20 Comments
Sep 20, 2023Liked by Claire Zulkey

Thanks, just bought the countdown clock, am not entirely sure if it is for my kid or myself! (Answer: both)

Glad lots of people like the Yoto. We have something different-but-similar: a Toniebox. It is nice starting at younger ages because you just put a figurine on top of the box and squeeze one of its ears to make it stop playing, so even toddlers can do it. Also there are Tonies that you can record your own material on in addition to ones with pre-recorded material. Also, niche interest: I like it because it is German so I can buy lots of German-language Tonies as well and it lowers my kid's resistance to using both his languages! It will be interesting to see if he ages out of the Tonie box or not but so far age 5, going strong.

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Sep 21, 2023Liked by Claire Zulkey

I have been eyeing a timer like that for me but using it for her to seems like an imperative to buy now.

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Sep 24, 2023Liked by Claire Zulkey

Timer has arrived and already worked wonders at one bedtime!! New concern is kid breaking it because she finds it utterly fascinating.

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author

Honestly I'm shocked ours hasn't been broken.

I sometimes use it for work or just to make myself do 10 min of a thing I don't wanna do

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Sep 20, 2023Liked by Claire Zulkey

My four year old got a Yoto for his birthday and it’s a huge hit. He goes down for “quiet time” in the afternoons while the baby naps, and the Yoto has stretched that quiet time to almost 90 minutes. He’s obsessed with the Disney, Marvel, and Paw Patrol stories.

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Diary of a Wimpy Kid is big here, plus Yoto radio (my kid likes writing down the jokes he hears)

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Sep 20, 2023Liked by Claire Zulkey

I'm going to buy all this stuff. High school is reactivating a bunch of ADHD stuff and, combined with the thunderstorm in my teen's head, I can't anymore.

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And the answer is....a popsicle stick glued to a pom pom and then covered in colored masking tape! But, also, art???! I'm gonna get myself this effin lockbox rn.

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I want a lockbox to put myself in

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Sep 22, 2023Liked by Claire Zulkey

I want to plug Playaways from your library if a Yoto is out of reach financially - they’re only one book, so not as exciting as something multipurpose, but maybe that’s helpful in its own way. (If you haven’t seen these before, they’re little mp3 players with a single audiobook on them. They also make graphical/nonaudio ones for comics.)

I cannot tell you how long I’ve wanted a visual timer.

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I agree; my kid loved the Playaway he got from the library and we loved how quiet it made him :)

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Sep 20, 2023Liked by Claire Zulkey

Love these recs. That timer clock thing has been really helpful for us too. I am intrigued by the Yoto audio thing but the whole talk of downloading things onto cards is making me think it will take a lot of effort to set up. Will it not? Will it but it will be worth it because my kids will entertain themselves for hours?

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Full disclosure my husband has “owned” all things Yoto but I don’t think there has been any PITA downloading, just the kid playing the cards. It it was a pain my spouse def wouldn’t suffer in silence though.

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Sep 20, 2023Liked by Claire Zulkey

You have given me the good idea of just outsourcing this tech help situation to my spouse, which is the obvious answer.

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that is my verbiage often. "Can you own summer camp signup/ school health forms?" That way it's off my mind completely. Helps that he's pretty competent (not to get mushy)

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Thank you for solving my problems ladies!

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founding
Sep 20, 2023Liked by Claire Zulkey

We have both the Yoto and Toniebox (Hi, it’s me. I try to solve problems by buying things). Overall I think the Yoto is the win because it’s way more portable and way easier to keep track of. (Also our dog does not murder cards, but has murdered an unfortunate number of not-inexpensive tonies.)

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Sep 20, 2023Liked by Claire Zulkey

Ah, okay good to know. I am going to ponder making this purchase to solve my problems too!

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I have to say the Yoto is very pleasingly designed. that's not how I typically shop for things but it never makes me angry when I see it lying around.

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So many things covered in tape over here.

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