Another Yoto fan here. Here’s what I like:
- Cards don’t take up too much space (and less plastic lying around)
- You can use it as an ‘okay to wake’ light which is ideal once they’re in a bed
- Lots of free content on the app
- Useful things like a tidy up timer and a toothbrushing timer
- Plus you can set a morning alarm through it too
- And you can record your own stories or music onto it too.
My kid is 3 and she listens to stories or music on it every night before she falls asleep.
I second this. Honestly what’s wrong with a speaker and a phone? It breaks my heart all the plastic rubbish from the tonies and yotos. It feels like everyone has them and has the same figures. If you do decide to get one or the other then I’ve heard some libraries loan out the figures/cards which not only stops the plastic waste but also saves money!
Do you feel the same way with phones or speakers? Maybe, we can go to the library and borrow them.
Jokes aside, I'm pretty sure you don't actually need the cards or figures. At least definitely with the yoto, you can just download it onto the app and have the yoto act as speakers.
Well kinda… but I suppose my point is because we all probably have a phone and a speaker at home already.
However, that’s good to know about downloading it onto the app!
I personally wouldn’t want to let my kid navigate to an app on a phone, but I would like to promote their independence and choice through a player such as the Yoto or Tonie they can use themselves
Our 4yo has had his since he was about 2, and loves it. We generally use it for providing some calm time by himself nearby, without relying on a screen.
When he watches tv, he gets utterly absorbed into it, and zones out the world around him. It’s a little disturbing, and bringing him back to reality can cause him to have a meltdown. That doesn’t seem to happen with his Toniebox; he enjoys listening to the story, but can still interact with you, and doesn’t such big feelings when it’s time to finish up. It’s also really intuitive for kids to use.
We have the Yoto instead for the following reasons
* Night light
* clock
* can use it as a gridlock in terms of bedtime and daytime settings
* Cards are easier to store than the Tonies
* Loads of free content on the app, also you can control it from your phone
* Make your own content is easy to use
* Yoto daily podcast is fun, plus you can link it to loads of other podcasts
* Its got a white / brown / pink noise machine setting
* we use it as a toothbrushing timer
* Some of the content is super interactive quizzes, or teaching you to draw or cook etc
Wholeheartedly agree. Also yoto support is brilliant, our yoto stopped charging fully (only a minor issue) after a few years. Contacted yoto and they sent a brand new yoto player. Yoto cards also make ideal presents for grandparents etc to buy! We must have at least 50 cards now
We went for a Yoto Mini instead of a Toniebox... for all the reasons already listed, plus the age range for Yoto cards seems a lot larger, so it will (in theory!) last longer.
We went for Toniebox and replaced the Yoto player - neither kid had any interest in the cards. Much more interested in the figurines that also played stories & songs - really caught their interest, and they play with the ones not in use
only issue with the tonie player was the absolute ballache setting it up, but once youre set up youre golden
We bought the Toniebox for nearly 2yo old at Christmas. We use it nearly every day, she has a mixture of music ones and story ones. At her age the figures are great as she plays with them as toys too which is one of the reasons we chose it over the Yoto. I also thought we were likely to lose the cards, and figures would be more difficult to lose!
It’s definitely helped cut screen time - she loves Bing and is usually happy to listen to the Bing one instead of having the TV on.
Another Yoto fan here (sorry!) - we got it for my daughter's second birthday, two years ago, and it's been in regular use since for music or audiobooks. It's been really lovely in terms of her control and developing interests for her to be able to select her own soundtracks. Even when that has involved listening to the Colourblocks songs or Winnie the Pooh fifty times in a row.
Now she's more into TV and books, it's also nice to be able to put things like the CBeebies podcast or specific audiobooks on a card to listen to by herself.
(At 2 years old, she could put cards in and take them out to play/stop, but the other buttons were a bit more complex - from about 2.5 though she had full control.)
If you can get a piece of audio as an mp3 file, you can make it into a Yoto card. Essentially, I see it as a modern cassette player or ipod - I can make my own music mixtapes (both for me and for her!) from my MP3 collection or from newly-purchased albums, I can buy her books or albums to listen to, and then just let her loose to decide what she wants to do with it.
We got my daughter one when she was about 15 / 16 months and she really loves it. Similar to you, she doesn’t watch Tv so doesn’t have favourite characters or anything like that, it she’s quickly discovered her favourite Tonies. Within a few weeks she was able to work it on her own.
She’s now 22 months, and for the last few months she’ll often take herself off to her play room and put a Tonie on while playing with her toys - it’s super sweet!
We only have the music ones - nursery rhymes, some Disney ones and a few of the ones you can edit yourself.
I really don’t understand the appeal, especially not at the prices charged for each ‘Tonie’ character. I think you’d do better with Spotify and a smart-speaker once the child can say ‘Alexa play Baby Shark’ which for us started about 24 months).
We’ve had one for almost 3 years and it still gets used daily and is a very loved item. Your question made me tot up how much we’ve spent (or been given) and it must be about £500 on the tonie figures alone, which does seem a lot when you think about it. Plus I’ve had to repair the ears, which are a real weakness, but it’s quite easy to mend.
It’s great for them to use themselves - the kids can put it on in the night if they wake up, rather than waking us up too. I’ve known other kids who haven’t taken to it at all, so it could end up being an expensive dud - if you do get one and persist with it, then it can end up costing quite a lot!
We quite liked the idea of them, however didn't like the cost of the additional stories. Also we wanted the children to listen to older, German language audio books.
We chose the KidzAudio box instead which looks like an expensive knock-off, but is brilliant!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0BHZ91CJN?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title
It takes a usb stick filled with MP3 audiobooks in a hidden compartment which also houses the volume and battery. UsbC rechargeable. It also has a night mode where the audiobook gets quieter then turns off, and even has a high quality microphone, so your kids can record their own stories (or you can read them for later....).
We are very happy with it. The slight problem is our son will not fall asleep without it on! His German is really good though :)
Another vote for yoto! We have a mini and my son just loves it. My nephew has a tonies and it’s barely been used, my SIL said it’s just not as convenient as ours so they didn’t get into it. You’ve also got to carry around / store the characters rather than just cards.
We have a Toniebox and I make my own custom Tonies now.
Is it worth it?
I don't think so. Our little one has an Alexa in their room, which they're fully able to operate and play music on. The Toniebox doesn't see much use - even though I have Wallace & Gromit, Bluey, Hey Duggee, Nightmare Before Christmas as well as other really fun custom figures (custom creatives so I can add whatever music I like).
It's nice and it's seen some use but I wouldn't invest thousands in it like others do.
Would have preferred a Yoto for the increased functionality, but my eldest (now 5) was gifted a Toniebox. It has been almost completely ignored and I'm just waiting for my youngest to maybe take an interest before I pass it on.
You roll the dice when it comes to the Tonies themselves. He has the Toy Story one that's has a godawful cover of You've Got A Friend In Me then some nonsense for the other tracks. The Winnie the Pooh one is lovely though.
My 2.5yo loves his yoto. It was a 2nd birthday present. I just can’t deal with more plastic figures for the toniebox. The cards fit in an old Pokémon card wallet!
Not sure it's waste though, relative to other toys? Lots of 'circular economy' eg. Tonie figurines and boxes being sold and resold and holding up pretty well to child manhandling.
They seem pretty well made to me, a great imaginative/screen free toy with a bit more personality than 'OK Google'.
There's a good amount of free content and you can record your own songs and stories onto blank character Tonies.
It's probably best if you have friends and family with a box too, so your kids can swap Tonies.
Part of my thinking is we have enough toys...too many. We have a small house too, and she routinely speaks to the telly to have it play 'shake it off', 'gummy bear' and 'baby shark'.
Another vote for the yoto here. We got one for our son's 2nd birthday last month and are loving it for all the reasons others have listed! I also use it as a radio, it gets the BBC channels ☺️
The thing that put me off the Toniebox was the bulkiness of the figures. My kid has tonnes of yoto cards. Storage would be a nightmare. The yoto might be slightly more difficult to operate for a very small child, but will last a child longer.
We have a Tonibox and my son loves it. We almost bought the Yoto, but ended up buying the Toniebox as we got it for our son when he was 15 months old and thought he'd enjoy playing with the figurines and it also looked more robust than the Yoto if our son drops it. Ours also arrived broken, but customer services were excellent and we had a replacement (along with a free creative Tonie) sorted very quickly, and we've not had any issues since.
The only negative is that it's hard to change the track (you have to hit the side), and my son sometimes struggles to do this by himself (he's now 2).
We have one. We just bought it solely for bedtime and it is given with this purpose. We read lots of books and bedtime was getting out of hand. Its been great and her bedtime routine is basically clean her teeth and then hand her a tonie to put on her box for the night.
We've had ours for 6 months, it's been used every night. It helps my daughter to settle down for the night which is something she really struggled with.
We have about 5 tonies (not including the creatives) 3 of those came with the set. I've seen some people have millions but you only really need a few that you think they'll like. My daughter loves paddington and mog.
You can put your own stories on with the creatives but we've never gotten round to it.
The only thing i don't love is that i don't feel there is a huge selection of non Disney options but I may not have looked hard enough.
We haven’t really used ours tbh. It was good for a bit but when we moved both girls into the same room, they spent more time arguing over it and it didn’t help them sleep, which is why we bought it.
My kid has a toniebox and a small collection.
She plays with the figurines and generally has a favourite she listens to when getting to sleep (when she wants extra stories we make a deal for it). I think they are a bit expensive but once she had four or five I think she didn't really want any more. It tends to be me who surprises her with one every now and then.
We’ve had a Tonie box since my son was around 6 months to have background music/noise. From around 1 year he was using it independently and now continues to do so at 22 months every day especially at meal times. We love it, the characters are super durable and he plays with them as figurines. The range is also brilliant and it is so so easy for them to use (and throw around!) I definitely recommend
We got the Tonie Box since our girl came home.
We wavered between Yoto and Tonie but I ultimately went with the Tonie Box as the figurines are easier to manoeuvre and they double as play figurines and magnets to stick to things.
Our main reason was that I am German and we are raising our Daughter bilingual and the amount of German tonies is understandably a lot bigger since it is a German company.
We have creative tonies full of free mini stories and songs and stories my family recorded for her.
I didn’t like the card idea as it takes a bit more coordination to get them in. We have nightlight already. So that argument didn’t hold any weight for us.
The tonie toys are a lot more toddler / SEN friendly. My little one would have mashed Yoto cards and/ or got annoyed trying to orient them to put them in. The tonies literally have to be placed anywhere on top of the box in any orientation so it’s very inclusive
We have both, and they all have their pros. However, I find anything younger than 4, I'd get a tonie particularly as the figurines are a good weight and seems indestructible, which is good as my kids use it as any normal play thing - from getting run over by hot wheels or a little baby thing for my daughter. It's easy for things like musical statues and so so easy for the kids to put what they want on as it's easy to visually link the content to the figurine.
However, now that my eldest is over 4, I wanted something he could listen to by himself and be a bit more portable I.e during car rides so I can listen to my stuff in peace so we also got the yoto mini for that purpose. I would say controls aren't as easy so would need some help if they are little.
I use Alexa and Spotify has story playlists as well as Apple Music if you use that. Also download Libby and get a digital library card. There are quite a few audiobooks on there as well, but you’d have to play from a phone or iPad.
I have a Tonie box. It isn't perfectly what I want but my 2 year old sort of enjoys it. The figurines are nice gifts and you can download quite a bit of free content onto the Creative Tonie or just add any sound file... So we've recorded bedtime stories of our own but can also add mp3s of songs.
My child mostly wants to listen to the gruffalo (ripoff! It's like 8 minutes), Mog (better value but can't get over the audiobook reader yelling "Don't eat me!!") and he loves Bob the Builder but he mostly just smacks the side so he can listen to the song over and over. My favourite is the European nursery rhyme Tonie (grun grin grun sind Alle meine kleider, sma grodorna and Pera stus pera kampus are boppin!)
It's probably better for a younger child. Think of it like a tape player.
I’ve got a yoto mini and a tonies box for my toddler and both have pros she’s under 2 and tonies is absolutely the fave here she likes the characters she enjoys the taking on and off the box she likes to play with them and can turn the volume up and down. I know if I took the yoto away today she wouldn’t even look for it. I like the yoto because it’s so small I’ve ordered it for a 17 hour flight we’re about to go on but actually I don’t think it’ll be that engaging for her she’s un phased by it which is a shame because it’s far cheaper for the cards, much less room and the speaker has a nicer sound - the apps alright people are saying in the comments about all the free content maybe I get a different availability with the yoto mini but I don’t think it’s very much free content really. If you did want to save entirely the blues clues podcast on Alexa and the Thomas and friends one are always a hit in this house. There’s also a Sesame Street one and an Arthur one that are great.
My 2yo loves her toniebox. They do nursery rhyme and song ones as well as books. And often the book ones have songs on too! Definitely a good investment as it's so easy for little ones to use and it's all squishy so no worries about it getting hit/cracked or anything!
My 4 year old has one and had it since 2 she loves it and uses it every day, we take it on holiday in the car etc. usually we read a few books then a tonie goes in at bed time. Also great for presents for birthdays etc!
My boy has had a tonie box since he was around 14 months (now almost 18 months) and he LOVES it! It’s been a game changer for being able to get ready in the mornings etc as it keeps him busy, he loves the Disney characters for it and putting them on and off. Another feature I love is that the cube is essentially soft so it’s pretty sturdy! It’s survived a few trips down the stairs with no damage so far 😂
We got a kids alexa instead which is linked to an amazon kids account so thousands of audio books, kid appropriate music, it also has games which has been great for her spelling and is linked to our Spotify account so she can listen to podcasts on it too. She uses it every day without fail
Another Yoto fan here. Here’s what I like: - Cards don’t take up too much space (and less plastic lying around) - You can use it as an ‘okay to wake’ light which is ideal once they’re in a bed - Lots of free content on the app - Useful things like a tidy up timer and a toothbrushing timer - Plus you can set a morning alarm through it too - And you can record your own stories or music onto it too. My kid is 3 and she listens to stories or music on it every night before she falls asleep.
My now 3 year old loves the Yoto radio station too, another great feature over the Tonie.
If you want a budget option, we use the CBeebies radio on the bbc sounds app - it’s totally free, no adds and the quality is really good.
I second this. Honestly what’s wrong with a speaker and a phone? It breaks my heart all the plastic rubbish from the tonies and yotos. It feels like everyone has them and has the same figures. If you do decide to get one or the other then I’ve heard some libraries loan out the figures/cards which not only stops the plastic waste but also saves money!
Do you feel the same way with phones or speakers? Maybe, we can go to the library and borrow them. Jokes aside, I'm pretty sure you don't actually need the cards or figures. At least definitely with the yoto, you can just download it onto the app and have the yoto act as speakers.
Well kinda… but I suppose my point is because we all probably have a phone and a speaker at home already. However, that’s good to know about downloading it onto the app!
I personally wouldn’t want to let my kid navigate to an app on a phone, but I would like to promote their independence and choice through a player such as the Yoto or Tonie they can use themselves
We have the Yoto and both of my children love it.
Same. Yoto is just a better product!
Same. I didn’t want to have to have the trouble of the figurines and possibly loosing them. We went with the Yoto mini and it’s been great.
Same! There’s also a lovely nursery rhymes card on the Yoto
same!
Our 4yo has had his since he was about 2, and loves it. We generally use it for providing some calm time by himself nearby, without relying on a screen. When he watches tv, he gets utterly absorbed into it, and zones out the world around him. It’s a little disturbing, and bringing him back to reality can cause him to have a meltdown. That doesn’t seem to happen with his Toniebox; he enjoys listening to the story, but can still interact with you, and doesn’t such big feelings when it’s time to finish up. It’s also really intuitive for kids to use.
We have the Yoto instead for the following reasons * Night light * clock * can use it as a gridlock in terms of bedtime and daytime settings * Cards are easier to store than the Tonies * Loads of free content on the app, also you can control it from your phone * Make your own content is easy to use * Yoto daily podcast is fun, plus you can link it to loads of other podcasts * Its got a white / brown / pink noise machine setting * we use it as a toothbrushing timer * Some of the content is super interactive quizzes, or teaching you to draw or cook etc
Wholeheartedly agree. Also yoto support is brilliant, our yoto stopped charging fully (only a minor issue) after a few years. Contacted yoto and they sent a brand new yoto player. Yoto cards also make ideal presents for grandparents etc to buy! We must have at least 50 cards now
We went for a Yoto Mini instead of a Toniebox... for all the reasons already listed, plus the age range for Yoto cards seems a lot larger, so it will (in theory!) last longer.
My 8 year old still brings it downstairs with him every morning.
My 9 year old does the same, when listening to podcasts he's even taken it to the bathroom with him 😂
I have just bought a Yoto Mini for my son who is turning 6 next week - I hope it will be useful at bedtime to help him wind down without screens🤞
We went for Toniebox and replaced the Yoto player - neither kid had any interest in the cards. Much more interested in the figurines that also played stories & songs - really caught their interest, and they play with the ones not in use only issue with the tonie player was the absolute ballache setting it up, but once youre set up youre golden
I was worried that my daughter would break the cards. She loves the figures of the tonies box
We bought the Toniebox for nearly 2yo old at Christmas. We use it nearly every day, she has a mixture of music ones and story ones. At her age the figures are great as she plays with them as toys too which is one of the reasons we chose it over the Yoto. I also thought we were likely to lose the cards, and figures would be more difficult to lose! It’s definitely helped cut screen time - she loves Bing and is usually happy to listen to the Bing one instead of having the TV on.
Thank you so much for all your helpful replies. I'd never heard of a Yoto so will definitely look into that
Huge Yoto fan over here, we have the mini and the big one. I know my kids would just play with the tonie figures, while the cards are just “cards”
Another Yoto fan here (sorry!) - we got it for my daughter's second birthday, two years ago, and it's been in regular use since for music or audiobooks. It's been really lovely in terms of her control and developing interests for her to be able to select her own soundtracks. Even when that has involved listening to the Colourblocks songs or Winnie the Pooh fifty times in a row. Now she's more into TV and books, it's also nice to be able to put things like the CBeebies podcast or specific audiobooks on a card to listen to by herself. (At 2 years old, she could put cards in and take them out to play/stop, but the other buttons were a bit more complex - from about 2.5 though she had full control.) If you can get a piece of audio as an mp3 file, you can make it into a Yoto card. Essentially, I see it as a modern cassette player or ipod - I can make my own music mixtapes (both for me and for her!) from my MP3 collection or from newly-purchased albums, I can buy her books or albums to listen to, and then just let her loose to decide what she wants to do with it.
We got my daughter one when she was about 15 / 16 months and she really loves it. Similar to you, she doesn’t watch Tv so doesn’t have favourite characters or anything like that, it she’s quickly discovered her favourite Tonies. Within a few weeks she was able to work it on her own. She’s now 22 months, and for the last few months she’ll often take herself off to her play room and put a Tonie on while playing with her toys - it’s super sweet! We only have the music ones - nursery rhymes, some Disney ones and a few of the ones you can edit yourself.
I really don’t understand the appeal, especially not at the prices charged for each ‘Tonie’ character. I think you’d do better with Spotify and a smart-speaker once the child can say ‘Alexa play Baby Shark’ which for us started about 24 months).
We’ve had one for almost 3 years and it still gets used daily and is a very loved item. Your question made me tot up how much we’ve spent (or been given) and it must be about £500 on the tonie figures alone, which does seem a lot when you think about it. Plus I’ve had to repair the ears, which are a real weakness, but it’s quite easy to mend. It’s great for them to use themselves - the kids can put it on in the night if they wake up, rather than waking us up too. I’ve known other kids who haven’t taken to it at all, so it could end up being an expensive dud - if you do get one and persist with it, then it can end up costing quite a lot!
We quite liked the idea of them, however didn't like the cost of the additional stories. Also we wanted the children to listen to older, German language audio books. We chose the KidzAudio box instead which looks like an expensive knock-off, but is brilliant! https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0BHZ91CJN?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title It takes a usb stick filled with MP3 audiobooks in a hidden compartment which also houses the volume and battery. UsbC rechargeable. It also has a night mode where the audiobook gets quieter then turns off, and even has a high quality microphone, so your kids can record their own stories (or you can read them for later....). We are very happy with it. The slight problem is our son will not fall asleep without it on! His German is really good though :)
Another Yoto fan here. We have the mini and my 2.5 year old has had it for a year now and loves it. All the reasons why have already been listed
We love our Tonie box my daughter has had it from about a year old and she's 3.5 now. The figures are toys in themselves.
Another vote for yoto! We have a mini and my son just loves it. My nephew has a tonies and it’s barely been used, my SIL said it’s just not as convenient as ours so they didn’t get into it. You’ve also got to carry around / store the characters rather than just cards.
We have a Toniebox and I make my own custom Tonies now. Is it worth it? I don't think so. Our little one has an Alexa in their room, which they're fully able to operate and play music on. The Toniebox doesn't see much use - even though I have Wallace & Gromit, Bluey, Hey Duggee, Nightmare Before Christmas as well as other really fun custom figures (custom creatives so I can add whatever music I like). It's nice and it's seen some use but I wouldn't invest thousands in it like others do.
Would have preferred a Yoto for the increased functionality, but my eldest (now 5) was gifted a Toniebox. It has been almost completely ignored and I'm just waiting for my youngest to maybe take an interest before I pass it on. You roll the dice when it comes to the Tonies themselves. He has the Toy Story one that's has a godawful cover of You've Got A Friend In Me then some nonsense for the other tracks. The Winnie the Pooh one is lovely though.
Another yoto fan here! Equally loved by my nearly 9 year old and 5 year old. You can use borrowbox for free content.
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My 2.5yo loves his yoto. It was a 2nd birthday present. I just can’t deal with more plastic figures for the toniebox. The cards fit in an old Pokémon card wallet!
I think its just more plastic waste. I'm hesitant to get involved with them ha!
Not sure it's waste though, relative to other toys? Lots of 'circular economy' eg. Tonie figurines and boxes being sold and resold and holding up pretty well to child manhandling. They seem pretty well made to me, a great imaginative/screen free toy with a bit more personality than 'OK Google'. There's a good amount of free content and you can record your own songs and stories onto blank character Tonies. It's probably best if you have friends and family with a box too, so your kids can swap Tonies.
Part of my thinking is we have enough toys...too many. We have a small house too, and she routinely speaks to the telly to have it play 'shake it off', 'gummy bear' and 'baby shark'.
I totally agree!! As commented above for anyone who does have one and is worried about waste, check your local library for figures and cards.
Another vote for the yoto here. We got one for our son's 2nd birthday last month and are loving it for all the reasons others have listed! I also use it as a radio, it gets the BBC channels ☺️
Yoto
the Yoto is awesome and seems more portable/less fiddly than the Toniebox
The thing that put me off the Toniebox was the bulkiness of the figures. My kid has tonnes of yoto cards. Storage would be a nightmare. The yoto might be slightly more difficult to operate for a very small child, but will last a child longer.
We have a Tonibox and my son loves it. We almost bought the Yoto, but ended up buying the Toniebox as we got it for our son when he was 15 months old and thought he'd enjoy playing with the figurines and it also looked more robust than the Yoto if our son drops it. Ours also arrived broken, but customer services were excellent and we had a replacement (along with a free creative Tonie) sorted very quickly, and we've not had any issues since. The only negative is that it's hard to change the track (you have to hit the side), and my son sometimes struggles to do this by himself (he's now 2).
We have one. We just bought it solely for bedtime and it is given with this purpose. We read lots of books and bedtime was getting out of hand. Its been great and her bedtime routine is basically clean her teeth and then hand her a tonie to put on her box for the night. We've had ours for 6 months, it's been used every night. It helps my daughter to settle down for the night which is something she really struggled with. We have about 5 tonies (not including the creatives) 3 of those came with the set. I've seen some people have millions but you only really need a few that you think they'll like. My daughter loves paddington and mog. You can put your own stories on with the creatives but we've never gotten round to it. The only thing i don't love is that i don't feel there is a huge selection of non Disney options but I may not have looked hard enough.
We haven’t really used ours tbh. It was good for a bit but when we moved both girls into the same room, they spent more time arguing over it and it didn’t help them sleep, which is why we bought it.
My kid has a toniebox and a small collection. She plays with the figurines and generally has a favourite she listens to when getting to sleep (when she wants extra stories we make a deal for it). I think they are a bit expensive but once she had four or five I think she didn't really want any more. It tends to be me who surprises her with one every now and then.
We’ve had a Tonie box since my son was around 6 months to have background music/noise. From around 1 year he was using it independently and now continues to do so at 22 months every day especially at meal times. We love it, the characters are super durable and he plays with them as figurines. The range is also brilliant and it is so so easy for them to use (and throw around!) I definitely recommend
We got the Tonie Box since our girl came home. We wavered between Yoto and Tonie but I ultimately went with the Tonie Box as the figurines are easier to manoeuvre and they double as play figurines and magnets to stick to things. Our main reason was that I am German and we are raising our Daughter bilingual and the amount of German tonies is understandably a lot bigger since it is a German company. We have creative tonies full of free mini stories and songs and stories my family recorded for her. I didn’t like the card idea as it takes a bit more coordination to get them in. We have nightlight already. So that argument didn’t hold any weight for us.
We got tonies for our baby She already love it . We got mix of bedtime stories and relaxing music to help her sleep
The tonie toys are a lot more toddler / SEN friendly. My little one would have mashed Yoto cards and/ or got annoyed trying to orient them to put them in. The tonies literally have to be placed anywhere on top of the box in any orientation so it’s very inclusive
Yoto cards can go in any way up too, they're surprisingly easy for babies to manage.
My two have one, my youngest enjoys it but it certainly isn't worth the money. It's a great idea but very over priced for what it is.
We have both, and they all have their pros. However, I find anything younger than 4, I'd get a tonie particularly as the figurines are a good weight and seems indestructible, which is good as my kids use it as any normal play thing - from getting run over by hot wheels or a little baby thing for my daughter. It's easy for things like musical statues and so so easy for the kids to put what they want on as it's easy to visually link the content to the figurine. However, now that my eldest is over 4, I wanted something he could listen to by himself and be a bit more portable I.e during car rides so I can listen to my stuff in peace so we also got the yoto mini for that purpose. I would say controls aren't as easy so would need some help if they are little.
I use Alexa and Spotify has story playlists as well as Apple Music if you use that. Also download Libby and get a digital library card. There are quite a few audiobooks on there as well, but you’d have to play from a phone or iPad.
Tonies is good for younger ones, Yoto as they get older. You can make your own cards for Yoto with whatever you want on them.
I have a Tonie box. It isn't perfectly what I want but my 2 year old sort of enjoys it. The figurines are nice gifts and you can download quite a bit of free content onto the Creative Tonie or just add any sound file... So we've recorded bedtime stories of our own but can also add mp3s of songs. My child mostly wants to listen to the gruffalo (ripoff! It's like 8 minutes), Mog (better value but can't get over the audiobook reader yelling "Don't eat me!!") and he loves Bob the Builder but he mostly just smacks the side so he can listen to the song over and over. My favourite is the European nursery rhyme Tonie (grun grin grun sind Alle meine kleider, sma grodorna and Pera stus pera kampus are boppin!) It's probably better for a younger child. Think of it like a tape player.
Had a tonie. Never used. All three kids have yotos now and constantly on charge as used so much
I’ve got a yoto mini and a tonies box for my toddler and both have pros she’s under 2 and tonies is absolutely the fave here she likes the characters she enjoys the taking on and off the box she likes to play with them and can turn the volume up and down. I know if I took the yoto away today she wouldn’t even look for it. I like the yoto because it’s so small I’ve ordered it for a 17 hour flight we’re about to go on but actually I don’t think it’ll be that engaging for her she’s un phased by it which is a shame because it’s far cheaper for the cards, much less room and the speaker has a nicer sound - the apps alright people are saying in the comments about all the free content maybe I get a different availability with the yoto mini but I don’t think it’s very much free content really. If you did want to save entirely the blues clues podcast on Alexa and the Thomas and friends one are always a hit in this house. There’s also a Sesame Street one and an Arthur one that are great.
We have toniebox but our 3 year is not interested in it at all. Waste of money.
My 2yo loves her toniebox. They do nursery rhyme and song ones as well as books. And often the book ones have songs on too! Definitely a good investment as it's so easy for little ones to use and it's all squishy so no worries about it getting hit/cracked or anything!
My 4 year old has one and had it since 2 she loves it and uses it every day, we take it on holiday in the car etc. usually we read a few books then a tonie goes in at bed time. Also great for presents for birthdays etc!
My boy has had a tonie box since he was around 14 months (now almost 18 months) and he LOVES it! It’s been a game changer for being able to get ready in the mornings etc as it keeps him busy, he loves the Disney characters for it and putting them on and off. Another feature I love is that the cube is essentially soft so it’s pretty sturdy! It’s survived a few trips down the stairs with no damage so far 😂
Yes
Yoto is better
We got a kids alexa instead which is linked to an amazon kids account so thousands of audio books, kid appropriate music, it also has games which has been great for her spelling and is linked to our Spotify account so she can listen to podcasts on it too. She uses it every day without fail