Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. I was sent this tonies® Toniebox and Tonies to review free of charge, but words and pictures are mine. This post contains affiliate links, see more information here.
My children always get stories before bed, but this isn’t always enough to send them sleep-wards. I’ve found that audiobooks and music are a great way to calm them down a bit and get them to nod off at a reasonable hour. They’re also great for getting kids away from screens during the day but keeping them entertained when you need to be doing things elsewhere.
We have a CD player in my oldest’s bedroom which she can now operate at six, and she can also shout demands at the Alexa and be understood approximately 30% of the time, but when she was younger, listening to music or stories was something that we had to do together.
This is where tonies® are great!
What is tonies® and what is a Toniebox?
A Toniebox is a clever WiFi enabled speaker made just for kids. It is squishy and has no sharp edges and is really intuitive to use for children as young as three!
Tonies are clever little hand-painted models which children can use to select the stories or songs they want to listen to. They tell the Toniebox what to play.
What’s in the tonies® Starter Set?
In the tonies® Starter Set box, you get:
- A Toniebox (we got a blue one, which goes perfectly in my son’s room although they’re available in lots of colours including red, grey and purple)
- A matching blue Creative-Tonie
- Charging station
- Instructions
We also received two tonies® figures; one full of Christmas songs, and one with songs and the story of The Jungle Book (we also had an extra Father Christmas Creative-Tonie already!).
Setting up your tonies® Toniebox
You’ll need to have your WiFi password and your tablet or mobile to set up the Toniebox.
It’s really easy; visit the website or download the tonies® app and follow the instructions, selecting your WiFi and inputting your password as required.
The lights on the top of the Toniebox will show you when it’s been set up correctly and it is ready to use. It only takes a few minutes… Even I could do it, no hassle.
Using the Toniebox
Using the Toniebox and tonies characters is really easy – a really small kid could do it.
All you have to do is place the Tonie on top of the box, in the middle where the square of lights is. The story or music will start automatically. If it doesn’t because it’s gone into sleep mode, give the ear a little squeeze.
Squeeze the ears to turn the volume up and down, and tap the side of the box hard on the right to fast forward, or left to go back.
If you want to pause the story, remove the Tonie from the top. Great for a game of musical statues, as my kids discovered!
The Toniebox comes with a charging station but the battery lasts for up to seven hours of audio, so it doesn’t need to be kept on the charger; the light will go orange when it’s low on battery. This means it’s perfect for kids to take to bed with them so they can listen to a short story before they fall asleep.
What is a Creative-Tonie?
A Creative-Tonie is one which will play any audio files which you load onto it.
In the toniecloud you register your Creative-Tonies (you’ll need to have the Toniebox next to you for this) and then you can drag and drop up to 90 minutes of audio files (AAC, AIFF, FLAC, MP3, M4A, M4B, WAV, OGA, OGG, OPUS, WMA) to upload.
Save the files, and the next time you place the Creative-Tonie onto the top of the machine, it will play the new content. This can be replaced whenever you feel like it!
You can download royalty free audio books from several websites, and music and audiobooks from loads of websites including Amazon music. There are usually ways to convert files from your existing libraries; a quick Google can help you there.
What did the kids think?
My youngest (4) took to the Toniebox immediately. Although the Christmas songs are a hit, we have downloaded a few bedtime audiobooks to fill the Creative-Tonies and he’s happy to go off to bed and listen to a story without a fuss.
He loves how soft and squishy his Toniebox is – so much so that he can have it in bed with him! – and how easily he can use it to play what he wants.
He also loves that it goes so well with his bedroom!
How much and where to buy tonies® Toniebox and figures
A tonies® Starter Set with one Creative-Tonie has an RRP of £69.95. They can be purchased directly from the tonies Website or from Amazon, or from John Lewis stores.
Additional Creative-Tonies cost around £11, and tonies audio characters with preloaded songs and stories cost around £15-£20.
WIN a Toniebox!
To celebrate the #12daysoftonies, bloggers are giving away a Toniebox each day for 12 days!
My competition is open on Facebook until Tuesday 10th December at 9am.