We received a Pley service trial in hopes we would share our honest experiences here. Regardless, all opinions are genuine- all photos are copyright Momma Told Me Blog 2016.
Momma Told Me: I'm not going to pay for something you're just going to lose.
From the very beginning we are driven to create- we stack blocks simply to knock them down, then we imagine our childhood bedroom is a dragon's lair, and the floor hot lava. Creativity is a basic instinct, but the ability to compose and create with the satisfaction of completion is priceless to a growing young mind. When I was a little girl, and even a tween, I'd spend hours in my room happily occupied with my building block sets. Coordination, problem solving, cognition, creativity, and sense of accomplishment are all fostered when a child begins snapping building blocks together. You can even count on the benefit of reading skills and teamwork if block sets and siblings/friends are involved.
Every set of building blocks I owned growing up was second hand. Momma refused to invest money in something with such tiny pieces that would inevitably get lost after just one or two times of being built. I remember when Jurassic Park came out there was a raptor play set I asked for every day to no avail. Of course, by that Summer I had moved on to an entirely new obsession and my
building block demands had changed. Let's face it, building block sets, such as Legos, are pricey and often only meant to supplement a larger collection of base Legos and characters. And most of the pieces are never assembled the same again, after initial use.
So, when we heard about Pley, the block rental service, I was excited. Pley has over 300 unique building sets in their current catalog, and for one low monthly price you can rent them. Don't worry, the sets are sanitized before being sent back out! In fact, Pley is not only a budget friendly solution for the modern parent (the average parent saves $800 a year by renting building sets), but an Eco-friendly one too. Believe it or not, one single rental saves 10lbs of CO
2 emissions or more, and the average account will rent 2-3 sets in a month! Plans start as low as $19.99/month when you commit to a 6 months membership, or $24.99 for a month to month membership.
While, at this time, you an only have one toy/set out at a time, you can have multiple accounts with multiple email addresses to ensure every child in your home gets a set appropriate for their interests or skill level. The way Pley works is through a 2 step process- 1.) Fill your Pley List with up to 10 of your favorite sets from the Pley catalog, then 2.) Select the set you'd like to receive next from the available sets shown during your delivery window. I recommend an adult always helps with the online account end as we had a bit of confusion over this part of the process.
The Pley system, at this time, will always choose a set to send you based only our chosen difficulty level and interests. At first we were logging in, browsing our day's selections, and choosing a replacement, then logging out. We planned on logging back in the next day and checking for any different selection availability, and figured the system would ship our selection from the day prior if we didn't make it on. As it turns out you must tell the
Pley system to send your set at the time you choose it or you will receive whatever set the system had defaulted to before.
That minor confusion aside the Pley rental service has worked beautifully for us. Our first shipment included a nice Pley 'dump box,' sticker poster, sticker, building brick bracelet band, and extremely cool 'block removal' tool. Following shipments arrived in plastic mailer bags. The blocks themselves are always presented with the instruction/assembly manual in a sturdy red mesh zipper bag with the set name, pieces, and theme printed on a sewn on tag. Should you ever discover a piece is lost upon arrival, or find you've misplaced a piece during play simply logon to your Pley portal and report it.
Pley has a very large range of building sets for all ages from advanced K'Nex sets to simpler DUPLO sets and of course branded Lego sets such as LEGO movie and
Star Wars. There are even mini figure sets you can rent to enhance the creativity and fun of your existing creations. While Pley is about building the set or creation rented, the sets are, for the most part, intended to be played with as an add on or enhancement to your child's existing collection.
Once your child has conquered the last block, or grown bored with their rental, they can place all of the pieces back in the red mesh bag and seal it securely in the postage paid shipping bag. Toss it in any USPS postal box, or drop it off at the post office, and you will receive notice that Pley has been informed and your next rental is open within a day or so. The turnaround really is great, and I love that we can track both the return process and the next set. I do, however wonder what Pley does with the broken/missing a piece sets? We think it would be really cool to pay a little extra to get a surprise bundle of random blocks we could keep each month but it would also be neat if they donated them! You can learn more and
sign up for Pley here!
Have you ever rented toys before? Would you consider renting building sets for your kids?
What Daughter Says: Building blocks come and go- stop wasting money and start renting your building sets while reducing CO2 emissions with Pley.
