toys like an Organic Montessori Ball.

But back to the all that parent guidance: Whether you buy the Play Kits or not, you can download the Lovevery five-star-rated iOS app with play ideas and listen to its podcast on Spotify that explains some Montessori teaching methods.

Shipping: Free | Delivery: Every two months | Age range: Stops at the 5th birthday | Subscription details: You must subscribe and then skip any box you don't want, or cancel to stop

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While KiwiCo has been around longer than either Lovevery or Lalo, its boxes for kids are primarily focused on teaching older kids STEAM skills and school subjects. KiwiCo still has an extremely robust line of boxes age-graded all the way up to 16, including a Doodle Crate for crafty kids and a Tinker Crate for engineering projects.

KiwiCo recently reimagined its baby boxes, called KiwiCo Panda Crates, for birth through age 2. You can buy in three tiers: The $50 box has five to seven toys and a guide for parents about a baby's milestones; the $80 box adds in one or two toys for a child to grow into plus an additional play guide; the deluxe $90 box adds in a baby book for a child's library.

The boxes have a focus on learning, and though the brand doesn't use the word Montessori, the playthings are hands-on, non-electronic and mostly constructed from wood or fabric. Many are unique and colorful like the rainbow-shaped tummytime pillow in the first infant box, shown in the picture.

Because these boxes just launched in March we do not have extensive feedback from consumer testers. Our Lab experts have seen them and feel they include high-quality toys. Note that KiwiCo does the age-grading slightly differently; instead of starting at 0-2 months the first box is 0-1 month, and then it proceeds to 2-3 months, 4-5 months and so on so your sixth box in the first year is for 10-11 months.

If you don't want to commit to a full subscription you can buy a set of either three or six boxes instead, a nice option for a very nice gift or for parents who want to stock up and then feel done for awhile.

Shipping: Free | Delivery: Every two months | Age range: Stops at the 3rd birthday. Then you can sign up for other boxes through age 16 | Subscription details: You can cancel a subscription anytime after the first box ships. Three- or six-box purchases available if you don't want to subscribe.

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Lalo partners with eco-conscious Play Toys for its boxes, and our consumer testers all thought the playthings were aesthetically pleasing. "The quality of the wood is fantastic," one said. Another, who tested with a toddler, said they could actually see their child's dexterity improving as they played, adding, "The activities were challenging, amusing, age-appropriate and came packaged with clear instructions."

But several other tester families told us that their box had hits and misses. "My 6-month-old loved the tissue box of scarves in the 5-6 month box," one parent said. "But the baby book was about trust. It would have made more sense to have it be about animals or something." Another said, "The instructions could have been more engaging with photos, in case an older sibling or grandparent tries to help out. Our guide was only in writing."

Lalo's Play Boxes cost the same as Lovevery's Play Kits, and they're both delivered every two months. Lalo differs in that it lets you buy just one box if that is all you want. That makes Lalo a great choice if you want to give a baby box as a gift set. But Lalo currently only offer boxes through age 2, stopping at the third birthday.

The other item that the brand is known for, which came out before the baby subscription boxes, is Lalo The Chair high chair. It also has a simple, wooden aesthetic. Newer is The Tower which, true to Montessori philosophy, provides a way for children ages 18 months and up to stand taller in the kitchen and participate in food prep or reach items independently.

Lalo expands further into the playroom with a wooden Play Kitchen and into the bathroom with a Bathtime Starter Kit.

Shipping: Free | Delivery: Every two months | Age range: Stops at the 2nd birthday | Subscription details: You can cancel a subscription at any time. One-time purchase available if you don't want to subscribe.

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