Best Baby Toy Subscriptions

At first glance, the Lovevery site looks a little overwhelming, but it’s actually fairly simple: When you sign up for a subscription, you get a new “play kit” every two or three months depending on the age of your child (kits for babies under 1 come every two months; all other ages are every three). While each box is themed around a different skill or milestone, you don’t have to worry about picking and choosing which kit is best for your child. Lovevery does the work for you.

With a subscription plan, you’ll receive a new box chock full of wooden and organic cotton toys, puzzles, and manipulatives designed for your child’s “micro-developmental period.” That means each shipment contains items made to foster what Lovevery calls stage-based play, or playtime specifically oriented around how your child’s brain is growing at that specific moment in time (although they’ll probably keep on loving the toys for a long time after that period has ended!). Some of the themed boxes for babies are sensing, exploring, and inspecting, and include black and white objects, sensory toys, nesting and stacking objects, dolls, board books, and scarves. 

Lovevery boxes grow with your child, accommodating development up to age 4. Baby boxes are $80 and delivered bi-monthly; boxes for toddlers and preschoolers are $120, but only delivered every three months, so the cost breakdown per month remains the same for either plan.

Buying high-quality toys for your baby can get expensive and time-consuming, but with Hoppi Box, your child will receive a box every three months with four or five educational and age-appropriate toys designed to boost creativity, imagination, and exploration.

Typical toys in a Hoppi Box include rattles and puzzles, colorful stacking toys, baby-friendly books, bath toys, musical toys, and all kinds of wooden foods, shapes, animals, and blocks. All of Hoppi Box’s toys are eco-friendly and made from organic, sustainable materials. Since you input your child’s age when you sign up, each one of your shipments will be curated to appeal to your child, meeting them where they’re at developmentally (and helping them reach the next milestone, too).

The quarterly prepaid plan is $75 per box, but if you commit to the annual plan, each box will only cost $66 (which breaks down to $22 per month). However, if you do sign up for the annual plan, you’ll be charged for the year upfront—so even if you cancel your subscription, you’ll still receive boxes you paid for in advance.

For parents wanting to receive more frequent subscription boxes while ensuring each one is still matched to their child’s age, we love the Didi’s Toy Box model. The subscription company was founded by a former New York City toy shop owner with kids of her own, so she knows exactly what kinds of toys appeal to kids of all ages. 

We know how hard it is to keep up with the demands of a newborn—they’re growing super quickly and constantly looking for engaging new toys to investigate. (Plus, you have to store extra toys in the diaper bag...and on the changing table...and at Grandma’s house!). If you’re trying to avoid cheap plastic toys, this can get pretty expensive, but Didi’s Toy Box offers a way to keep your baby happy with heirloom-quality toys on a comparatively affordable budget. 

You’ll get a new box every month containing three to four toys; since you enter your child’s birth date and choose from one of four age-based plans, the company curates items your baby is guaranteed to love. You can choose from plans geared toward kids ages birth to 12 months, 12 to 36 months, 3 to 5 years, and 5 to 6 years (so if you’ve got an older child at home struggling with the introduction of a new sibling, there’s a box just for them, too!).

You’ll find a line of Kiwi Crate boxes on nearly every subscription service list on our site, and for good reason: The folks at Kiwi Crate know what kids like, what parents want to pay for, and how to make everyone happy in the process.

Panda Crate, Kiwi Crate’s subscription for babies up to 24 months old, is no exception. Every other month, you’ll receive a set of four to five age-appropriate toys, puzzles, and activities, all designed by an in-house team of child development experts. Each shipment caters to the skills your baby is working on at that point in their development; think everything from bonding and spatial awareness to sorting and shape recognition.

These activities build the foundation your child will need to move into the preschool years. Panda Crate provides sensory experiences and teaches early math skills, memory and recall, and both gross and fine motor skills, so when your baby is ready to pick up a crayon and start drawing, they can get right to work. Plus, if your baby ages out of Panda Crate, they can transition seamlessly to Koala Crate, a hands-on learning subscription perfect for kids ages 2 to 4.