About Yoto

Best ages for Yoto?
We got our first Yoto Player when my boy was about to turn 2 (He is 4.5 years old now) and I mostly played the cards for him while he ate breakfast or during playtime. It was only around 2.5 years old when he started utilizing it himself and slowly could do it and had no issues getting out his own cards and operating the dials. Of course every kid is different but I would feel 2.5 to 3 years old is the sweet spot. I have a friend’s daughter, 20 months old and loves the music cards and holding the Yoto Mini. She can also take the cards in and out but doesn’t actually know how to operate it.

Hence in my opinion, the earlier you introduce the Yoto player, the less reliance the child will be to screen entertainment and Yoto helps them to focus better gradually by listening and “reading” together. Now at 4.5 years old, he uses the speaker every night during bedtime rotating the stories and learning cards and enjoys the podcast Yoto daily a lot. 

How to Play Yoto Cards without Wifi?
If you just put a card into your player when you are out and about, it will tell you the Yoto player needs to be connected to Wifi to play this card. What you will need to do is put the card in the Yoto Player while it is connected to the Wifi. The content will download onto the player and can then be played without needing to be connected to the internet again.

What is Yoto Radio and Podcast?
Yoto has its own radio station and podcasts that are child-friendly and educational. They are free features that you can play when your Yoto player is connected to Wifi.

On the app you can set how you want to be able to turn on the radio or daily podcast. These offer a wide variety of music, stories and educational content.

I do find the podcast geared a little more towards older kids like around maybe 4-5 years old and up but every kid is different!

What is Make Your Own Card?
When you get your Yoto Player, it comes with a Make Your Own Card. This is a blank card that you can put whatever you want on it. Some options are :

🗣️Your own recordings: You can record yourself reading a book or singing a song and upload it to a make your own card.

🎵 Purchased downloads: If you have bought a CD, audiobook, or song and have the mp4 file, you can upload it to a Make Your Own Card.

🎶 Upload Chinese songs: My boy’s Chinese preschool teacher uploaded the songs they learnt and sang in school and I downloaded all of them to the Make Your Own Card. He sings them along at home now while listening via the Yoto player. What an awesome way to introduce more Chinese at home.

Which Yoto do I prefer?
I almost always recommend the Yoto Mini Player. I love how small and portable it is especially since my child mainly uses when he sleepovers at his grandparents or during holidays at the hotels when he is away from home. I packed it in his bag and he listened to it on plane and ferries ride. His older friend even brings it out for mealtimes!

However, if you are looking to get those benefits out of your Yoto player like a nightlight, then the Original maybe for you. It is also cool that you can just leave it on its charging dock for everyone to enjoy.

How do I introduce Yoto?
For me personally I bought The Gruffalo and Friends Collection bundle and also the physical books separately. I first introduce the Monkey Puzzle audio card (perfect for toddlers) with the book together so my boy is able to relate what the speaker is reading with the physical book. He flipped and followed the story so well at the age of 2.5 years. The next story card I introduced is The Room and the Broom (very captivating!) and followed by The Snail and Whale. The Gruffalo and Friends Collection bundle comes with 6 audio cards and when my boy is 3.5 years old, we have all the 6 books in the collection. 

I would strongly recommend for toddlers, is to introduce every audio card slowly since their attention span is short and does not focus well yet. One music card and one story card is good to start off for toddlers between 2 to 2.5 years old.

How to set up Yoto?
In order to set up your Yoto player, you will need the Yoto app (available on ITunes or Google Play) and Wi-Fi connection.

The instructions are included in the quick start guide but the basic gist of it is that you download the Yoto App to your phone and set up takes around 5 to 10 minutes only.