A green audio speaker cube with Kermit the Frog on top, surrounded by six toy figures including Snow White, Ariel, and other cartoon characters.

Tonies — fun, facts, songs, stories & an audio player for kids

May 6, 2025/Jan Wagner/
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Tonie figurines, when combined with the Toniebox speaker, are a fun, easy-to-use, educational, screen-free, high quality audio entertainment system of stories and songs for young children — at home and on-the-go.

Shortly before CES 2025 (the Consumer Electronics Show), I received a press release telling me that they were about to sell their 100 millionth Tonie, worldwide, and inviting me to visit their exhibit at CES.

A display of various colorful figurines and toys, including cartoon and animal characters, arranged on clear stands on a red table.
Part of the Tonies exhibit at CES 2025 in Las Vegas
A display of colorful toy figurines, including characters resembling superheroes, animated movie figures, a monster truck, and a dinosaur, arranged on clear plastic tiers.
Six colorful children's toy figurines, including characters from Thomas & Friends, Paddington Bear, Trolls, and a National Geographic Kids parrot, displayed in front of a blue bag.
A hand holds a yellow Tonies audio figurine beside a Tonies Clever Tonies Set box featuring four themed figurines for children ages 3 and up.

Intrigued, I responded to their press release, requesting a few sample Tonies and a Toniebox starter kit.

Toniebox Starter Set with six Tonies figurines in packaging, displayed around a green Toniebox box.

Tonies are recommended for age ranges 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8. There is a wide variety of content available. Genres are Story Time, Sing & Dance, Adventure, Wellness, Listen & Learn and Sleep. Tonies’ brands include Tonies Originals, Disney, Pixar, PBS Kids, Dreamworks, National Geographic Kids, PAW Patrol and Peppa Pig. Authors include Dr. Seuss, Julia Donaldson and Roald Dahl.

The Tonies that I was sent for review were “The Muppets,” “Doggyland,” Disney Princesses’ “The Little Mermaid” and “Mulan,” “Blippi”…

Six Tonie audio cards featuring characters from Disney Princess, Blippi, The Muppets, and Doggieland, surrounded by matching small character figurines.

…and “Pink/Light” — a Creative Tonie, for which you can record your own personalized messages.

A Creative-Tonie figurine in a pink costume is displayed in front of its packaging, which advertises the ability to record up to 90 minutes of custom content.

“Playtime Puppy” was included in my Toniebox starter set.

Box cover for "Favorite Children's Songs: Playtime Songs" featuring cartoon animal figures and a list of included songs, with a blue background and product information.

Scan the upper QR code on the individual Tonie label to see a detailed description of its contents on your smartphone.

At the heart of the Tonies audio system is a softly padded, cube-shaped, sturdy, kid-friendly music player called a Toniebox. Its few controls are simple, easy-to-use and very effective.

Green Toniebox audio player starter set with dog figurine on top, suitable for ages 3 and up, labeled as "Your lovable storytime friend" and "Playtime Songs.

The Toniebox is powered by a robust, plug-in adapter and also an internal, rechargeable battery (good for up to seven hours per charge).

A green cubic electronic device with a circular base, a white power adapter, and a connected charging cable, shown on a white background.

Manage the children’s growing collection of Tonies, and do more, on the Tonies app. As you add to their collection, give Tonies to the kids one at a time — not all at once. That way the children will explore and enjoy all of the content associated with each Tonie, before moving on to a new one.

The sound quality of the Toniebox is excellent. Squeeze the right ear to turn the volume up, and squeeze the left ear to turn the volume down. You can set the maximum volume in the Tonies app.

To change audio tracks, give either side of the durable Toniebox a satisfying, firm whack. To fast forward or rewind in small increments, briefly tilt the Toniebox to the left or to the right. Keeping it tilted will continue the action.

A green Toniebox speaker with labeled features, including headphone jack, volume control, Wi-Fi-free playback, and seven hours of battery life, shown on a white background.

While the Tonies and Toniebox are simple to operate, even by very young children (age three and up), initial setup of the Toniebox requires the use of a computer, smartphone or tablet; and a Wi-Fi connection. To begin, place the Toniebox on its charger base. That will also start charging the internal battery.

Each new Tonie’s associated content automatically downloads from the Tonies website the first time you place it magnetically in the lit square on the Toniebox base. It will start playing its audio content as it downloads. The color and state of the lit square will let you know when it finishes downloading, at which time the content will be saved on the Toniebox. Thereafter, every time any downloaded Tonie is placed magnetically on the lit square, the Toniebox will start playing that Tonie’s audio.

I am a huge fan of “The Muppets,” so I was eager to check out the Kermit the Frog Tonie.

A green frog character figurine with a wide mouth sits on a textured, tan block with its arms resting on its knees.

I enjoyed listening to all 33 minutes of its content: five songs and a clever story with several characters. I could see how it could, as suggested, teach kids about problem solving, friendship and perseverance, but my favorite part of the audio entertainment was listening (several times!) to The Muppets sing “Rainbow Connection.”

A Tonies audio play pack featuring "The Muppets" with Kermit the Frog on the cover and a small Kermit figurine placed in front of the package.

Visit local retailers or shop for Tonies — as well as a wide range of accessories, including bags and cases, display shelves, Toniebox Toppers and audio-playing night lights; money-saving bundles, Toniebox starter sets and more, at the Tonies Official U.S. Site at: https://us.tonies.com/.

A green Toniebox audio player is surrounded by seven character figurines, including animals and people, positioned on a white background.

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Copyright © 2025 by Jan Wagner – AutoMatters & More #881r3

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Jan Wagner

2 Comments

  1. David Sperry on May 9, 2025 at 11:43 am

    Jan, Tonies look like great toys for young kids… fun and educational at the same time. Unfortunately I don’t have any grandkids of any age, so I’ll have to take a pass on this. Thanks, David.

    Reply

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