Summary
- The Yoto Mini is a screen-free audio player for kids, perfect for travel.
- It introduces kids to various stories, songs, and characters without overwhelming with a screen.
- It helps kids learn independence by allowing them to choose their own content and introduces the concept of headphones for self-play.
It’s impossible to figure out whether you’re doing a good job as a parent or not. I remember those first initial days of being one and having absolutely no idea what was going on. Finally getting into a routine and feeling like I had things down pat was a massive relief. But then came sleep regressions, teeth poking through, and common colds that made my wife and I question whether we’d ever sleep again.
Eventually, the topic of conversation in our minds as parents was “how would we introduce screens?” FaceTiming with relatives and friends had at least shown my daughter a phone, so a screen wasn’t foreign to her. But how could introducing her own screen come up naturally? Did we want to go the route of giving her an iPad? There’s the stigma of becoming an “iPad kid” where all they do is spend time on their tablet.
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I was never fully opposed to letting my daughter look at screens. But I don’t want her to never want to be outside and always have her face in a tablet. That’s why the Yoto Mini has been a great way to introduce personal devices to her. Here’s why it has worked for us.
It has simple controls for kids
Easy enough for anyone to use
The Yoto Mini is an audio player that is made to be used with cards that store stories, songs, podcasts, radio, and music made for a range of ages between 3 and 12. It seemed like a great way to get my daughter into technology because it allowed her to introduce things on her own terms. She wasn’t overstimulated by a screen right off the bat.
The Yoto Mini has a small digital pixel display in a bottom corner, two control dials that change the volume and the track. The slot at the top of the Yoto Mini holds the cards, which are easy to lift in and out for people of any age.
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There is no screen
And really no need for one
The pixel display is just a small little square in the bottom right corner of the device that animates small pictures. There isn’t a screen, meaning that it won’t hurt her eyes or even make her addicted to looking at something. What the display does is just show small animations, mostly hints as to what the audio is. For example, my daughter loves The Laurie Berkner Collection card. On this card are numerous songs, ranging from We Are the Dinosaurs to The Goldfish Song. By turning the dials to change the songs, the display shows a dinosaur or a goldfish or any other small animation that has to do with the song it is playing.
The Yoto does not come with any cards. They are sold separately.
This shows my daughter what the song is that she’s listening to without giving her an Apple Music listing with words and track. It’s a simple mechanism that gives the device a little bit of personal touch without being overwhelming for young kids. When there isn’t a card in the slot, it can tell the time and if the battery is running low, it will flash an animation of a battery that’s drained.
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It plays songs for kids of all ages
Plus tons of different artists
As I mentioned, there are tons of options for kids to listen to. Not only are there children’s artists like the Laurie Berkner Band and Kidz Bop, but the Yoto Mini can introduce kids to all kinds of artists, characters, and stories. There are Yoto cards for The Beatles, Harry Potter, Sesame Street, Daniel Tiger, Cocomelon, Roald Dahl, Disney, Peppa Pig, Barbie, and Marvel.
Some of the most popular characters and artists can be integrated into your child’s life at a young age. My daughter loved the Sesame Street cards, so adding Sesame Street cards to her repertoire made it easier to eventually introduce some Sesame Street episodes on the TV as she grew.
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It’s easy for kids to hold
Mini covers the size perfectly
It measures 2.76″ x 1.57″ x 2.76″, making it a perfect size for little kids. It only weighs 9.9 ounces, so it won’t be too heavy to carry, either. The dials are really simple to turn, and they can push them to mute the volume as well. There is a power button on the side that doesn’t put up much resistance when it’s pushed.
Some of the most popular characters and artists can be integrated into your child’s life at a young age.
It’s cube-shaped and incredibly easy to store in a diaper bag or backpack. While it works with the cards to play stories, it can also connect via Bluetooth, giving parents even more control over what their kids are listening to. This also gives kids more options to listen to things that aren’t on the cards.
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It can introduce headphones and solo-playing
I didn’t originally see this as a potential, but it was a nice plus
We took a family vacation recently and needed something to keep my daughter entertained on the plane. The Yoto Mini was a no-brainer — it’s such a great travel companion. But since it’s a speaker by default, we knew that it wouldn’t fly (literally) on a packed plane. So we packed the Yoto headphones too, which are designed just for kids and plug right into the side of the Mini.
She was so excited to use them — putting on her own headphones made her feel like a big kid. More than that, it helped her play independently. That can be tricky as an only child, but with her headphones on and a stack of cards to choose from, she got to decide which stories or songs she wanted to hear. It kept her engaged the entire flight and gave her a little more confidence to do her own thing. The Yoto Mini has been a favorite in our house for a while now, but it’s become even more valuable as she grows. It’s educational, entertaining, and one of the best tools we’ve found to cut back on screen time without sacrificing fun.
