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Alex Luppens-Dale won the “Enthusiastic Reader Award” all four years of high school. She is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and received her MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. Her favorite genres are memoir, witches, and anything with cults. She lives in New Jersey. You can keep up with Alex’s latest work at her website.

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I am often a late adopter of gadgets. I shunned my first ereader (to be fair, the page turn lagged). I am easily overwhelmed by all of the various iPhones, though whenever I decide to upgrade, I wonder why I didn’t bother to do it sooner. The same is true for gadgets that might make my life with small children easier. I get overwhelmed and I don’t want to waste my money on yet another thing that will just sit in my house and eventually need to be rehomed when my child has definitively grown out of it.

Before putting this together, I had heard of both the Yoto Player and the Toniebox (the latter of which I actually saw in action once), which are media players for kids that don’t use screens. I am the parent of an almost-five-year-old. I have long thought that it might be time to bring one of these into my life. After all, it can read some of his favorite books for him, and there is, in fact, a limit to how many times I want to read* How the Grinch Stole Christmas* in April.

So, I consulted my online focus group/parenting Discord server, because when you had your first child in late 2020 (remember when we didn’t go anywhere?), your village lives online. They’re still the first people I go to with anything from ‘have you heard of this toy?’ to ‘why are four-year-olds like this?’ I appreciate them more than I can say, but that’s a story for another time.

You’re Using a Lot of Words Here

The Toniebox defines itself as “a screen-free audio player for kids.” Tonies are figurines and can also double as toys (as long as your child is unlikely to decide that it’s time for Elsa to go for a swim in the bath*.*) Tonies can hold up to about two hours of content. The Toniebox 2 was recently released and has some games and additional options, including a sleep timer. Essentially, a chip on the bottom of a Tonie figurine will trigger the player to play songs and stories. When the Tonie is lifted, the programming stops.

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image from Tonies.com

The Yoto Player is the other screen-free audio player that currently dominates the market. Yoto cards seem to me to be a good value because some of them contain more than 24 hours of material and can be duplicated onto blank cards for families with multiple children and therefore multiple devices. The content is saved to your Yoto account and can be redownloaded if you (or more likely, your child) loses a card. Cards are simply placed in the slot of the player to play. The Yoto does not have cameras, mics, or ads, if any of those are concerns for your household. It does not connect to the internet.

Image from YotoPlay.com

Simply based on their structure, the Tonies are more sturdy than the Yoto cards. Both devices have strong parental controls, work well on the go, and can travel with you. They are both overall excellent tools for early literacy. The newer versions of both Yoto Player and Toniebox can be used with Bluetooth as well as wired headphones (older versions might require wired headphones). The Yoto was the more popular choice among my extremely unscientific focus group of people who have children who are all the exact same age and was described as simple enough for a toddler to use independently. Yoto is also now available in a mini version, which is perfect for travel.

Customization Options

Yoto has more customization options than Toniebox. This is, of course, important when your kid develops a passion for a TV show or movie with absolutely no merchandise (looking at you, random PBS Kids shows). You can add custom media to blank Yoto cards or, as mentioned previously, copy over media you already own on Yoto to a blank Yoto card.

Tonie also has a Create Your Own option that can double as an art project for adults and kids. A paintable figure is available as well as a few more generic already painted options for stories about pirates, wizards, and fairies– or whatever you choose!

The Council Has Spoken

Overall, the Yoto has more potential for school-aged kids, whereas the Toniebox is great for those with shorter attention spans who want to listen to their favorite Disney songs over… and over… and over. There could be a place for both devices in the right household. If you’re looking for a gift that will grow with your child, Yoto is probably your best pick and is the one I will be picking up for my child’s next birthday or Christmas.

For more on kid-friendly gifting, check out our picks for the best bookish gifts for kids.