This post about the best children’s audio player for 2023 contains affiliate links; more information here. This has been updated from the previous article; best audio players of 2022.
Portable Children’s audio players are rising in popularity, giving kids a screen-free option for entertainment which is popular with parents who are concerned about screentime. But which are the best portable children’s audio players on the market in 2023? If you’re looking to buy an audio player for your kid, what is the best investment and value for money?
Having reviewed and tested out some of the top audio players for kids, I have summarised these reviews below and chosen our favourites.
Do leave a comment if you’ve got a question and I’ll do my best to assist!
Best children’s portable audio players for 2023
Voxblock
New to the market and to this list, the Voxblock is an audio player that doesn’t require the internet to function at all; not even download stories. It’s aimed at children from 3-10+.
Extremely easy to use straight out of the box, the Voxblock it’s sustainably made with as few parts as possible, and the stories – which are designed to look like little books – are made from cardboard and can be stacked on a book shelf.
It is very light, and extremely portable and to me it seems very much like a cassette player, but without the need to rewind or fast forward manually! It is definitely the most straightforward to use of all the audio players we’ve tried; and it’s a good price, too, with the starter pack including Voxblock unit, coloured bumper and three books costing £59.99
2023 price: £59.99 with books starting at £6 (but generally around the £13.99 mark)
Best for: Travel, using without internet
Downsides of the Voxblock
It cannot be used with Bluetooth headphones, and is very straightforward with no additional functionality besides stories. You can’t turn it off remotely if a child falls asleep.
Read more about the Voxblock in our review here and buy on their website here. You can get 5% off your order if you use the code WHINGEWHINGEWINE at checkout.
The tonies Toniebox
First up, the tonies Toniebox. The tonies is probably the best known of the children’s audio players due to a very successful marketing campaign. It’s relatively large and soft and squishy, and comes with cute characters which you can place on top to hear stories and music.
You can create your own stories and audio content using creative tonies and your computer.
It’s soft and comes in a range of fun colours. The characters are appealing to children and the audioplayer is really simple and easy to use even for younger children.
2023 Price: £79.95 for the Toniebox and around £15 for each tonies character
Best for: Toddlers
Downsides of the tonies Toniebox
The stories are limited, and relatively expensive. It doesn’t have the longevity of other players.
Read more about the tonies Toniebox in our review here, and buy from Amazon here.
The Yoto Player Classic
The Yoto Player Classic is a brilliant children’s audio player. There is a fantastic range of audio books and podcasts which come on credit-card sized cards, which are put into the slot at the top and play automatically once the content has downloaded. More cards can be bought from their card store, and users can make their own content with Yoto’s ‘Make Your Own’ cards.
It can be controlled by a parent via their phone.
Used at night it becomes a clock which shows your child when it’s time to get up. It can be used as a bluetooth speaker to stream audio content easily from any connected device, and there is a kid-friendly music radio station and a fun daily podcast. There is also a club to join where you can receive new cards each month.
2023 Price: £89.99 for the player, cards cost from £1.99. GET 5% OFF A YOTO PLAYER OR YOTO MINI USING THE CODE AFF-WHINGE5 HERE.
Best for: Older kids, general use.
Downsides of the Yoto Player Classic
The Yoto Classic kids audio player is fairly bulky and not the most attractive to look at, although you can now buy sleeves to jazz them up a bit.
Read more about the Yoto Player Classic in our review here, and buy online here or from Amazon here.
The Yoto Player Mini
A smaller and cheaper version of the classic Yoto Player, the Yoto Mini has all the functions of the larger audio player, except for the night light. The audio quality is excellent and it can be taken out and about once the content has been downloaded.
2023 Price: £59.99 for the player, cards from £1.99. You can get 5% off a Yoto Player using the codee AFF-WHINGE5 HERE
Best for: Travel
Downsides of the Yoto Mini
There really aren’t any that I can think of. This would be my recommendation for the best children’s audio player. It doesn’t come with the nightlight option, but for the saving of £30 from the Yoto Player Classic and the portability aspect, it gets my vote.
Read more about the Yoto Mini in our review here, and buy online here or from Amazon here.
My Little Morphée
The My Little Morphée is primarily sold as a sleeping aid, aimed at children from 3-8 years old. Unlike the other audio players in this list, the My Little Morphée comes pre-loaded with 192 soothing ‘meditative journeys’ which prepare children for sleep. There are sounds, music and 128 stories; the child chooses the location and the animal that they want to guide their journey, and the story (which lasts either eight or sixteen minutes, depending on what you choose) or so will play, starting with a few minutes of guided relaxation to help little ones fall off to sleep .
The stories are all read in a very soothing, English voice which gets points from me!
Downsides of the My Little Morphée
You can’t expand your collection of stories as everything is already on the unit.
Read more about the My Little Morphée on their website here, or buy from Amazon here.
2023 Price: The My Little Morphée with 192 meditations costs £89.95 on their website.
Best for: Meditation and sleep
The TIMIO
The TIMIO is worthy of a mention. Aimed at slightly younger children (aged 3-8 years) the TIMIO comes with pre-loaded ‘discs’ with a selection of songs, stories and words for vocabulary building which can be played in English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese and Dutch.
It runs from AA batteries and does not require the internet to play the discs.
Best for: Young children, learning new languages
2023 Price: The TIMIO with 5 discs costs around £60, and extra sets of 5 discs are available at around £14 each.
Downsides of the TIMIO
You cannot expand the collection or use the audio player as a bluetooth speaker. The options are fairly limited. The stories are told in an American accent!
Read more about the TIMIO in our review here, and buy from Amazon here.
Summary of the best children’s audio players 2023
After testing out the above children’s audio players I would say that in my opinion, the best children’s audio player for children of 7-10 is still the Yoto Mini. It may be small but the audio is great, and it’s very easy to use. All the extras – for example access to free radio and podcasts and the clock function – and the very reasonable price (£59.99) mean that the Yoto Mini is my favourite children’s audio player for both younger and older kids. You can get 5% off a Yoto Player or Yoto Mini using the code AFF-WHINGE5 HERE.
If you’re looking for a straightforward and easy to use internet-free option then the Voxblock could also be an excellent choice for you. You can get 5% off your order if you use the code WHINGEWHINGEWINE at checkout.