Not To Brag, But I've Finally Found A Toy That Keeps My Kid Busy For 20+ Minutes
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As a working mum of two young kids, the most important quality I look for in toys is the ability to keep my child occupied for chunks of time so I can get things done – whether that’s cooking dinner, tidying up, or sending a few work emails.
While it’s all too easy to stick the TV on, I’ve definitely noticed that my eldest child’s behaviour can rapidly go downhill afterwards – so screen-free time is much preferred.
When she turned two, we bought her a Toniebox after hearing friends rave about it. It felt like an expensive purchase at the time – but we’ve certainly got our money’s worth. Let me explain why...
What’s a Toniebox?
The Toniebox is essentially a durable audio player for kids. You can buy little figures (Tonies) for it which sit on the top of the player and tell stories and sing songs.
There are also other accessories that go with it like night lights (we have the sheep one), headphones and cases for transporting the characters around.
The figures, while not cheap at £14.99 each, double up as toys – my daughter spends 20+ minute chunks playing games with them, while also sitting and listening to the stories and songs when she puts one on top of her Toniebox.
In fact, every bedtime we sit and play “nursery” with all the characters, where I’m the teacher and have to read them all some stories.
After we’ve done that, we’ll say goodnight – which includes a fairly lengthy process of me saying goodbye to each individual Tonie and us having a chat about her day. Then she’ll lie in bed and listen to one (or two, as we discovered during the heatwave) of the Tonies before going to sleep.
She recently got the Anna and ElsaTonies for her third birthday which went down an absolute storm (she’s listened to them every night since). She’s also a huge fan of Peppa Pig’s Bedtime Stories, as well as the Julia Donaldson characters, like the Snail and the Whale, and – of course – the Gruffalo.
Listening to a Tonie before bed has become a bit of a ritual that enables me to go and clean the kitchen or take the bins out, while she winds down. If you find bedtime drags out for a thousand years, a Toniebox might just be your saviour.
The other perk is that kids can listen to it while travelling – ours get car sick, especially if looking at books or watching something on a tablet, but they don’t have this problem listening to the Toniebox.
We also take it on holiday with us for moments when our eldest needs a bit of quiet time, and to stick to our bedtime routine as much as possible.
The squishy (and therefore, drop-proof) box is £79.95 and comes in a range of colours – red, blue, green, pink, purple and grey. It’s suitable for kids aged three and up, and there are over 250 Tonies to choose from.
Is it more expensive than most ‘toys’? Yes. But a moment’s peace is priceless when you’re a parent – so boy is it worth the money.