Yoto Player Review: Is it worth it and what’s the difference between the Yoto Player and Yoto Mini?
I recently read the book The Read Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie and loved it so much! It was so encouraging to me as a mom to learn how much reading out loud to my kids benefits them and can strengthen our relationships as a family.
Audiobooks count too, which is where the Yoto Player comes in! Some of my best childhood memories actually come from listening to audio books together with my brother at bedtime. We have 4 Yoto Players (4 minis). We love them so much I wanted to create a post all about them! They are our number one toy and they are used daily (and have been for the last 4 years). My kids ages range from 2-7 at the time of this post.
What is a Yoto Player?
The Yoto Player is a screen free audio player! You insert little audiobook cards into the top of the player and the two knobs control the volume + the chapters. That’s it. It’s so simple and easy for kids to use.
There are two versions of Yoto players, the full size Yoto Player and the Yoto Mini. We own both. Minis are cheaper and essentially do the exact same thing, so if you’re unsure, I’d go with the Mini. See below for a more thorough comparison.
Why do we love the Yoto Player?
Audiobooks have helped foster a love of stories. The Yoto has allowed our kids to constantly absorb good books with rich language and exceptional characters that provoke their imaginations and lead to deep conversations. I know all my kids are going to have a life-long love of reading, in big part because of Yoto.
We’re very minimal in our home when it comes to toys and I am ruthless with what I let take up our space (because what takes up our space, takes up our time). The Yoto is something I am 100% happy to have in our home. I love how minimal it is, how the cards can be stored easily (we use this $10 case from amazon), and how it fosters connection between the kids as they listen to beloved stories together as well as grow their love of books, stories, and imagination.
As a pediatric sleep consultant I love the Yoto Player for older toddlers and preschoolers who have moved from naps to rest time.
I’m all about boundaries with my kids and try to be very mindful of not allowing them more freedom or responsibility than they are ready for, but the Yoto Player is something I am really happy to give them more independence with. I love that they can choose to put on a story whenever they want and that they can easily turn it on and control it themselves.
With the Yoto Player, my kids can listen to books & music without the risk of hearing or seeing inappropriate things from ads like they might from Pandora or Alexa, which is huge for us.
Does the Yoto Player require Wifi or Bluetooth?
You need Wifi for the initial setup process. When you insert a Yoto Card into Yoto Player it downloads the content from Yoto’s server. Once it has downloaded the content, then it can be used without being connected on future occasions and can be disconnected. We have used our Yoto in the middle of the forest in our RV with no internet connection.
Check out Yoto HERE
How do we use our Yoto players?
I’ve been incorporating the Yoto player into our daily rhythms and homeschool and it’s such a cool tool we’ve been able to add to our home.
My 7 year old listens to his player for about an hour before he goes to sleep at night (he’s not dependent on it for sleep, so I’m ok with this) and when he wakes up in the morning (he typically wakes up an hour before he’s allowed to come out of his room in the morning, so he listens to it and plays quietly in his room while he waits). You can put volume limits on the Yoto and I have it set to only play during daytime hours so he doesn’t stay up too late or wake up extra early to listen to it ;)
My kids carry them around with them all day long and listen to books while they play. They also love to bring them in the car on long car rides.
My older kids listen to their Yotos during their separate rest times and my 2 year old listens to it during her independent playtime.
What age is the Yoto best for?
Our 7, 6, 4, and 2 year old all love the Yoto player. I know we’ll use them for years to come. I don’t anticipate an age where they will grow out of them (especially since smartphones aren’t in their futures ;).
Does each child need their own?
I think this is personal preference and how you plan to use them in your home. We own one for each kid. If each child has their own room or they do separate quiet times, it’s nice for each of them to have their own.
What are our favorite cards and/or audio books?
Below is a favorite list of Yoto cards. I update the list of cards every few weeks. I know every family is going to have different standards as far as what content they feel is appropriate. Please always preview cards and don’t just take my word for it :) Some of the cards we own have content that we’ve had extra conversations about as a family (for example, my kids love the Brain Bots cards from Yoto, however we’ve had to discuss some of the content and we’ve opted out of some of the series). The facebook group, “Christian Yoto Content” has reviews of hundreds of cards and books with content warnings from a Christian perspective - this has been a super valuable resource for me!
Updated list of the cards we own & Recommend:
Charlotte’s Web
The Chronicles of Narnia
Winnie the Pooh
Frog and Toad
Peter Pan
Robin Hood
Finding Nemo
Beatrix Potter Series
The Tale of Despereaux
The Secret Garden
Stuart Little
Star Wars: The Original Trilogy
The Hotel Flamingo Series
The Snowman
Alfie
Treasure Island
Heidi
Percy the Park Keeper Collection
Anne of Green Gables
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle
The Moffats
The BFG
Mary Poppins
Holes
The Cricket in Times Square
The Magic Tree House Series
The “My First” Music Cards
JJ Heller Song Cards
The Gruffalo and Friends Collection
The MOG Collection
Mercy Watson
Zoey and Sassafras
Geronimo Stilton
Lamplight ABC Scripture Songs
Sing with Raffi
BrainBots Cards (we’ve opted out of some of these or had family conversations about certain topics. The “Christian Yoto Content” FB group has detailed reviews of each card from each series).
Disney Classics / Pixar - I like that these are like the Disney movies without the adult humor: Mulan, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, 101 Dalmations, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, The Lion King, Monster’s Ink, UP, Finding Nemo
Shorter cards have been a favorite of my 4 year old: A Sick Day for Amos McGee, Clifford, Daniel Tiger, Little Stories for Little Lions, The Little Engine, Miss Rumphius, Rudolph, Strega Nona, etc.
For your youngest kids (1.5-2+ years):
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
I Dream of You: Calm
I Dream of You: Sleep
Brown Bear and Friends
My First Classical Music Album
My First Ballet Album
How to make a Make Your Own card:
Yoto also sells “Make Your Own” cards. You can record your own content or assign audiobooks or MP3s to the blank cards.
Here’s a link to a video walk through I did on how to create Make Your Own Cards. It’s so easy!!
Our Favorite make your Own Cards: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Little Pilgrims Big Journey book 1 and 2, The Beginner’s Bible, The Wild Robot, The Wild Robot Escapes, The Green Ember series, Little House on the Prairie. We love all the Beverly Cleary books (Ramona, Henry Huggins, Ribsy, The Mouse and the Motorcycle etc). I find all of our audiobooks on either Amazon or Libro.fm. Libro.fm has an option to sign up for a subscription, but you can also find individual audiobooks (I like to check out their sale section each month). If you search on amazon, just make sure to click “see all formats and editions” and then select the audio cd. You’ll receive a physical cd (I upload them to my computer and put the mp3’s on MYO cards.
You can find free audiobooks on the Yoto Public Domain HERE. Some of our favorites are the Just So Stories and My Father’s Dragon.
I enjoy a few Yoto Facebook Groups for recommendations as well: Yoto for Charlotte Mason and Christian Yoto Content.
How do I organize our Yoto Library?
I decided to make a Yoto card “library system” for my kids recently and here’s why:
I love that Yoto gives kids freedom to pick their own cards, but it can be tricky with younger kids. We’ve had a few cards get lost or broken (one little culprit was caught biting them 🙄😅).
I used to buy the blank “Make your own” cards for each mp3 or audiobook we wanted to turn into a card. I would print card covers on sticker paper, cut out the covers, and carefully stick them to individual MYO cards. This is a lot of work y’all. Not to mention you end up spending quite a bit on the blank cards.
I decided to simply print pictures of our cards and put them in a binder for my kids to choose from (see a video here). They each have 4 blank MYO cards (i.e. their “library cards”) with their names on them (I connect them with a loop and adhesive tabs). When they want a new audiobook they flip through their binder, point out what they want, and I assign it to their MYO “library card” via the Yoto app on my phone.
No more cutting out individual stickers or continually buying more blank MYO cards 🙌🏼 The girls have a binder in their room and Locke has a binder in his room.
Here is a video showing our card books and here are the templates I used to create them: Editable Binder Cover Template | Yoto card page template.
Is it expensive to keep purchasing new cards?
Upfront we invested in several that we knew would be favorites (like Winnie the Pooh) and they rotated through them and were really content. We’ve also utilize the “Make your Own” cards and put audiobooks that we previously owned on blank cards. Ultimately, we think the cards are a worthwhile investment and will be used for many years by four kiddos.
Yoto cards and audiobooks are the number one thing on their Christmas lists each year and I love what a perfect gift they are for them as more of a minimalist family. Yoto also has a membership called Yoto Club where you receive 2 cards each month, get 10% off any purchases, and get free shipping. We aren’t currently subscribed but we have talked about doing this for Christmas and I’ve heard great reviews from other moms about this option.
Why did we choose Yoto over some of the other screen free audiobook players?
I looked into some of the other screen free audio players that are on the market, but I personally like the features of the Yoto Player the best. I like how the cards are minimal and can be easily stored in a simple card holder (I really didn’t like the idea of having a bunch of little toys or figures to have to keep track of and store). If you lose a card, the audiobook lives in your Yoto app and you can assign it to a Make Your Own card. The audiobook cards seem to be cheaper in general than the other companies. Yoto’s Make Your Own cards can hold more content than the other brand as well.
How is the Yoto Player different from a regular CD player?
I think the big difference is that the kids are able to take ownership of it and have the freedom to go get it, choose their card, carry it around with them etc. The controls on it are very simple (just two knobs) so it’s easy for them to use on their own and they don’t need my help. Unlike a CD player, the Yoto Player doesn’t have to be plugged in to play and it’s not as fragile, so I’m ok with them picking it up and moving it from room to room etc. I have been so pleasantly surprised to see how often the kids go get it to listen to audiobooks throughout the day. It’s way more often than I would have ever thought to play audiobooks for them.
Yoto Player Pros and Cons:
The speaker is loud and sounds clear even when it’s turned up really loud, so it’s great for a group.
It has an Ok to Wake function (and a nightlight, but we don’t use nightlights here - read more about nightlights in THIS post), but as of right now it can only be programmed for 2 settings (a nighttime light and a “wake up” light). After using our Hatch Rest there is just no comparison - with multiple kids I need to be able to set it to do multiple things and display different lights at different times etc. So this function hasn’t served us as well as I had hoped. It’s also a little bigger and heavier, which makes it more fragile and less kid-friendly, IMO. We did have an accident where it rolled off of a bed and landed upside down on top of the inserted card. It snapped the card which made the card unusable (however I was able to assign the audiobook to a “Make Your Own” card in the Yoto App - so we didn’t lose the audiobook - just the original card). The Yoto Player has 24 hours of battery life vs the mini which has 14 hours of battery life.
Overall, I haven’t been happy with our full size Yoto and don’t recommend it over the minis.
Yoto Mini Pros and Cons:
The best part about the Yoto Mini (in my opinion) is that it does the exact same thing as the full size Yoto Player, but is less expensive. It is smaller and travels much easier (for car rides and vacations). It doesn’t have some of the extra features like the Ok to Wake function or nightlight function, but as far as how it plays audio books, it is the same. It’s lighter and smaller which is nice for storing and transporting. The speaker does not get quite as loud as the full size Yoto Player, however it can still get surprisingly loud for such a small device. The mini is great for around the house and is also a great option for kids to listen to in the car with headphones on long car rides.
We are extremely happy with all four of our Yoto Minis and I recommend them to all of my friends and family. I think they’re such a great addition to our home and they’ve served our family so well. It seriously makes my heart so happy to see my kids devour audiobooks and then use their imagination while they pretend play their favorite stories.