Yoto Play

Yoto | How to Set Up Yoto Player

My co-founder Filip and I were talking about the challenges of modern parenting. We both had nagging concerns around the effects of excess screen time for young children, with potential negatives around sleep disruption, fine motor control development and addictiveness of screens making us think twice about putting our kids in front of a screen.

Having enrolled my children at a Montessori nursery, I was also fascinated by the teachings of Maria Montessori. She believed (amongst other things) that child development was improved through allowing children certain levels of independence, and to place emphasis on using physical objects in learning and play.

Despite all of this, we’re actually both technophiles and big believers in the power of the internet and tech as a force for good. Screens aren’t always bad! Also, having met whilst working together in the digital music world, we really wanted to give our kids easy access to music and other audio content.

So we came up with the idea of a connected, screen-free audio device that kids could be fully in control of using physical smartcards. With no experience in hardware, electronics or industrial design, but liking the idea of a challenge, we got to work prototyping a basic device and started testing with our own families and friends.