It looks like my last kid’s review was almost a year ago so I’m due for one. But honestly nothing has really wowed us these days, except for the Yoto Mini Player, which we got a couple of months ago in anticipation for our two-week long RV trip. We knew this time around we would be driving for 4+ hours and wanted something for our kid to do in the car that doesn’t involve screens (we’re still holding out on screen time in the car). And this Yoto Mini Player was just the thing!
If you have yet to hear about the Yoto player, it’s a audiobook/podcast/music player for kids. You can buy Yoto cards to play on your player that are easy for kids to use. The two dials (one for volume and the other for skipping ahead or going back) are also super simple. It comes with a speaker as well as a headphone jack. And there’s even an alarm clock and sleep function if your kids wants to wake up or fall asleep to stories or music. Seriously this Yoto player is super versatile and an essential in our household.
There’s an original Yoto player that’s large and bulky, which at $30 more, I don’t recommend. But the Yoto mini has almost all the same features (except for a night light), costs less, and is waaaay more portable.
The Yoto players also connect to an app on your phone that allows you to download content without the cards. You can also record your own content and link it to a card, so you can have a grandparent read a story aloud and your child can listen to that as many times as they want.
We bought a case for our player since it’s also a way to organize the cards a bit. But the player itself is really durable and quite toddler or child-proof. But you can also get a “jacket” for the player for extra protection.
I would say the only negative about the Yoto system is that you need to have the player connected to wifi when playing a card for the first time. The card needs to be downloaded to the system, which isn’t a problem when you’re at home. But on the road, there are times we are without wifi or service and then our daughter wouldn’t be able to listen to a brand new card (though she could listen to the dozens of other cards that we had already downloaded). But you can connect the Yoto player to your phone’s hotspot (as long as you have service) and download a new card that way. That’s the only real snag we encountered with this system and it’s minor overall.
So far out of the vast amount of cards that Yoto provides our daughter’s favorite is the Beatles songs card. She now knows some obscure Beatles songs by name (which my husband loves). She’s not yet into the stories as much, though she’s listened to all the Disney audiobooks at least once all the way through. And since Yoto has content for kids up to age 9+, I foresee us using this Yoto Mini for a long time to come!