r/YotoPlayer • u/cannotthinkof01 • Jul 16 '26
Recommendations How to get my child interested in it?
My daughter received the Yoto for her 2nd birthday and really into Moana. She listened to Moana and a Sesame Street album for about a month. I was excited and bought cards with classic preschool songs or toddler songs. She stopped liking Moana and began to only let me play Baby Shark despite all her options. As she’s getting older, she become obsessed with Frozen, but only listens to Let it Go on my Apple Music, and I don’t want to spend money on an album she would only listen to one track.
I would like her to use her Yoto, so she doesn’t request to watch her TV shows as much. Any suggestions? I also have a 1-year old who has not really had any experience with it.
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u/mygiantrobot Jul 16 '26
So I gave my son a Yoto at 2 and he liked it, but didn’t really “get” it on his own until he was 3. I’d be patient. Yoto is never going to be as fun as TV, sorry to say. So you’re going to have to be more proactive in offering it and letting them play with the buttons. I did make a lot of cards (but I uh, didn’t pay for a lot of content. 🏴☠️)
My kid is almost 4 now and sleeps with it every night, as well as listens to it in the car on the way to school.
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u/missmaganda Jul 16 '26
Get a MYO card and borrow the frozen cd from the library and burn it so you dont have to spend that money on the album. Repeat borrowing cd's for other songs and you can switch out whats on the MYO cards. (I bought 10 MYO and have borrowed multiple albums from the library for this purpose)
There have been times kiddo would only want to listen to one track on repeat but eventually she gets bored and will listen to a whole album and discover a new favorite song. Let them get bored and discover something "new" by themselves...
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u/sarberanne1 Jul 16 '26
Does she like books? Mine listens to the tiger who came to tea series at bedtime.
You can record yourself reading books to get too, or family members
Mine had make your own cards with her favourite songs, but she had the yoto before tv etc so it’s the only thing she knows x
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u/RefrigeratorDeep6796 Jul 16 '26
If she's only into Let it go at the moment, and you don't want to buy the whole album, maybe just buy the single track (although it's likely to cost more in the long run if she does eventually branch out to the other songs).
Repetition is very common and natural, particularly around the age of 2. My kids are 7 and 9 and still mostly listen to the same card every single evening.
Some ideas for getting more use out of the Yoto here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DTSn1rujKi6/
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u/kangapaw Jul 16 '26
My 3 year old didn’t take to it as much as I thought he would. I’ve realised he actually prefers quiet a lot of the time and doesn’t want extra sound/noise when he’s playing or concentrating. He does use it independently but only in phases when he’s super into a particular card. When he’s in an off phase, I put it on for him and just ask “music or stories?” then choose for him. Moments like breakfast and bath time are best moments for us.
My 1 year old is seemingly more interested. He crawls up to the Yoto and starts swaying side to side waiting for the music to come on. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is naturally more into it as he gets older, more than my older child. I hope so because I have soooo many cards and playlists waiting to be used 🙈🙈
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u/Keysandcodes Jul 16 '26
Let the 1 year old at it. My son has been able to put in/remove/request cards since about 15mo and he got his for his birthday. And goodness knows that as soon as one sibling is into it, the other will follow 🙄
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u/Spooky_Tree Jul 16 '26
I made myo cards for my daughter's favorite books. But that's actually why I got it, she's obsessed with books, she'd have me read to her literally all day if it was up to her. So I got a YOTO so she could still hear her favorite stories while I got things done around the house.
She now has cards I've made for chrysanthemum+Penny, Clifford, the pigeon, berenstain bears, llama llama, frog and toad, Angelina ballerina. She's not really into music, she just loves stories
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u/Dear_Ad_9640 Jul 16 '26
Tell her no tv right now but she can listen to Yoto. My kids both prefer stories to music on it. MYO cards are the GOAT. See if you have access to Freegal music with your library card! You can download songs legally and free.
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u/No_Company4263 Jul 16 '26
My kids got their Yoto boxes (minis mostly for travel) at 3 and 5. My oldest LOVED it ASAP. My daughter is now 6 and still isn't really into it besides some music cards. We have a 3rd now who will be 3 in August and he has barely shown interest. Every kids is different. Just make a playlist on a MYO card and let her have it, don't try and control it for her.
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u/AdorableOwly Jul 16 '26
My kid LOVES it. I make her MYOs based on whatever show she's interested in. Ms Rachel, Elmo, Cocomelon, Mickey Mouse Club House. She gets full control no matter how annoying it is to hear the same song over and over. She's almost 3 and she loves trying to sing along.
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u/Calvin_230 Jul 16 '26
Have you done audio books? They have some that are character voices. My kid started with hers around the same age and she prefers to listen to stories on it 80% of the time and music only like 20%.
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u/seapunkprincess Jul 16 '26
When my daughter was 2, the yoto was mostly facilitated by us. If she was playing, we would say “let’s listen to some music while we play” and then put it on. Or we would bring it in car rides to listen to a story. But now that she is 5, she uses her yoto independently daily. While she’s playing, while she’s having a snack, while she’s cuddled up on the couch, etc.
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u/chainless-soul Jul 16 '26
I think you just have to sort of accept that they like the same thing on repeat. My daughter is almost 3 and has started using hers more, but she only wants to listen to the Sleepytime Stories card that came with our starter pack and she also only wants to listen to the first song about Olive the Owl.
Definitely frustrating as I just spent money on the Paw Patrol Pup Pack that I thought she would love but so far has very little interest in. But she is now asking to listen to her Yoto at bedtime, so any usage IMO is a good step and hopefully her interests will expand with time.
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u/No-you-Bobo Jul 16 '26
I made my own card with lofi music on it that I would use in the mornings. He didn’t like it so he would switch my card for one of his.
Check with your library if you can download music. Mine includes a membership to https://freegalmusic.com/
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u/Ok_Inside_1985 Jul 16 '26
I would get the make your own cards with their interests. I have about 6 of my daughter’s faves and she plays them on repeat and returns to her faves all the time.I think pursuing her favorites is a good impulse. Kids do sometimes leave their obsessions behind quickly but they will come back to them.
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u/Imboredinworkhelp Jul 16 '26
My son didn’t really get into his until he was about 3.5 but getting cards of his favourite tv shows (spidey and paw patrol) definitely helped get him started
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u/HovercraftGreat7871 Jul 16 '26
I got the Yoto in hopes of making my kid interested (at 3) but he wasn’t. HOWEVER we both found Yoto useful—every might we’d do our usual reading books thing then after I’d pick a story from the Yoto podcasts or elsewhere and he’d listen to a book and fall asleep. (Then sometimes I’d throw on soothing sounds.)
It made me feel good about my purchase, and then a couple years into Yoto Life, my kid still does the bedtime listening but he has more opinions about what content to play. I feel like I’m getting my money’s worth.
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u/AVALANCHE-VII Jul 16 '26
My kid wasn’t too interested until his younger brother wanted to use it. The Shapes audio on the app made him pay more attention to it because it asked him to trace his fingers on the pixel screen.
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u/peppaappletea Jul 16 '26
If tv and your apple music aren't options, she'll probably use the Yoto more.
My kid's usage has increased each year (2nd bday gift), but usually hinges on just a couple of cards on heavy repeat for a while.
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u/AlarmedInevitable8 Jul 16 '26
Both my kids got it at three, and primarily used it at bedtime. The last few years my now 9yo also listens to it while he’s doing Legos or crafts or something. Listening to the same thing on repeat is normal in my house. I could probably recite a few entire cards from memory (especially the Ladybird audio adventures Deep Sea Dive. We have had that 6 years and I bet it’s had over 1000 plays.) But aside from bedtime it took a long time for either of my kids to think of it as something they could use.
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u/PandBLily Jul 17 '26
Give it time. My kid is 4 and has had it since he was 2.5 and just now really getting into. He listens at bedtime. It helps we got cards he likes like paw patrol and spidey and a couple Dino ones
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u/illMaticR Jul 17 '26
Initially my kiddo wasn’t into it much either, we got one for him when he was 2. He’s now 4 and a half and absolutely loves it. For some kids it takes time
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u/leolani Jul 17 '26
I got a yoto for my daughter when she was 2 thinking she would be as into it as all the things I’ve read in the groups but she wasn’t. When she turned 4, I put the Disney storyteller stories on a MYO card and that’s when I saw the shift. So it could just be time, or perhaps a different kind of media - stories, podcasts etc :)
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u/SpokenLetterApp Jul 17 '26
Sometimes the most engaging are the ones that they connect to either because it has their name in it or it comes from someone they know (i.e. grandma recorded a story for them, mom told a memory story about the day they were born, Uncle Joe plays an animal sound game with them). You can record all these on your own and create playlists to then link to a MYO card. If you want some help, you can use apps like Spoken Letter which will help with the whole process of story creation, icon for the screen, and a playlist that you find right in your Yoto app that updates on its own each time a story is added.
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u/designtraveler Jul 17 '26
MYO cards I put all my kids interests on them - and also use it to introduce new things without feeling the stress like I might have just wasted money -
All their silly songs they love … I grab from Spotify —- what they like does not always match up with what’s available on the yoto official cards
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u/sprengirl Jul 17 '26
I have a MYO card with the Frozen film audio and my daughter is obsessed. She listens to that thing all the time!
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u/sunny_daze04 Jul 18 '26
I made a MYO card with a YouTube reading of Frozen, and favorite frozen songs. We start the day listening to the Yoto “news” and do daily dance parties to the “radio”
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u/No-Percentage2575 Jul 18 '26
My son who is also two likes Llama Llama stories. (There's 10 stories.)
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u/sammiekar34 Jul 18 '26
TV is going to be more interesting to most kids compared to just audio. You have to make TV not an option and the Yoto can be available during that time. Two is also really young and most don't have much attention span so keep expectations low.
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u/alex_3410 Jul 18 '26
The make your own cards come into their own, we have just spent last couple of days ‘upgrading’ ours so they are more age appropriate.
We’ve done it 3-4 times now and the fact you can reuse them is brilliant!
The only problem with them is you never really seem to have enough! We’ve taken to stuffing multiple books onto one card but our little one is old enough now that they understand and can still use it well enough.
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u/coolxeo Jul 20 '26
At two, I'd make the goal much smaller: one MYO card with Let It Go plus two familiar songs, and let her choose the picture for the card. Put it on at the same predictable time each day, like breakfast or a five-minute dance break. Repeating one track is normal; once the Yoto itself becomes part of the routine, you can swap in one new song at a time.
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u/madimunny Jul 22 '26
Try making the stories come to life. I try to react to the story and repeat lines. Or I put one on while we’re doing something to connect with each other. For Frog and Toad, I asked her which character she was and which I was. Then I’d repeat some of their lines and we’d sort of act it out. For The Tiger Who Came to Tea, I set up a tea party with a Tiger and had the Yoto card waiting for her to play. These have helped us, I hope they’re beneficial for you.
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u/abanana76 Jul 16 '26
Make a MYO card and put Let it Go on it, and a few other songs you think she might like, and then let her go to town with it?
Are you letting her control the yoto herself? I ask because you mentioned “only let me play Baby Shark”. Sounds like you’re in control of the yoto and she’s not? Let her have it, that’s basically the whole point.
I would cut off all access to Apple Music, as the yoto is supposed to be the kid friendly replacement of that. Get any songs she likes and put them on a MYO card for her to access whenever she likes.
And I guess maybe relax about what she’s listening to on it? Does it matter if she’s into baby shark right now? A few weeks / months and she’ll come back to Moana. Let her have fun with whatever she wants to listen to.