As a single mum of an energetic toddler, it’s hard to find half an hour to clean up without plonking her in front of a screen – so when I heard about the Yoto Player for kids I was very excited to give it a try.
What is the Yoto Player?
In short, the Yoto Player is a child-proof connected speaker, with no microphone or camera, designed to safely give your child full control over what they listen to, and entertain and educate them while helping to reduce screen-time. The Bluetooth feature converts the Yoto Player to a speaker once connected to another device so your kids can listen, play, and dance to even more favourite songs and stories from your Spotify, Apple Music or Audible meaning it doesn’t have to be connected to WiFi.
How does it work?
Controlled using physical audio cards, your child can just pop a card into the Yoto Player and the audio starts, take the card out again and the audio stops – it so easy to use, and it gives them the independence to choose their own stories.
Parents also have full control over the speaker via an app on your phone – allowing you to store all of the cards digitally should any get lost, and control the volume/station from a different room.
Yoto Player audio collection
Yoto brings together the best audiobook stories, music, educational activities, podcasts and radio for children. All the content is safe as it’s been specially chosen and created with kids in mind. As well as a huge collection of audiobooks from some of our most loved children’s authors such as Roald Dahl and Julia Donaldson, the collection also includes sound effect cards which my daughter absolutely loves. You can get everything from funny animal sounds to soothing nature sounds to help your little one sleep – bur favourite, however, is the crackling fire.
I also love how these sound effect cards also have pixel images and lighting effects to accompany the audio, turning the Yoto Player into a great imaginative play accessory too.
Yoto Kids Radio
What I really love about the app’s offerings, though, is the Yoto Kids Radio. Alongside a daily podcast of stories and chat, the Yoto Player offers a free radio stream of family-friendly songs. This is an eclectic mix of kid-friendly pop songs, iconic Disney songs and catchy dance tunes – the music becomes more mellow at night, though.
My little girl quickly learned that pressing the right ear once tuned into the podcast, while twice turned the Yoto Player into a radio, and we both love the mix of music on offer.
Make your own yoto cards
One really cute feature of the Yoto Player, is the blank cards that can be used to create your own audio. They’re available in sets of five or ten (working out at under £2 each, and you get one with your Player), and hold up to 500mb. You can use these to make whatever audio you like; you can add all your child’s favourite stories to a collection, or even record your own audio which might be a nice idea for parents that have to miss bedtime routines.
I’ve also been using these blank cards myself when my daughter is out to create playlists of podcast episodes or to live stream radio stations. The Yoto app makes the process really easy by having some radio stations (for example the BBC ones) already set up, ready to add to playlists. But as long as you have the live stream URL, you can add any station you like.
Yoto Players start at £79.99 and you can buy them here.
Jen is our resident wellness and features editor here at The Daily Struggle. You will probably find her on the beach, painting her house or writing about magick and motherhood.
