Yoto Mini, Adventure Jacket Mini And The Phizz-Whizzing Collection Review

Reviewed by Sian Manning

Reading is a very important part of our lives, reading together, reading a bedtime story, the small people practising their reading and reading at school. I have three children aged nine, seven and five so they are all at completely different reading abilities so a device that isn’t a screen that can tell a story is great.

The Yoto Mini is a great little gadget (recommended for ages 3 plus) it is a story teller and also a radio and podcast Player.  You can purchase cards to go into the Player to tell a particular story that might be of interest to your little one or you can choose a podcast or radio station to listen to. You can also record yourself telling your favourite story and add it to a card so you can read the bedtime story from a distance. The Mini is the smaller brother of the Yoto Player.  The Mini is much more portable and is small enough to take in the car, on the train or pop in your bag to take to the park or on holiday.

The Yoto Mini comes in all cardboard packaging which is so nice to see and so much kinder to the environment than being covered in plastic, in the box you get the Player itself, a make your own card (so you can record your own story or message), a charger and the normal leaflets and instructions.

To use the box you do need to download the app to your smart phone or device, it does need to connect to the internet and there are certain functions such as the radio or podcasts that do need the app to be able to play as you select them from your device and play them through the Yoto. It is really easy to set up though and doesn’t take long so don’t let this put you off.

It is also super easy to use and has just a couple of controls on the Player itself and an on/off button, then the slot in the top for the cards to go into. There is also a screen on the front that shows images (editor’s note – this product is screen free) and also the time, battery life and weather – a very lovely little feature.

The adventure jacket comes in its own cardboard box and you can choose from a variety of colours, we have the grey (silver lining) version. The adventure jacket is a rubberised cover to protect your Yoto from any knocks, dinks or drops, it fits like a second skin and is easy to put on but stays put and doesn’t come off easily so you know that it is going to keep your Yoto safe. The jacket also comes with a lanyard so you can add a carry strap and lower the risk of dropping the Yoto. The jacket is a great little addition for peace of mind for you and your Player.

Now onto the cards, we have the Phizz-Whizzing Collection by Roald Dahl this is a collection of six cards, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, George’s Marvellous Medicine, James and the Giant Peach, The BFG, Matilda and The Twits (some of my all time favourites), these are the full stories and the total running time of all of the stories put together is 17hours and 49 minutes, so plenty of story time included in the price. The cards are much sturdier than I originally though.  They are credit card sized but thinker so almost impossible to destroy and very robust. The cards give even the youngest children the chance to enjoy the stories.  There are also a huge range of other cards available from stories for little ones, to music and meditation.  There are also language cards so you can learn the basics of another language.

We use the Yoto Mini nearly every day.  My boys listen to the the stories at bed time and use it to relax, unwind and go to sleep, my daughter uses it to listen to the stories while she plays and we have taken it with us on days out and round to friends house to help keep everyone occupied.

This little box is amazing.  It is such good value and the range that it can do is incredible from listening to stories to seeing little pictures, you can control it from your phone and being portable it is great for taking out and about and in the car, to a friends house or to a relatives.  It would make a lovely gift and the great thing is that friends and family could buy more cards and add to the collection over time.

Rating: 5/5

RRP:
Yoto Mini £49.99
Adventure Jacket Mini £16.99
The Phizz-Whizzing Collection £39.99

You can purchase the Yoto Mini from the Yoto website here.