Play Gear Deep Dive

Play gym
Recommended: Lovevery Play Gym
While it is on the pricier side, we loved the Lovevery Play Gym for many reasons. First, all of Lovevery’s products are designed with the Montessori philosophy—encouraging the development of little brains through open-ended play that is challenging but not overstimulating. Second, Lovevery also uses some of the safest materials in their products. Finally, the Gym is incredibly durable. Miss F spit up and had diaper leaks on it more times than I can count, but it was easy to just toss in the washer and still didn’t show any wear. All of the attachments look new as well, even after lots of play. While there are other play gyms on the market, many have so many features that they are overstimulating; others are made with materials we liked to avoid. In my opinion, The Lovevery Play Gym is hard to beat.

Padded play mat
Recommended: Wander & Roam
If you have hard floors, you’ll want a soft mat for your little one’s playspace. Unfortunately, there are no truly non-toxic squishy options. A nice wool rug can help a lot, but most are very expensive and shed. We settled on a Wander & Roam mat, which is about as close to non-toxic as you can get for a foam mat. It is made of TPU foam (Thermoplastic Polyurethane), which is often used in medical devices, running shoes, and other sporting goods. It’s free from BPA, PVC, and formamide, it’s easy to clean and hypoallergenic, and it’s nonflammable. The mats exceed all U.S. and European testing standards. When we received ours, it didn’t have any odor or “off-gassing,” although I left it in our garage for a few days just in case. After three years of use, the mat still looks brand new (except for a few punctures from our dog’s nails).

Portable play blanket
Recommended: Gathre Mini Mat or Rudie Nudie (regular or larger)*
While these are totally optional, they can be handy for outdoor/park time, or indoor sensory play and crafts when your baby is a little older. We have the Gathre and love that it folds up extremely compactly and is very easy to wipe clean. I’ve been eyeing the Rudie Nudie mats; their regular and larger sizes have a cotton topping but an interior waterproof layer. While I would guess that neither the Gather or the Rudie Nudie is a perfectly free of toxins, they can be very handy to use once in a while. I would also guess that the Rudie Nudie is a slightly less toxic option, since it has the cotton topping.

Loveys
Recommended: Under the Nile, Colored Organics*
When your little one is very small and likes to mouth everything, it’s great to prioritize non-toxic loveys that aren’t made with polyester or other icky artificial materials. Miss F has several Under the Nile animals, and while we don’t have any from Colored Organics, they look like another great option. Always remember that safe sleep practices dictate that nothing should be in your baby’s sleep space with them—so reserve the loveys for playtime.

Toy subscription
Recommended: Lovevery Play Kits
Other good options: Montikids, KiwiCo
A toy subscription is not required by any means, and can end up being a little more expensive than purchasing your own toys. However, for us, I found it to be a great way to slowly acquire developmentally-appropriate, high-quality toys—and honestly, to prevent us from acquiring too many toys. We chose the Lovevery toy subscription and absolutely loved it. Since we knew the perfect mix of toys would be delivered to Miss F every two months, we were able to restrain ourselves from going overboard on separate purchases. We found the Lovevery toys to be very high quality, and they were always Miss F’s favorites. Now that we are getting them back out for Miss E, they still seem like new. They also have excellent resale quality, so when your own kids have outgrown them, you can recoup a lot of the cost. As mentioned previously, Lovevery uses non-toxic, sustainable materials, so we also felt good about purchasing from them. While we have not personally tried it, I have heard Montikids is another good option—it is a newer company so it may not be quite a streamlined as Lovevery, but from what I can tell their kits are just as thoughtfully curated. KiwiCo is also a popular choice; I have only seen its kits for older kids, and they appear to be more activity- and craft-based (and thus, not as durable or able to be used for multiple kids).

Classics
Recommended: Sophie la Girafe, Fifi the Firefly, HABA Musical Eggs, Mia Penguin Teether
While the Lovevery Toys comprised the core of our playthings, we have purchased a handful of complementary toys along the way. These are a few of our favorites. I would consider all of them non-toxic except Fifi the Firefly, but Fifi was such a big hit—especially in the car—that we were still willing to let our babies play with her.

Books
Recommended: Goodnight Moon, Good Night Gorilla, Pout Pout Fish, Giraffes Can’t Dance, Love You Forever, Corduroy, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Wonderful Things You Will Be, The Circus Ship, God Gave Us You , The Toddler’s Bible
There are SO MANY good infant and children’s books! We have multiple bookshelves at our house that are completely full, plus more in the closet that we rotate out. These are just a few of our favorites to get your brainstorming started.

Favorite brands/stores
Recommended: Our Green House, Plantoys, Greentoys, Fat Brain Toys, Tender Leaf Toys, Melissa and Doug, HABA
These brands are all reputable and use non-toxic, sustainable materials. Generally all of their offerings encourage open-ended, brain-building play as well. We have often given these brand names to grandparents and uncles when they were searching for the perfect gifts for our daughters. Out of all of these, Melissa and Doug is probably the “least” non-toxic, but its options are still far better than the vast majority of brands available. It also is very accessible and offers a huge variety of playthings for all ages. One other brand I will mention is Step2. While its toys are primarily plastic, the plastic used is one of the safest varieties. Miss F loves her Step2 water table!