Yoto Player (Tech Review)

The Yoto Player is a fun audio platform that is designed to entertain and educate children. It’s the perfect way for your children to enjoy listening to some fantastic stories and also works wonders to help reduce screen-time.

This square shaped player has been an instant hit in our home, with my children racing home from school each day to continue listening to their current story. A variety of story cards are available, ranging from Judith Kerr’s The Mog Collection and The Gruffalo and Friends Collection by Julia Donaldson for younger listeners, to Enid Blyton’s The Wishing Chair Trilogy for the older kids and The Magic Faraway Tree Trilogy, also by Enid Blyton, which has been a particular favourite with my children.

Simply pop the story card in and the story will start playing, remove it for the story to stop. When you pop the card back in next time it will remember where you were and start playing again from where you left off. It’s easy for the kids to operate by themselves and makes a fun addition to a bedroom with the pixel display.

You can control the Yoto Player from your phone, making it easy to start and stop stories or play the podcasts. Once the story card has been loaded into your library you can play it directly from the Yoto Player app on your phone. To inspire creativity you can even make your own cards and update these whenever you like.

You can encourage your children to enjoy a story while colouring in, doing a puzzle or simply taking a break and relaxing, and it’s perfect to keep busy little people entertained on rainy days too. I love that it’s so portable (it has a built-in battery) that you can move it in between rooms easily, and it would be great to pack for a holiday away too. It comes with a magnetic charging dock making charging simple.

The Yoto Player features a fun daily podcast too, and you’ll find your children will enjoy tuning in every day to listen to this. The topics covered are varied so some days may feature a question and answer for a specific celebration like World Animal Day, while others may just challenge you to play the sausage game which is you answering sausage to every question asked while not laughing. There is also a daily shout-out to birthday’s from around the world which is fun.

The Yoto Player also features a nightlight, for which you can choose the colour and brightness. There are various sleep sound options available, ranging from light rain to white noise and even a Yoto sleep radio to help create a calm bedtime. Add the customisable clock and sleep trainer and you’ll soon see just how much the Yoto Player has to offer!

The Yoto Player is recommended for children aged three to 10 years, but it has many features (such as the nightlight and sleep sound options) that you can make use of when your kiddies are smaller. It can also be used as a Bluetooth speaker which is handy and can play different radio channels too.

My kids have loved the time they’ve spent with their Yoto Player so far, and I can foresee many more happy hours in the coming years. Here’s what Amy had to say about the Yoto Player: “I like it because I can listen to The Wishing Chair Adventures and especially The Magic Faraway Tree. I like the Yoto Player because I can make my own stories and I can play with my toys while I listen to it. I think it’s very fun.”

As a mom this screen free player gets the thumbs-up from me, it plays only kid friendly content and has captured the imaginations of my children. Thanks to the Yoto Player you may even be able to enjoy a hot cup of tea now!

The Yoto Player is available for R2499 from the iStore, Toys R Us and Takealot.

Thanks to The Core Group for sending me this audio player in exchange for an honest review.