Yoto Player + Gruffalo & Friends Bundle – Kids Screen-Free Bluetooth Audio Speaker & 6 Card Pack, Play Audiobooks Music Podcasts Radio Sleep Sounds, Ok-to-Wake Alarm Clock with Nightlight, Ages 3-12+

My kids love this player. It is used everyday and works beautifully. Super robust and the controls are easy for little fingers. It is super versatile plus I love the free content on the Yoto App. The cards are thick so they won’t break easily. Everything about this player is just great quality.

Bought as a Christmas gift for grandparents to gift to our 2.5 year old.Why the Yoto Player:Was torn between Yoto Player and the Toniebox. Most members on the Yoto Player Facebook community group have both players and concurred that their child loves the Toniebox. They would recommend a Toniebox for a younger child under 4 and the Yoto Player for an older child. The Tonie is perfect for a toddler, robust and extremely simple to use. I decided on the Yoto over the Tonie for our 2.5 year old for the following reasons:1. I try to avoid buying plastic toys. Although cute and fun for a toddler, I don't like the plastic Tonie figurines and feel the novelty will wear off pretty quickly especially as he gets older with limited content for an older child. Most reviewers said by age 4 their child had outgrown the Tonies content as wanted more challenging stories.2. Storage: I love that the cards come in a little pouch that can be stuck to the inside of the book, or you can simply store away in a business card folder, a basket, or drawer rather than adding to toy clutter.3. Cost per card. Yoto cards vary from £4.99, €6.99, £8.99 to a collection for £19.99. One Tonie figurine costs €14.99 to £22.49. Long term the Yoto Player price ratio is far more cost affective. You can also buy packs of blank cards to record your own content too.4. Content. The Yoto Player has a far superior library catalogue. I read they have a contract with Puffin so a much bigger range. I love that I could purchase the Mog collection, Shirley Hughes, and the Ahlbergs Funny Bones! For older kids they have Roald Dahl and Enid Blytons collections. They have a growing library of authors and content such as meditation & mindfulness, classical music, fairy tales, languages. They also provide free content: featured audios, and access to numerous podcasts and radio stations for children.5. Extras: The Yoto Player has loads of extras built in: Bluetooth, radio, podcast, night light, clock with am and pm display, and a pixilated front which is very retro and cute.6. Userbility: (updated) using almost 5 months. Toddler then 2.5 now 3 has no issue operating on his own. We find it especially good for car trips were he selects his card and inserts himself to listen and entertain himself. He loves the Mog collection and Funnybones. He still prefers 1:1 reading but often will play if I'm busy cooking or occupied doing something else. He has no interest in podcasts or radio at this point.Set upFor gifting, the Yoto Player Website recommends setting up and downloading the cards prior to gifting to ensure smooth play for child once unwrapped.I found the set up very easy and simple to follow. Just download the mobile app and follow the prompts. The online support page provides more information on the controls and how to download cards etc.Downloading cards content to player (I was a bit confused at not clear at first): All you need to do is insert each card and once they start playing you take them out. This tells the Player to start downloading the audio onto its in-built storage so it will play smoothly and without relying on your Wi-Fi connection.SummaryPositives:- Easy to set up and use- Came with one free 'make your own' card with the pre recorded user instructions on it.- Built-in wifi, bluetooth, radio and podcast.- Strong magnetic charging cable with two switchable plug heads: one for UK/Ireland and one for EU plug usage which is brilliant for travelling abroad.- Loads of affordable and free content available.- Looks really cute and retro with pixilated display.- Was able to purchase on Amazon Prime so any issues I am confident Amazon will resolve (Irish so would have to pay for return from Ireland to UK if bought directly from Yoto website).- Really impressed with how quickly this arrived. Orderd yesterday morning (Friday) and arrived this morning (Saturday) to Dublin!! My quickest amazon delivery!!- The Yoto Company appear very active, constantly asking for feedback from customers on forums, listening intently and updating their software accordingly. This can only be a positive.Negatives- Currently the majority of content available on amazon is not Prime so you have to pay £4.95 for delivery. Some of the titles I wanted were not available on amazon so bought directly from Yoto Store with delivery to Ireland costing £8.95 which is ridiculous for little cards. Had to use An Post address pal for cheaper delivery. I assume this will improve as company grows.

I don’t write a lot of reviews but as a parent I thought it would be useful to anyone thinking of buying this product. My wife and I were looking for some kind of music player for our two and a half year old and after doing some research on the internet, we stumbled upon Yoto and the Player.Our daughter is obsessed with us reading books to her, she has developed quite the book collection so we decided to buy her this as a lockdown gift (and a gift to us by giving us a break from the reading occasionally!!). What a great decision that was, she loves it!We have been using it for a few weeks now, one of the best things about it is how happy she is to be able to make her own ‘choice’, there are very few products like this where you can hand over total control to your child. The audio cards are easy to get in and out of the slot so she just picks the ‘book’ she wants to listen to, puts it in the player, and she’s away. It's pretty easy to set up, there is an app that basically does it all for you, my wife isn’t the most technically minded person in the world but she had no problems setting it up, just connect it to your wifi and insert the book cards, it’s that easy.There are some great features;- You get a card to record your own stories, great if there is a story your child likes that isn’t available or something you want to record to read before your child goes to sleep, maybe from an absent parent/relative.- Its really robust so great for little hands, also great for transporting if you go away on holiday, its pretty light and easy to throw into a bag.- We also discovered the Player comes with access to free content - there is a daily podcast which has some great ideas for things to do with the little ones and it also has its own childrens radio station built in.

We purchased a Yoto Player with the 6 Julia Donaldson stories for our youngest son. We were deliberating if we should get a Tonie, as our eldest has one but decided to get the Yoto player. What a great decision! You get so much more. Our youngest can be full of energy before going to bed and thought we should try the Yoto player and see if that would help him get to sleep quicker than usual. He now takes his copy of the Julia Donaldson book he has and listens to the story, whilst looking at the book on his own. We have been expecting to hear him afterwards but haven't. The Yoto App is really good too! There are so many things made available such as "Sleep Sounds" which offers a variety of choices to help him go and stay asleep in the morning, that now we have to go and wake him up!Out of the Yoto and the Tonie, the Yoto gets my choice as it offers everything the Tonie has but so much more. It maybe a bit more expensive to buy the Yoto Player itself but the stories etc...are a lot cheaper and you get so much more in the Yoto App than you do with the Tonie App! The Sleep sounds are impressive and all the radio options are great too!

I originally looked for a screen-free player for my daughter as I was feeling guilty about all the screen time she was having. She did settle down and read books with us but I wanted something she could do for herself too. I had seen other players but didn't want to add more cheap plastic toys into the house and then I found the Yoto Player.We started listening to the Julia Donaldson stories after she had seen them on TV over Christmas. She was instantly hooked and better yet she was able to change the stories herself and move through chapters giving her a great sense of independence. Since then I've added more cards to our collection and we listen together or she will choose a story herself before she goes to bed.More recently I've been making her cards using Yoto's Make Your Own feature, she even has a card of songs that her Daddy loves so I'm giving her my own terrible taste in music from a young age :) I've also used the Make Your Own cards to have stories read to her by her Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles - this has been particularly brilliant during lockdown when she hasn't been able to see relatives face to face.Yoto produce a free daily podcast which has become a staple over breakfast too. (Quick game of Cheese of Chocolate? anyone?) There are also free child friendly radio stations and a brilliant white noise machine all included. It's a pleasure that I don't feel I have to look over her shoulder to see if she's found something inappropriate on YouTube.Now her Yotoplayer travels everywhere with her and it's been lovely to see her choosing what to listen to and starting her day with a dance session. She starts and ends her day with stories, songs, and music and not a screen in sight!

Once the equipment is setup it works perfectly and thoroughly enjoyed by my daughter. I recommend to any parent who wants their children to be interested in stories and not be distracted by the TV.