The best music players for kids

The Yoto Player (3rd Generation) was awarded Bronze for Innovation of the Year at the Mother&Baby Awards 2024.

No more handing over your smartphone or worrying about intrusive ads - Yoto Player puts kids safely in control of their listening, learning and play. So they can explore what inspires them, and you can watch their confidence grow.

Yoto Player (3rd Generation) opens up kids’ creative play to a whole new world of potential. Build independence, inspire imagination and let kids from 3-12 + lead the way through family life.

Mum Nicola said: "I really like this product, it has provided my daughter with time to listen and learn without the need for a screen which I feel is very few and far between these days. Don’t get me wrong I am all for screen time for learning/ a distraction whilst I cook the dinner but this product has arrived and it’s nice to have a change. She has been listening, watching the Yoto player and joining in with just a very basic photo popping up!"

Read our full Yoto player review.

The Toniebox audio player is great for bedtime stories or as a kids' music box. It's screen-free and so easy to use that even 3-year-olds can use it. It operates through the use of Tonies, which are physical, hand-painted figurines that represent various characters from popular children's stories or contain specific audio content. Similar to the Yoto Player, the Toniebox aims to encourage storytelling, creativity, and engagement with audio content in a safe and user-friendly way.

Review: "Our little girl loves this, We use it as a music box more than for the story aspect. Love that each character comes with content but has room to add your own using the app, we add on all her favourite songs, so she can swap to the characters she wants. If you get a new character simply put it on the box wait for it to sync and it pulls the character through to the app. So easy to set up and use."

If you are familiar with Amazon Alexa, you will know that Echo Dot Kids (5th gen) is more than a music player for children. It is not a toy so it more appropriate for the older kids in the family but it is suitable for 3-12yrs. Not only can your kids ask Alexa a dozen questions as they become more curious and independent, you can also use the Echo Dot to communicate throughout the house by announcing something like “dinner is ready”. Currently available on Amazon for £64.99, including 1 year of Amazon Kids+ and a 2 year guarantee giving you peace of mind that your children has access to a variety of age appropriate content. It is also a greener choice when it comes to children’s audio players because it is made using 55% recycled plastics and the packaging is nearly entirely made from wood-fibre based materials. 

Review: "I bought this for my daughters birthday so she could listen to music in her bedroom, has worked perfectly for that and she loves it."

If you have Spotify and you are looking for a kid’s music player, then the Jooki is an exciting alternative because you can customize a playlist of your own or select offline mp3s and assign them to Jooki tokens. Awarded Product of the Year in 2022 by Creative Child Magazine, the Jooki is suitable for ages 3+, giving them safe access to audio content that they can easily carry because it is light and compact (5.5”x 8”). The Jooki is designed to provide a listening experience without other distractions that can be over stimulating, so, the design is a simple vibrant blue and orange. It has a battery life of 8hrs and 5GB of memory which can be monitored. For £117.00, the Jooki is a fantastic choice for those that want to customise and control exactly what they want their child to listen to. Perfect for road trips or winding down at bedtime.

One mum reviewer said: "The Jooki Music Player is a portable audio player that connects to WiFi and allows for screen-free entertainment for toddlers. The device is easy to set up and operate, and comes with 5 figurines in the box. Additional tokens can also be purchased separately. Jooki supports regular MP3 files and common file formats. It has an app for parents to control remotely, child safe volume settings when connected to headphones and can play podcasts through Spotify."

The little brother of the Yoto Player, the Yoto Mini is ideal for adventures such as road-trips, flights, play dates or family outings. With an all day battery life of up to 20 hours of screen-free entertainment per charge, all content is safe and has been specially chosen and created with children in mind. No cameras. No mics. No ads.

Review: "Amazing travel sized gadget for independent story time. Also works as an alarm clock, daily Yoto radio and speaker. Battery life is pretty decent. The introductory clip on how to make the best use of the player and app is invaluable to get the maximum use."

Read our full review of the Yoto Mini.

The Storypod allows you to record your own audio using the Storypod app. So, you could record yourself reading their favourite bed time stories or lullabies ready for them to listen to when the lights go out. This audio player is baby friendly (0-6yrs+) and has won several impressive awards in 2023 including Best Product of the Year by Baby Maternity Magazine as well as being Stem.org Authenticated. The starter set comes with the owl iCraftie but other, adorable, interchangeable sleeves can be purchased too. “Edu-tain” kids for hours with songs and stories as well fun trivia and memory games.

Review: "I have been looking into screen-free alternatives for my son for a while. And through my research, I was able to stumble upon the Storypod. I am so glad I went with this for him rather than the other devices out there. The buttons are easy to use, and I love the face that there are interactive buttons that he can use as he gets older. The crafties on top are so easy to use, and you don't have to keep them on top if you want to continue listening! This is genius! Many times he likes to carry the storypod around which knocks off the craftie. But music and stories still play. We listen almost every night. I would love to see a bigger content library, but I also really really love the variety of content types that are available in store. So far we have the 3 crafties, but are looking to expand with some books and tokens in the future!"

For an inexpensive MP3 player that will make your child feel very grown up as they get to listen to what they want to rather than mum and dad's music, you can't go far wrong with this option costing under £30. Featuring a 1.8" LCD Screen, MP3 Player with Radio, Kids Games, Sleep Timer and Voice Recorder. It has expandable storage by micro SD card for up to 128GB.

Review: "A tough little MP3 player which is pretty kiddy proof! It took a while to set up, as kept hiding music in various folders, but once niggles sorted out it has been a great success. It's a shame it doesn't show cover art work as it means it's not really accessible to younger children, but once children can read, then it's easy enough to find the music they want. Decent storage campacity, which can be increased with memory card. Not used for films / video so can't comment on this aspect of the device. Audio books automatically get stored as music files. With decent headphones, music quality is surprisingly good! Good battery life, nearly a year on and the battery lasts approx 15hours, before needing a charge (its been in almost constant daily use, since purchase).

Ideal for adventures, the Voxblock Screen Free Audio Player is a portable audio device that's easy to use, doesn't require any Wi-Fi connection to work and has a long battery life. Using physical blocks that are easy to hold, there are over 120 stories to choose from.

One review said: "My kids (3 and 4) call this their "storyteller". It's easy for them to work themselves and I like that the story goes back to the same place when you replace the story block. It arrived very quickly and the battery came charged which was great as the kids were excited to start listening! So far the battery life seems good and I just really like giving them something to "play with" that doesn't involve a screen. Excited to add to our collection of stories."