Disclaimer: This post features Yoto Cards we’ve been sent free of charge for review, and cards we have bought and paid for. Words and pictures are mine. This post contains affiliate links, see more information here.
Buy the Yoto Player classic starter pack here for £89.99. Buy the Yoto Player Mini here for £59.99. Visit the Yoto Card store here.
My kids – currently aged 7 and 8 years old – get so much use out of their their Yoto Players. Between them they have both the original Yoto which lives in my oldest’s room, and the Yoto Mini which belongs to my son. They’re used every day for stories at bedtime, as nightlights and clocks, and they’re also useful when we’re on the move. The Mini in particular is handy for taking on car journeys. As long as the audiobooks have been previously downloaded over wifi by popping the story card in while the Yoto is connected, it can play stories even when a connection is no longer available, and a headphone jack means silence for everyone else in the car.
You can also use the mobile phone app to play any purchased audiobooks over Bluetooth, which again is great for long car journeys if you can all agree on a story to play over the car stereo. Even as an adult I’ve loved listening along to some of the stories from my own childhood including The Secret Garden, and Roald Dahl stories including Matilda and The Witches.
There are a great selection of Yoto Cards for young children, including new PAW Patrol 5 minute stories, which my smallest would have loved when he was younger, however there are just as many brilliant audiobooks for older kids which make the Yoto a great purchase for children of any age.
Here are some of our top recommendations for audiobooks for slightly older kids.
Our favourite Yoto Cards: Audiobooks for older kids
As paid members of the Yoto Club over the past few years, for just £9.99 a month – or £99 for the full year if paid up front – each child gets to pick a new audiobook card from a selection of at least ten. Many of the cards we’ve got have been through the club, although we have bought some separately too.
If you have a Yoto, I would absolutely recommend becoming a member of the club (if you don’t have one, obviously I would recommend buying one, and then becoming a member).
For the price as a terrible magazine with some plastic tat stuck to it each, my kids can have a new bedtime story that will last them at a week using the sleep timer I operate from my phone – and then they can switch and listen to the other story. With the added benefits of free shipping and 10% off of other Yoto cards for club members, it is the one subscription that I’m happy to keep paying for.
Some of our favourite Yoto Card audiobooks
The Cookie books by Konnie Huq
Cookie and the Most Annoying Boy in the World was the start of a very funny new kids series for children aged 8+, written by ex-Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq. There are now three books in the series and all of them are available on Yoto Cards. Cookie and the Most Mysterious Mystery in the World is the most recent; Cookie’s Nani is coming to stay from Bangladesh and she needs to work out a way to speak with her, as she doesn’t speak English. Each book is currently £9.99 in the Yoto Card store.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is about Greg Heffley, a middle-schooler who illustrates his daily life in a diary. You might wonder how it works over audio, but my kids have really taken to the series. The cards cost £9.99 each.
The Roald Dahl collection
There’s something about Roald Dahl’s stories that’s ever so comforting – even when children are meeting awful chocolate-themed demises. I’m considering getting the stories in French too, to see if it’ll help the kids to learn a new language. You can get the whole collection including Charlie et la chocolaterie, Matilda, Sacrées sorcières, Fantastique Maître Renard, James et la grosse pêche and La potion magique de Georges Bouillon for £34.99 here.
Alternatively, if you’d prefer them in a language you can understand, click here for a MAHOOSIVE, 19-story collection in English.
New Yoto Cards for older kids
There are several new Roald Dahl books including James and the Giant Peach read by comedian James Acaster, and George’s Marvellous Medicine read by Romesh Ranganathan. Along with the rest of the Roald Dahl collection, the stories are classics and must-haves for any age group.
We have also been sent the Famous Five Collection, which has eight different stories and a total run time of 32 hours and 29 minutes. Currently on sale for less than half price (£34.99) for the full eight classic stories, more than enough to keep them entertained even on the longest of journeys
Percy Jackson is another new audiobook collection for older kids. It comes with the first three Percy Jackson stories (Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief, Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters and Percy Jackson and the Titan’s Curse) in a bundle costing £34.99, with audio that lasts for almost 27 hours. Percy Jackson – who in the first book is 12 years old – is the son of Poseidon, Greek god of the seas and his mortal mum, Sally and goes on some epic adventures with his friends.
Tom Fletcher’s The Danger Gang is a story that I bought for my youngest in book form, and he read voraciously, finishing in a matter of days. He has loved listening along to the audiobook too – it runs for over 4 hours and costs £9.99 in the Yoto card store.
For some reason, he’s also become obsessed with the Ultimate Football Heroes Collection since getting one card as part of the Yoto Club. He was about to spend his birthday money on the series of six cards. each featuring a different famous footballer (who it won’t surprise you to learn I’ve never heard of), when we were fortunately sent the rest of the cards, and he was over the moon. Not something his sister shares his passion for, the series contains nearly 17 hours of audio and is currently on sale at £34.99.
Podcasts
If you haven’t given The Week Junior podcast a spin, then do! It’s a great way to get kids involved in current affairs without doom and gloom or adult language, and will answer the questions they have in age appropriate ways.
The Fun Kids Science Weekly kids’ podcast is also great, covering a whole range of interesting science topics , and it’s suitable for younger kids too.
The Story Quest podcast is another one we never miss. This story-telling podcast is great for all ages; it’s perfect for bedtime.
These are free and you can play them from the Yoto App if you don’t have the pre-programmed card which will automatically play the latest podcast each week.
The Yoto Club has changed!
Yoto Club is now easier to use and you get more cards to pick from every month.
Each month on your billing date, Yoto will add two Club Credits to your account. Each Club Credit equals one Yoto Card, and instead of choosing from 10 pre-selected Yoto Cards, you’ll take your pick from a much wider Yoto Club collection within the Card Store. There are already over 100 titles to pick from!
You can choose your Yoto Club Cards whenever you want them, and keep the Club Credits for up to 12 months.
As well as this, you will get 10% off all cards and free shipping on everything, all the time.
It still costs £9.99 a month and with most cards costing around that much, it’s a much cheaper way to build you Yoto Card collection. See the website here for more details of how to join.
See my list of best kids’ audio players for 2023 here!
Hey I’ve just come across your website and think it’s great I’m definitely drawn more to the yoto player than tonie box now for my 8year old and nearly 6 year old. Which should I get ? The yoto player or the mini what is the difference please ?
The main difference apart from the size and transportability is the nightlight function on the Yoto. For older children, I would opt for the Mini personally.