The Toniebox—a screen-free audio player—has been a staple in my household for years thanks to its ability to entertain my kids and provide engaging educational content. I was super excited to review the new Toniebox 2, which has more options for older and younger kids, including Tonieplay Games and My First Tonies. The new version, which starts at $139, is now available after being pre-order only for the past month. After playing with the new features, all three of my kids (ages 3 to 7) approve—and so do I.
“Toniebox 2 is about unlocking even more moments of growth and play now for ages 1 to 9 plus,” says Ginny McCormick, chief experience officer at Tonies. “It stays true to what families already love, while opening the door to brand-new experiences across ages.”
McCormick says that the company listened to customer feedback and worked with experts to create features that meet both younger and older kids at their stages of development. “With Toniebox 2, we built what was missing," she explains. “Kids wanted interaction. Parents want to ensure their children are safe and have peace of mind. Tonieplay bridges that gap beautifully. This is the next chapter of how kids listen, play and grow with Tonies.”
Like its predecessor, the Toniebox 2 is a screen-free audio player that’s simple for kids to operate on their own. To play stories, songs or other recorded content, you place a “Tonie” figure on the box, and it automatically begins playing the audio associated with that Tonie. Currently, there are hundreds of Tonies available, including favorite TV and movie characters like Moana, Lightning McQueen and Stitch. Other popular Tonies include The Laurie Berkner Band , bedtime stories and potty training.
The Toniebox 2 expands the Tonie library with Tonieplay Games and My First Tonies. The games are for older kids, and range from trivia to photo searches. My First Tonies are designed for ages 1 and up and are larger and softer than the original Tonies. McCormick described My First Tonies as “audio companions that help 1- and 2-year-olds explore first words, sounds and stories in the most natural way possible.”
All of the older Tonies are still compatible with the new Toniebox 2. The new My First Tonies are also compatible with older Tonieboxes, but the new games are not.
Other new features include a nightlight, a sunrise alarm and a new light ring. “We also wanted to make daily moments smoother for families—from wake-up to bedtime—so we built features like the Sunrise Alarm to help make routines feel more connected and calm,” says McCormick.
Setting up the Toniebox 2 via the app was pretty seamless. Once I downloaded the app, it found the box quickly and easily connected to Wi-Fi when I entered the password. It was a much simpler process than many other similar toys I’ve set up. Like the Toniebox 1, the box has soft sides, though this new version is slightly larger.
When I place a new Tonie on the box, it takes about 10 seconds for the content to download initially, then it plays immediately every subsequent time I put that Tonie on. The Tonieplay Games take much longer to download initially, however. Some of the games I’ve downloaded have taken around 20 minutes to download the first time I played them. In the future, I’ll make sure I load the games before I give them to my kids so they don’t have to wait for the long download to finish.
I have three kids, ranging in age from 3 to 7, and all of them agree that the Toniebox 2 has more exciting features than the previous version. My 3-year-old twins find the My First Tonies to be engaging, and I think the audio is well designed to capture the attention of toddlers. They also enjoy playing with these larger Tonies as toys. They’re nice and chunky for little hands to grab, and all they have to do is place them on the box to start the audio.
My 7-year-old, on the other hand, took to the Tonieplay Games, especially the Disney Quiz Kingdom, which she enjoys playing both independently and with other family members. The game asks trivia questions about various Disney movies, and there’s a good mix of easy and more difficult questions. I really like how intuitive the games are, and the fact that audio provides all of the directions they need. Just like the Tonie figures, I can hand the game over to my kids while I make dinner and trust that they’ll be able to operate it independently.
We haven’t had much use for the nightlight or the sunrise alarm, but it’s a nice feature to have. In conjunction with these features, you can also set a timer for anywhere from five to 60 minutes, after which the Toniebox 2 slowly dims both the light and volume. I like this feature a lot because my daughter sometimes falls asleep while relaxing and listening to her Toniebox in the evenings.
Kids control the Toniebox by squeezing the ears to change the volume, tapping the sides to skip a track and tilting it to fast forward or rewind. My kids and I agree that these features could be better. Tapping the side of the Toniebox doesn’t always work the way it’s supposed to, and my kids sometimes fast forward or rewind accidentally by unintentionally tilting the box.
If you’re trying to decide between the Toniebox and Toniebox 2, I think the Toniebox 2 is worth it for most people. A Toniebox 1 starter set currently costs $72 on Amazon, so it’s about $65 cheaper. However, the value in the Toniebox 2 is its longevity. Around age 5 or 6, my daughter started growing out of the Toniebox 1. She still listened to it occasionally, especially on road trips, but it didn’t hold her attention like it had previously or like it does for my 3-year-old twins. With the addition of Tonieplay Games, it’s a lot more interactive and fun for her now. If you have a 1-year-old, this is also a great time to purchase the Toniebox 2 because it will likely last them for five years or more.
In terms of durability, the boxes themselves have always held up really well for me with few if any signs of wear. The new version seems to be built with the same quality. I also appreciate the new charger for the Toniebox 2. Previously, I had to use a dedicated large, round charging station for the Toniebox 1. Now, I can use a more standard USB-C charger.
However, if your child wants to use headphones, I recommend choosing the Toniebox 1 over the Toniebox 2. Currently, the Toniebox 2 is not compatible with any headphones—wired or wireless. According to Tonies, compatibility with wired and wireless headphones is coming soon.
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