If you’re like me and you want to find ways to keep your kids entertained that don’t involve a screen, you will want to know about Toniebox.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with screen time, but it’s important to stimulate children in other ways, too. I love an audiobook, for example, and would love my kids to enjoy listening to stories as well as reading them. I find it sparks my imagination in different ways, and that can only be good for children.
So when I saw a Youtube video about Toniebox I pretty much decided on the spot I would buy one.
Then I saw the price.
After a few weeks umming and ahing over whether or not it was worth the money, I took the plunge and ordered. Let’s be honest, I was always going to, I’m rubbish at not buying stuff 😂😇💳
So anyway, since I have already splashed the cash I thought I would give you guys a run down of what it is, how it works, and whether I think it was money well spent.
Bear in mind I had already bought the Yoto Mini, so I had high expectations.
What is it and How Does it Work?
A Toniebox is basically a speaker connected to the internet, but for kids. It plays music and stories it downloads from ‘Tonies’, which are little figurines of famous kids TV, book, and movie characters that have different audio content on them.
Kids love them because they are interactive and easy to control, and of course they keep the kids entertained, too. They come in lots of different colours, and they have been child-proofed – which means they are robust enough to be dropped and still work!
There are a few main benefits I have found from a parent’s point of view:
- Speech and language development – Listening to stories introduces children to lots of new words
- Winding down at bedtime – My two are much calmer after listening to a story on the Toniebox in the evening
- Travel – The box is portable and has long battery life, so it’s ideal for car journeys and outings
The box comes with a charging port which takes about 3 hours from empty to full, then lasts for 7 hours worth of playback. I have hardly had to charge ours, because it switches itself off after 10 minutes of inactivity. The box will come to life when a Tonie is placed on top of it, and it will pause/turn off when a Tonie is removed.
Each Tonie is magnetic to help it stay in place on top of the box, and an LED light shows when the box is on and working, when it needs charging, when it is synching, etc.
To use it, kids have two ‘ears’ at the front of the box which turn the volume up and down, and they can tap either side of the box to skip tracks back and forth. The tapping doesn’t always work, to be honest, which is annoying, and sometimes you have to hit it so hard the Tonie falls off the top. There is a knack to it, but for little ones it can be difficult. You can also fast forward and rewind by tilting the box in either direction.
The only other thing to mention is the headphone jack. If you are in a public place and don’t want to disturb people, the Toniebox can be used with headphones.
Parents Really Have Control via the App
So the kids have full control over the Toniebox, and once you have shown them how to use it, they shouldn’t need your help at all. This is all great, right?
Well, sort of.
If your kids are anything like mine, they will want to play everything about three levels louder than is comfortable. Also, my youngest got very frustrated when trying to use the tilt and tap features because she couldn’t keep track of what she had done. She would accidentally skip a chapter and not know how to get back. She would knock the Tonie off the top all the time so the story was constantly pausing. It really annoyed her.
Luckily, the parents really have control via the app.
You can set a maximum volume from here (thank the Lord), and even turn off the tilt and tap features to avoid angry 4 year old outbursts. So the kids think they are controlling things, but really, you have the final say.
The app is also where you control the content you upload yourself, which brings me onto the final section.
Tonies and Creative Tonies
The little figures that go on top of the box are called Tonies. You can buy loads of different Tonie figures, but they all fit into one of two categories:
- Regular Tonies
- Creative Tonies
A regular Tonie is a figure that comes with specific stories or songs to listen to, and a creative Tonie is blank so that you can upload your own files. A regular Tonie has somewhere between 20 minutes and 50 minutes run time, but a creative Tonie can hold up to 90 minutes worth of stories and songs. You can change what’s on them over time, too, and you can even record your own audio via the app and use that. I sang a bedtime song into mine for my youngest – my man-child of a partner obviously recorded some fart noises…
So your kids will get to know what is on each Tonie figure and be able to choose between them.
I think these are more fun than the Yoto Mini Cards, but they are not as secure. They can fall off, despite having the magnetic connection to keep them stable.
Is it Worth the Money?
Given I already owned the Yoto Mini it was perhaps a little extravagant of me to buy a Toniebox as well. However, whilst they are similar products they are not exactly the same, and I found the Toniebox suited my youngest more than the Yoto. It’s good for ages 3 and up according to the instructions, but kids even younger could get the hang of it.
In terms of price, each Tonie is between £9 and £15. It’s a bit steep, and the pricing doesn’t make a lot of sense considering some have twice as much content as others. The cheaper ones seem to be the less interesting figurines rather than the Tonies with shorter run times. That said, you’ve got them for life and you can choose to only buy the ones offering best value. There are like… 250 of them or something.
The Toniebox itself will likely cost you around £80, but it comes with a creative Tonie to get you started.
This is a significant cost, but there are bundles including Tonies that make it better value, even though you are spending more upfront. There is also a large library of free content on the app you can upload to it. Technically then, you don’t need to spend another penny.
If you don’t already have something like this and your kids are still young, say under 5, I think it’s worth buying. Just make sure you have a plan to use it. It can double up as a night time music box or white noise machine, for example, or you could work a story into your bedtime routine.
I think it’s a great product, I think it’s great for kids to have something to stimulate them that is non-visual, but only you can decide whether you think it is worth the money for your family.