Ideal gift tonnie box???

[KateC1x1]

Hey, not sure how they are spelt exactly but has anyone bought or thinking of buying a tonnie/toni/tonni box thing for Christmas.

I'm going back and forth on the idea as we have a 2 year old girl and a 4 month old boy, would they like it or even use it?
Generally they both like silence to sleep and we don't have a TV on for naps etc.. so think it's useless for our family there.

They are advertising it EVERYWHERE and I will admit I'm starting to really want one haha.

Opinions please. Especially if there's a cheaper alternative as it might be an expensive dust box yet haha.

Thanks 😊

Sorry, posted too soon. So our library has dozens of books/chapters recorded, and they select which ones they want to upload for the week. They usually don't want a sequential book - more like three chapters of one story, then a song and/or a few chapters of another story, maybe a poem. My sister and I also have linked households, so we can upload stories/messages for our nieces & nephews which they love.

We have both, I much prefer the tonie for younger children. And whoever said about the tonies getting lost more easily - have you seen how small the yoto cards are?

I love both, both have a lot of merits, but even now my 5 year old (who I bought the yoto for) prefers the Toniebox ... They fight at bedtime over who will have it 🤦🏻‍♀️ I think how to use it is so much more intuitive and of course little people prefer toys.

Although as pp said, the yoto will be more useful as the cards go 'older', and also I got the mini one so it's better for travelling (which the tonie isn't good for as it's massive). At 5 though, the tonie content is still great for my oldest.

I suppose really it depends on whether you mind buying another audio player in a few years

Can I just ask, aren't these items like a stereo with tapes / cds ultimately? (Albeit with attractive colours and figures for the cds or tape?)

As far as I can understand! I haven’t opened ours yet.

Effectively yes it's a modern version of a tape player/CD player.

and of course little people prefer toys.

Other than the yoto having more features and longevity this is one of the main reasons I chose to not get a Tonie player. I didn't wants DS to think of the figures as just another toy to chuck in the toy box. With the cards he puts them into card stand next to the player once finished and that's where they stay. He knows they are for the yoto player as apposed to just another figure to play with. If that makes sense?

My dc has a tonie box. I went with the tonie rather than yoto as I was worried about the cards being broken or going missing down the side of the sofa etc. Tonie seems to be releasing more content every year and are increasing the age range. I've got an Xmas present for dc which is a national geographic tonie about whales as dc is animal obsessed.

We've got my 2yo a yoto for Christmas, so excited as I think once she figures it out it will be very loved

I don't like the plastic figurines for the tonie, they'd take up so much room and they're overpriced

Its great to hear they are expanding their range for older kids but they still seem very lacking in content for once a child gets over 6.

For example on their website filtering for age 6 plus gives just 18 results compared to the same on the yoto site which brings up 814 cards suitable for age 6+. Whilst I'm not saying all of the results are suitable a quick scroll showed some cards which looked more suitable for younger ages the majority do look age appropriate.

Hopefully Tonies start to add even more for older children so those who have chosen the player don't feel the need to swap as a child gets older.

We have both & the dc prefer the Tonie, they love choosing the character. Never lost a Tonie or card but the Tonie just gets used more.

They are good but the characters are expensive. If you get one open it and set it up before xmas day as it takes quite a while and takes off the shine of them being able to open and enjoy it!! There are quite a few on marketplace too

Yes they are, but how many people have these for children to use these days? Most stream from their phone or Alexa, and many parents want to avoid their child having access to screens, or a device which also allows access to the internet.

Technology moves on of course and these are much more child friendly than tape and cd players - CDs were fragile, and tapes could be tricky to find the right part of the tape for the track you want. The Yoto has a little screen which shows a picture of the track so even before they recognise numbers they can control what they listen to.

We’ve had both and DC prefer Yoto by far. There was more initial excitement for the Tonie, as I think it’s more tactile for younger children, but they were bored of it within 6 months (and that was with about 15 Tonies to choose from). I found some of the lullaby Tonies great, but the story ones nearly always had American accents and the Disney ones aren’t the original soundtrack. With Yoto player we have Kate Winslet and famous comedians reading the stories and it just feels calmer. We listen to Yoto daily most mornings and that brings lots of laughs, the nightlight is a god send and the cards don’t get lost/played with as much as the Tonies. I can’t rate the Yoto enough. We’ve bought my 2yo one for this Christmas and I know she’ll be fine using it.

We have friends who have a Yoto and they say it never gets used. I think that’s because they’re a TV/tablet heavy family though rather than the Yoto player not having appeal!

And whoever said about the tonies getting lost more easily - have you seen how small the yoto cards are?

But if you lose a Yoto card you can still play the content, or add it to a make your own card. If you lose a Tonie figure the content is gone and you can't access it unless you buy the figure again.

@modgepodge thanks - I just wanted to make sure I had understood correctly what they were as I've heard loads of people rave about them

We have just bought Ds age 3 a Tonie for Christmas and several figures.

I actually like that the figures can just be easy bought in a shop and not need me downloading stuff. I spend so much time on a computer for work that I don’t want to spend longer than I have to.
And this way it’s an easy gift for family to buy a figure as tbh I think they are pretty good value, they are £10-14 per figure depending on offer which is an ideal price for a gift from aunt here.

Looking at the figures, on the tonie store there were lots saying 5+,6+ and I purposely having bought those yet as they can be bought later with more detailed stories. The Enid blyton, Nat geographic, horrible histories are all more for 6+.

Im not looking for a box that lasts into teenage years. By the time Ds can fluently read and use a more complicated option at 8/9+ years we will probably just give him a secondhand iPhone (our old one at the time), and use audible once he’s at the Harry Potter stages. Tonie will no doubt bring out more and more though over the years.

Just a heads up to pre open your box and get it all set up on wifi before xmas. After initially used it can be used without wifi but that initial set up is important and a pain in the ass (lots of error codes). It takes away some of the magic of opening it and using it.

Thanks for that @Tryingtohelp12

We have DS who is 3 in a couple of weeks and this is his third birthday present and his sister is five months. So when DS is at an age to get more from Yoto I’ll get one and DD can have the Tonie. The Yoto does do more but I guess I just don’t see the point if he won’t really use it!

The Yoto does do more but I guess I just don’t see the point if he won’t really use it!

If you have the Tonie and additional features aren't there, then he's not going to use them. But I was surprised by how much children enjoyed the Yoto podcasts, radio stations, sleep sounds. Even silly things like the toothbrush timer have been a huge hit, and I wouldn't have known this before buying.

Thanks. Will pre set the Tonie up so Ds can use straight away.

How many tonies would you say is a good number to start out with? I have bought 8 on offer (4 for 3), but wonder if I can hold some back for birthday/ Easter/ rainy day. Is it better to just start out with say 3-4?

Yeah I think 4 is plenty. We’ve had it 3 years and honestly only have about 8. It’s mixed success here my kids prefer to use it as a music box to listen to music etc than stories. We use the creative Tonie for seasonal stuff so at the mo it has Christmas stuff on it. Sometimes we will use it to play stories which my son (5) is focusing on in school themes etc eg gingerbread man. My daughter (2) only listens to the songs. Tbh I think they just love having control and not needing to ask us to play xyz etc.