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Audio-only toys have gotten popular right alongside podcasts for adults. The Toniebox, invented by two dads, is a favorite, though it can seem expensive ($100) and each of the Tonies content characters adds to the price ($15 to $20 apiece). But our Good Housekeeping Institute experts who are parents have gotten lots of time with the Tonies say that this is a quality way to entertain young kids without a screen. In fact, a few years ago we named the Toniebox a best toy, something our consumer testers, Lab parents and kid testers have enjoyed both before and ever since.
Rachel Rothman, the Institute's Chief Technologist & Executive Technical Director, has three kids ages 6 and younger who love their Tonies. "Sometimes they do group Tonies time, sometimes they plug in headphones for private listening," Rothman says. "We've had one of the boxes for two years, and it's still in great condition despite getting lots of play."
What is a Toniebox?
Toniebox is an audio-storytelling machine for ages 3 years+. The sweet spot for the content and the characters is probably about ages 3 to 8. Parents might want to play some things, like the lullabies, for younger kids, and some older kids might still be into the audio tales and songs. But generally, once elementary school kids can read and enjoy chapter books and tune into popular music, their interest in the content will likely wane.
The box itself is a 5-inch cube with padded sides so kids can handle it without you worrying it will break. Placing a Tonie — a small toy figurine that comes in a wide range of characters from Winnie the Pooh to Wonder Woman — on the box is what plays the audio. Each Tonie comes with roughly 30 minutes to an hour of stories, songs and/or narratives. Content comes from big names such as Sesame Street, Disney, Dr. Seuss and National Geographic, and encompasses popular franchises such as PAW Patrol, Daniel Tiger and Cocomelon. The Tonies characters can also be played with on their own, as toy figures that are fun to collect. There are more than 200 Tonies available. Because there's no video component, your child is free to use their imagination while they listen. They can also play with other toys while running their Toniebox in the background, a way of auditory learning.
The lowest-price Toniebox, called the Toniebox Playtime Puppy Starter Set, comes with one doggie figure that plays traditional children's songs such as "The Wheels on the Bus" and "The Muffin Man" for 52 minutes.
Tonies Toniebox Starter Set with Playtime Puppy
Pros
- Lowest entry price
- Great gift
- Only the initial set-up requires Wi-Fi
- Durable
Cons
- Comes with only one Tonie, the Playtime Puppy
- Some have issues with initial set-up
| Ages | 3+ |
|---|---|
| Power | Charge lasts about 7 hours |
| Content runtime | Playtime Puppy has 52 minutes of songs and more |
| Available colors | Red, light blue, pink, green, purple or gray |
How do you set up a Toniebox?
To get started with your Toniebox, you'll need to first download the mytonies app (available for iOS and Android). Next, place the Toniebox on its charging station and pinch both ears until you hear the audio tone and the light turns blue. The app will then prompt you to the next step and start connecting to Wi-Fi. Set-up usually goes smoothly if you do it through the app, though some testers have had issues. We recommend the app for the parental control features as well, such as the ability to set a maximum volume or to read a Tonie's track listing. But if you don't want to download the app or if you are having problems connecting to your Wi-Fi, you can set up your Toniebox using my.tonies.com/setup.
How does the Toniebox work?
What's great about the Toniebox is that it has an incredibly simple design — no buttons or knobs to fuss with, other than the ears that can function as controls. "My 4-year-old quickly learned how to make it work and was soon able to play on his own without having to ask for help turning it on or switching to a different story," our freelance editor Yolanda Wikiel says.
To operate a Toniebox, kids just place a Tonie figure on top. They squeeze the small ear on top of the box to lower the volume and the large one to make it louder. They can tap the sides of the box to jump to the next chapter, or tilt the box on its side to fast-forward or rewind through content. To change to a new Tonie characters, all kids have to do is physically swap the Tonie character on the top of the box for a different one.
Turning off the Toniebox is as simple as removing the Tonie from the top of the box. A nice feature is if you place the same Tonie back on the box, it'll pick up the story in the exact spot you left off (so long as another character hasn't been played in between). You can also just let the Tonie play until the audio is finished, then it shuts off on its own (which is helpful if you're playing it at bedtime).
Once you have used a Tonie on your Toniebox, the content has been downloaded and that Tonie character will always play, even if you're using the Toniebox in the car or someplace out of range of Wi-Fi. The battery charge on a Toniebox can last for about 7 hours.
Is a Toniebox worth the money?
The experts in our Parenting Lab think so. "Our family really loves Tonies," Rothman says. "My three kids can independently pick out which figure they want to put on top and know how to cycle through the content and adjust the volume on their own." The fact that it's screen-free fun that's really engaging for kids is great too. "Sometimes my son loses interest in a toy once the initial excitement wears off, but so far he has wanted to play it every day since he got it," Wikiel says. "He also looks forward to the Disney Fantasia Tonie at bedtime; Mickey narrating a story followed by the classical music helps him wind down," she says.
The variety of characters and stories are also impressive. "As a parent who has listened to hours of Tonies with them, I feel good about the content they are listening to," says Rothman. If you're buying a Toniebox as a gift, you could consider the starter set and then add more Tonies based on interests and favorite characters. The land of Tonies is vast and includes Disney Princesses; Bedtime Tonies that play lullabies or read books; Educational Tonies that teach routines, word and math concepts, healthy habits and more; as well as seasonal characters for Halloween and Christmas — there are simply too many to list! "I love that Tonies are staying timely with their partners," Rothman says. Other parents on our staff agree; whenever a new movie hits big or a TV show catches fire, new Tonies are not far behind.
In our opinion, after years of watching families with their Tonieboxes, caregivers have more success hooking children into the Tonies-verse by buying a bundle right out of the gate. Kids get more into it if they have more than an hour of content to start with. A bundle also saves money versus buying four or five Tonies figures separately. Our current favorite bundle is this PAW Patrol one that gets you nearly four times the audio content of the regular starter set for $40 more.
Tonies Toniebox Starter Set with Chase, Skye, Marshall, Playtime Puppy
Pros
- Nearly four times the content
- Popular PAW Patrol characters
- Bundle is a money saver
Cons
- Some have issues with initial set-up
| Ages | 3 years+ |
|---|---|
| Power | Charge lasts about 7 hours |
| Available colors | Red or light blue |
| Content runtime | Between the four characters you get 198 minutes of stories and songs |
What are some downsides of the Toniebox?
Set-up could be a bit easier. Our testers and online reviewers note hiccups, like sometimes a Toniebox not properly connecting on the first syncing. If you see receive the code word "hedgehog" in the app, the Toniebox is having trouble connecting to your Wi-Fi, so you'll need to first connect to a mobile hotspot. We recommend looking at the support section of the Tonies website to walk you through the steps.
Some parents balk at the prices. The alternative Yoto Mini is another quality audio toy, a past winner of our Good Housekeeping Parenting Awards. The Yoto Mini has built-in sleep sounds for nighttime and an okay-to-wake clock that helps kids know when it's time to get up. Yoto Mini can also function as a Bluetooth speaker, so you can play free podcasts and more through it, and it's only $70. The story cards that you can play through the Yoto are cheaper too, mostly $10 to $15 and sometimes as low as $5. In our opinion, the cards are not as charming as the Tonies figures, which do function as toys in themselves. (Just try to make sure not to lose any Tonies in your kid's toy bin — or behind the sofa.) Both companies have hundreds of stories available.
Just so parents and children are not surprised: The voice performers who record for Tonies are not always the actors from the movies or TV shows. So the songs on the Moana Tonie, for instance, are not sung by the people who recorded the official Moana soundtrack. In our experience, kids love them anyway.
Note that a Toniebox is not a streaming device — it's not an Alexa or a Google Home. It's not Bluetooth-enabled so you can't use it as a wireless speaker, even if it looks like one. It's not meant to listen to voice commands or record anything, though there is a way to record onto Tonies through the app — more on the Creative-Tonies below.
Toniebox extras we recommend
Kids love repetition and learn by listening to the same story over and over and over. Parents, however, don't want to hear "Itsy Bitsy Spider" more than once a day, amiright? So while it adds to the total investment in Tonie-goods, we highly recommend the headphones. They also ensure that your younger kid can be listening while an older kid does homework.
Each Toniebox has a standard 3.5mm headphone jack that is compatible with any headset that has a 3.5mm plug. We have a $15 pair in our list of the best kids' headphones but the official Toniebox headphones are only $10 more, fold for easy storage and can match your child's Toniebox color, plus come with decorative stickers. Importantly, they also have a 85dB limit to protect your kid's hearing and come with a splitter so that two kids can listen at once. According to the positive reviews on Amazon, they fit most children well.
Pros
- Standard 3.5mm jack works in Toniebox and other devices
- Splitter lets two kids listen at a time
- Comfortably fit most kids
- Approximately 85dB limit
- Customize with the included stickers
Cons
- There are slightly less expensive kid headphones out there
Our other favorite companion products are the Creative-Tonies. These figures, which come in a variety of looks can be filled with up to an hour and a half of content of your own choosing. Use the app to record and "fill" the figure. You can make the figure play back a parent reading a favorite book, your kid singing their favorite soundtrack, Grandma telling a story — there are few limits to what you could do in your 90 minutes of available space. (Mostly, you can't record things that are copyright protected, such as an Audible audiobook.)
You can also buy a carrying case for your Toniebox and sleep-themed Tonies such as the Sleepy Sheep Night Light Tonie for bedtime. There are also fun, decorative shelves to display Tonies (say, a castle, a rainbow, or a rocket) that help kids learn to independently organize their collection. Those are all truly extra, but if you're finding yourself taking the Toniebox on travels or end up with quite a few favorite Tonies your child wants to be able to look at, they can be good purchases.
Look for special bundles and deals
Families who love their Toniebox and their Tonies know that there are new characters released all the time, and a lot of special bundles and accessories are launched around the winter holidays. It would be impossible to keep this story current by trying to list what has just launched and what will be forthcoming, but keep an eye out for mass-merchant exclusives as well as the regular announcements on the Tonies website.
Why trust Good Housekeeping?
Since the early 1900s, the experts at the Good Housekeeping Institute have been testing, evaluating and ranking consumer goods so that families have guidance in selecting trustworthy products for their homes. Cleaning experts rank appliances such as the best canister vacuums, fiber and textile experts assess products including the best mattresses and the pros in our Beauty Lab write up the best night creams and more.
The Toniebox was tested by consumer testers who filled out a survey about their experience with the toy. It was also home- and Lab-tested by our Chief Technologist & Executive Technical Director Rachel Rothman. In addition to being a mechanical engineer and a mother of three kids age 6 and younger, Rothman is a leading toy expert who helms the Good Housekeeping Best Toys program and judges toys for the Toy Association Toy of the Year Awards. Rothman also co-authors our age-based gift guides, such as the best toys for 3-year-olds.
This review was written by Contributing Writer Jessica Hartshorn, a toy expert herself who ran the Parents magazine toy awards for nine years. Hartshorn, a trained journalist and mother of two, also writes about hot toys for Good Housekeeping including the cutest Squishmallows.
Jessica (she/her) is a freelance writer with several decades of experience writing lifestyle content and evaluating home and parenting products. A mom of two teens and two cats, her previous work can be seen in American Baby and Parents.
Rachel Rothman was the chief technologist and executive technical director of the Good Housekeeping Institute for over 15 years, overseeing testing methodology, implementation and reporting for all GH Labs. She also managed GH's research division and the analysis of applicants for the GH Seal and all other testing emblems.
