Are you being lured in by the cuteness of the TonieBox? I can’t blame you! It’s adorable. However, the price for the box and each figure is not adorable, so I came up with my own TonieBox hack that offers the same wonder without the price tag. You’ve gotta try it!
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What Is A TonieBox?
The Toniebox is a delightful invention designed to make storytime enchanting and accessible for children. Created by Patric Faßbender and Marcus Stahl in Germany, the Toniebox came to life in 2016 with the goal of revolutionizing how kids engage with stories and music. The founders, both fathers, wanted a screen-free, tactile, and interactive way for kids to enjoy their favorite tales. The result was the Toniebox, a soft, cube-shaped audio player that combines technology with imagination.
Using the Toniebox is simple and fun. Children place a small, hand-painted figure called a “Tonie” on top of the box to start the magic. Each Tonie figure represents a different story, song, or educational content. The box is designed to be durable and kid-friendly, with easy-to-use controls that even the smallest hands can manage. By tapping the sides, kids can change tracks, and tilting the box adjusts the volume. This intuitive design encourages independence and fosters a love for storytelling, making the Toniebox a beloved companion for young listeners.
One of the most cherished features of the Toniebox is the “Creative-Tonie.” These special figures allow parents, grandparents, or even the children themselves to record their own stories, songs, or messages. Using the Tonie app, recordings can be uploaded to the Creative-Tonie, giving families the chance to create personalized content. This feature not only enhances the bonding experience but also allows for a unique, customized storytelling adventure, making the Toniebox a versatile and treasured tool for imaginative play and learning.
At the time of publishing this article, the simple TonieBox starter pack will set you back $100 and each story figurine will cost around $18.
A Cheaper TonieBox Hack
Don’t get me wrong. The TonieBox is adorable. If money wasn’t a factor, I’d probably buy one for my son. However, the fact that each little figure costs an additional $18, means we’re hooked in, and we will spend way more than the initial $100 investment.
Also, those little figurines are small. My toddler would lose them in one afternoon. I’d constantly be worrying about where the Tonie figures are!! Too stressful.
Thankfully, I found a much cheaper alternative that works BRILLIANTLY.
A couple of months ago, we had just put our tv in the closet because screen time was turning into quite a battle, and I was brainstorming different ideas of fun things we could do instead of screens.
That’s when I discovered Peppa Pig stories on iTunes. I thought of my own childhood and how I absolutely adored listening to children’s programming on the radio. So I took a look at iTunes and found Peppa stories. Amazing!
Initially, I only used the stories in the car. My son loves Peppa, so it worked great for us.
However, I got a little bored with the Peppa stories and actually missed the cute shows he used to watch on Netflix and Amazon Prime. Thus my brilliant TonieBox hack was born.
I simply connected my phone to our portable Bose speaker (which we’ve had for 5 years, and it still works like a charm) and started playing the shows from my phone, only allowing my son to listen to the audio. HE LOVES IT!!!! And he actually listens to the shows while he plays. It is SO good for his listening skills.
I created a Ghetto TonieBox!!! The best part yet? You get entire seasons of each show so it’s literally hours and hours and hours of listening, whereas each Tonie figure is anywhere from 15-90+ minutes.
Best Shows For Audio
You really could listen to the audio of any show you love.
Here’s a list of what we’re loving at the moment:
- Peppa Pig Stories (iTunes)
- If You Give A Mouse A Cookie (Amazon Prime)
- Tumbleleaf (Amazon Prime)
- Puffin Rock (Netflix)
- Llama Llama (Netflix)
- The Snowy Day (Amazon Prime)
Get Family Involved!
One of the cool features of the TonieBox is the option to record your own audio. Grandparents, siblings, friends, or other family members can record stories for your child to listen to. Cool!
Recreating this option, however, is quite simple. Create voice recordings of grandparents (or anyone else) reading stories, singing songs, telling stories, etc. Play the audio on a speaker. Ta-da!!
There are so many gadgets and gizmos targeted for children, and while they are great, you can recreate many of them for less $$.
