AD – Review. A world of stories, music, activities, podcasts, radio and other inspiring audio thats the very brief version of what a Yoto Player can do! With Molly-May already owning an audio box since last summer, Finn was pretty exited when he heard that we have been sent a Yoto Player which he could test out all by himself! Yoto Player just celebrated his first birthday recently but has already got some awards under its belt like the Design Week Awards 2020 for Product design and a Mother & Baby 2021 Silver Award.
Opening up the sturdy box (which can be kept to store the Yoto player and charger inside it – pretty handy for us when we are flying to Germany again) there is the Yoto Player itself, a charger cable with a magnetic dock which I love because it can be handled easily by small children and a EU as well as a UK plug. A Quick Start Guide and Safety Information leaflet as well as a Welcome Card which doubles up as a Make Your Own Card to load your own content on it:
Setting up the Yoto Player and the installing the Yoto App is a very quick 5 minute job and then it was off to explore what the Yoto Player has in store for us! We have been kindly gifted some audio cards alongside the player itself. From the ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ book set (which are some of Finn’s favourite books to read) to some fun ‘Famous Five’ by Enid Blyton audio books and one called ‘Happy Family’. We also got a set of 5 ‘Make Your Own Cards’ where you can upload your very own content!
The Yoto Player which has been designed for children age 3-12 years is pretty simple to navigate with only 2 orange buttons as well as a on/off button on the side of the box.
If you press the right hand button on your Player (with no card in) once you get to Yoto Daily which is a new piece of exclusive audio, delivered to your player every day. Press the right hand button twice and Yoto Radio starts up which is the in-house kids radio station you can listen to for free. It has a real mixture of child friendly music, no advertisement just hours and hours of fun instead! The left hand button lets you change the volume on your Yoto Player. To play your card you just out it in the slot on top of the player and it starts and if you turn the right hand button you come to a new song/story. To stop the Yoto playing you just pull out the card again and the display will go back to the timer.
Some of the pixel images we used for our Make Your Own Cards & on the left is the Yoto Radio image
One of Finn’s favourite feature alongside the daily Yoto Podcast is the Yoto Icons who are pixilated Images (see picture above) he can add to each of his Make Your Own Cards. He currently has one card which has his music playlist and he can add a different icon on each of his songs. We found a website (if you google Yoto pixel images) where we found some more animals and even Minecraft, Star wars and Among Us characters he is very delighted about that. I even found a little pixel image of the Yoto player itself!
But thats not all it can do, if you turn the Yoto Player onto its front (but be careful only to do this on a friendly surface like a bedside table, not on the floor) it will turn on the nightlight. To turn the nightlight off, you just stand Yoto Player upright again. You can choose your wake up and bedtime on the app and change the colour of the nightlight too.
Each Yoto Card has a double sided sticky tape on the back so you can attach it anywhere in the room!
There are so many Yoto Cards you can get so I put together a little overview about them:
Stories – Fairy tales, Modern Classics, Non Fiction Stories, Pre-School Favourites and so much more,…. there is even Mindfulness and Meditation Cards starting from £4.99
Music – Classical to Seasonal Music and even some Music Stories starting from £4.99
Activities – Phonics, Maths Timetables and Languages starting from £4.99
Sound Effect – Animal Sounds, Crackling Fire Sounds and even Soothing Sleep Sounds starting from £4.49
Podcasts – From Fun Kids Podcasts to Story Quest only £1.99 each
Radio – From Pre-Schoolers to older Children Radio Stations only £1.99 each
Make your Own Cards – blank cards to be filled with your own choice of audio. Pack of 5 £9.99 and Pack of 10 for £18.99 which includes 3 sheets of stickers to decorate your cards with.
There is almost no limit to the audio you can put on them – from home recorded stories in your own voice, to music playlists from your MP3 collection, to any piece of audio in the Yoto app. Your loved ones who might be far away can also join in the fun, recording stories and sharing them with you to turn into cards. You can upload your content from mobile or on your desktop, wherever your audio is saved. Your playlist will then be visible on the app, from where you can link it to a physical card.
Make Your Own Card come either in Pack of 5’s for £9.99 or in Pack of 10’s for £18.99 which includes 3 sheets of stickers to decorate your white cards.
Our Verdict about the Yoto Player?
This square box with a retro feel to it has really delivered and I think its the perfect gadget to get the children off their electronic game devices or the TV. I know for a fact that the Yoto Player is made to last and will be loved for a long time in this house! I love that the cards aren’t that experience to purchase and Finn has already got the Yoto Card Case on his Wishlist for his upcoming birthday in the Summer! The App is very handy and has the perfect overview of what cards Finn owns and what content I uploaded on his empty cards. I can even stop the Yoto player or turn the volume down which can come in pretty handy! In Finn’s own words, this is what he had to say about his new Yoto Player: “It’s the most awesome thing I’ve ever had and my favourite thing to do is to listen to Yoto Daily with it!”
Similar priced like other audio players on the market right now the Yoto Player retails for £79.99 and the cards can be purchased starting from only £1.99 (which in the long run is pretty reasonable compared to other boxes which have figures for £14.99 each). There are some cool accessories like the Yoto Headphones, 2 different Card Cases or packs of self adhesive magnets to put your card library on a magnetic board.
Another thing which I think would make a brilliant present is either a Yoto Gift Card or even a Membership to the Yoto Club which is £12.99 a month. You get monthly deliveries of exiting new audio and activities, plus at least 2 brand new cards which aren’t on sale on the website yet and a 10% membership discount for the store as well as some early bird access to exiting new audio content in the Yoto app.
If you want to check out some more images you can head on over to my Instagram Highlights!
Disclaimer: I have been sent a Yoto Player and some Yoto Cards for reviewing purposes, but all thoughts and opinions are mine.
