Tonie Starter Set For Christmas!
One of the greatest things we can give our children are stories to fall asleep to. Read to them, read with them and teach then to read themselves and they have a whole new world opened up to them through story – reading and being read to is one of the greatest pleasures in life don’t you think? My Daddy is a wonderful story reader, when I was little he would read me books and bring them to life with voices as he acted the characters beautifully and made them become such vivid players it was almost like watching a film. He gave to me in that, a want to become an actress myself and of course, I try to read to my children in the same way – breathing life into the story so as to ignite their imaginations and make them fall in love with stories.
I still love being read to if I’m honest. It’s not a lazy thing, I love to read too, but there’s something totally soothing about having a story be told to you. Audio books are great for that and for children, the best way to gift them an audio book is with a Toniebox!
A Toniebox is a beautiful little cube which provides audio fun for kids. No screens, just stories and music and with the ability to record your own stories for your child using the creative Tonies (of which the starter set comes with one) as well as to buy Tonies (the characters who sit on top of the Toniebox telling it what to play) of well known classics and famous favourites, this box has so much scope for entertaining and interesting children. The box is a rather robust and cushioned, water repellent cube which has the capabilities of being handled by a roughian toddler and withstanding a few knocks. Essentially it’s a speaker which can be used while on its charging dock, or away from it (it will give 7 hours of play per full charge) and can be listened to our loud or with head phones (Tonie head phones sold separately for £24.99). You can use it at home or on the go and can even take it on holiday with you where you might need to invest in a Tonie Carrier (£19.99) which will carry your Toniebox and up to 20 Tonies characters depending on size. The Tonie characters are where the magic’s at!
So like I said, you get a creative Tonie in the starter set box and on him you have space to record 90 minutes of content. Anyone can read a story, sing a song or leave a message using the app if they log into your account and then all you have to do is place the creative Tonie they have saved their content to on your Tonies box and it will play. The same for the stories we all know and love from those classics (there are a number of classics Tonies which can be bought all loaded up with fairy tales and songs) to the famous stories children know and love. There’s Disney ones, Julia Donaldson ones, Sesame Street, Mr Bean… The list goes on. There’s also collaborations with companies like Steiff Bears who have their own fluffy and washable Tonies with stories loaded for children and right now a Christmas collection that’s rather flying off the shelves like the classic, Raymond Briggs’s The Snowman. The Tonies generally have a few songs as well as the stories but they all have different running times so it’s best to check on each individual one. For example, we have the Disney Jungle Book Tonie with a running time of 24 minutes while others can run for a couple of hours. Prices vary too depending on stories just like books but they’re all pretty great with different merits. I love that you can buy Creative Tonies with seasonal decor, Father Christmas for example is waiting to put himself as a Tonie in Raffie’s stocking this year!
They are super easy to store which makes it a great present in my book. Anything which easily tidies away is a bonus and Raffie is absolutely loving adding to his collection – what a fab collection to have! He got some money for his birthday and yesterday we went to Book Bugs and Dragontales, our favourite independent book shop in Norwich, to spend some of his money. On Tonies of course! He bought Stick Man to add to his collection, his favourite story which I had added to a creative Tonie for him already and whcih he now says he wants to keep both versions of. He likes my voices but he also likes the proper one and he also likes to have me read it to and with him from the book, watch it on TV and, after seeing it at the theatre, seeing it live too. What can I say, he’s a massive Stick Man and Julia Donaldson fan, more Tonies afoot in that genre for him then! I always buy from Bookbugs and Dragontales by the way for numerous reasons. Not only are they an independent small business local to me but they also have a massive rewards system which means when you buy from them you effectively get a stacking great discount. Buy a Tonie bundle and you’d easily save a tenner by earning it back in points – bonus. They also make great hot drinks, run brilliant baby classes and have become friends now too so all in all, buy your books from them because they’re ace! Anyway, back to Tonies…
The set up is a walk in the park. I didn’t even need to look at the instructions I just downloaded the app and it walked me through it. You need wifi for this bit but not play8ing the stories with the Tonies. Pop a Tonie on the top of your charged up box, wherever you are, and it will come to life – it’s magnetic so the Tonie stays in place but you can remove it and place it back for the story to pick up where it was the last time it was on the stand. Press an ear to turn the sound up or down, tilt the box left or right to rewind or fast forward (You can change this in the app) or tap it to skip a few chapters. And that is it as far as it goes for user controls. So easy that even I can do it and of course my toddler can!
Raffie has been devouring the audio books so it was no surprise that he chose to spend some of his money on the proper Stickman Tonie. He has masses more on his Christmas list and I can’t wait to help him build this collection. What a worthwhile collection to have. We will take it in the car, on holidays, wherever we go and know that they are being wholesomely entertained without any screen time whatsoever. I am also planning on asking my Dad to read some stories to a creative Tonie in the way he used to for me when I was little. How amazing that a Grandparent far away can leave stories like this, daily too. It would have been wonderful in lockdown of course but actually just in normal life this is a brilliant resource which can encompass the whole family and make everyone feel much closer!
Raffie has lined up all his Tonies on his bed side cabinet ready for the next story. It is calming and beautiful and a tremendous way to teach him to calm down and get ready for bed. We won’t stop reading to him but this is a brilliant extra and a beautiful piece to have.
I will bring you more Toniesbox news of course, so watch this space! Lots of Christmas potential with this one – Raffie has so many Tonies related thing on his Christmas list including the headphones and I approve!
I was gifted the Toniebox and a selection of Tonies.
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