Yoto Player Review: Is it worth it and what’s the difference between the Yoto Player and Yoto Mini?
I read the book The Read Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie a few years ago 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.
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 3-8 at the time of this post.
“If you want a child to know the truth, tell him the truth. If you want a child to love the truth, tell him a story.”
What is a Yoto Player?
The Yoto Player is a screen free audiobook 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. I always recommend the minis. See below for a more thorough comparison.
Why do we love the Yoto Player?
Audiobooks help 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.
Reading aloud (or in this case, listening to audiobooks) increases vocabulary and highly sophisticated language patterns. It improves reading comprehension, and fosters a love of reading. It also helps our child look outside of themselves and step into another’s shoes, nurturing empathy and compassion (The Read Aloud Revival).
The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children (the 1985 Commission on Reading).
“We don’t want our kids to grow up and face adversity, asking themselves, “Do I have what it takes” We want them to know. We want them to have witnessed so many heroes living with integrity and fighting against their own weaknesses that they trust in the sureness of doing the right thing, even when no one is watching. We want them to stand up like warriors. Forget asking, “Do I have what it takes?” We want them to ask, “What kind of hero will I become?””
We’re very minimal in our home when it comes to toys and I am very particular 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. Listening to audiobooks also grows 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.
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 8 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.
“Story makes us fall a little more in love with the world we live in and the people God made to live here with us.”
What age is the Yoto best for?
Our 8-, 7-, 5-, and 3-year-olds all love the Yoto player. We usually introduce it around age 2, but I hold off on giving full control or letting them carry it around until closer to 3, after having a couple take unexpected swims thanks to toddlers.
What’s amazed me most is the comprehension it builds. At just 3 years old, both of my younger two could give detailed recaps of Charlotte’s Web and Winnie-the-Pooh.
It’s something I know we’ll use for years. I honestly don’t see an age where they’ll outgrow it, especially since smartphones aren’t in their future.
Does each child need their own?
It really depends on your home and how you plan to use them. We personally own one for each child. If your kids have their own rooms or do separate quiet times, having individual players is really helpful. Sharing can get tricky fast because of different ages, interests, and daily routines.
What are our favorite cards and/or audio books?
I update this 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 them). 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
Little Women
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, Frozen, The Lion King, Monster’s Ink, UP, Finding Nemo, Monster’s Inc.
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 sells “Make Your Own” cards. You can record your own content or assign audiobooks or MP3s to the blank cards. We use MYO cards a ton and it’s one of Yotos best features.
Here’s a link to a video walk through I did on how to create Make Your Own Cards. It’s so easy!!
Where to find Make Your Own content:
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.
Free Audiobooks and Yoto Content
You can find free audiobooks all over the web! Head to this post for my master list of Where to find FREE Yoto Content! You could easily build a huge Yoto library for free using this list.
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 young 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 of $$ 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 yoto cards that we knew would be favorites (like Winnie the Pooh and Charlotte’s Web). 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 all four of our kiddos.
Yoto cards and audiobooks are the number one thing on their Christmas lists each year. Yoto also has a membership (Yoto Club) where you receive 2 cards each month, get 10% off any purchases, and get free shipping!
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 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 or bluetooth speaker?
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. 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 ever think to play or be able to facilitate audiobooks for them.
Full size 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). As of right now the Ok to Wake function can only be programmed for 2 settings (a nighttime light and a “wake up” light). 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. 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 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. 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.
Get your Yoto HERE!
“Since it is so likely they will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.”