BACK TO SCHOOL MADE EASIER FOR EVERYONE, WITH YOTO
It was a long hot summer and here we are again – time to get ready for the Back To School routine. Thankfully, Yoto, the audio platform for kids behind the critically acclaimed and award-winning, screen-free Yoto Player, and Yoto Mini, is here to help.
YOTO HELPS KIDS PREPARE FOR THE CLASSROOM
Kids enjoy the all-too-rare freedom to choose what they want to do. And true ownership of a device makes them feel “grown up” and valued. Yoto helps kids feel more confident by developing their vocabulary, autonomy, and independence. And there’s hundreds of hours of great content for Reception Starters. These audiobooks are aimed at children aged four and up, for family listening and learning and development for young minds:
Yoto Originals Phonics: Letters & Sounds: Phase 1. £24.99. Yoto Daily's very own Jake Harris gives youngsters the tools to decode written and spoken language and understand the big wide world around them. Letters & Sounds: Phase 1 is the first in Yoto's Phonics series and features 7 interactive audio cards based on the UK National Curriculum. Through a range of fun interactive exercises, kids from age 3+ learn to associate letters and words with speech, to speak more confidently and with greater expression, hear and repeat musical patterns, and to identify sounds from their daily lives.
Ladybird ‘I’m Ready for Big School’. £9.99. Discover the world of school and all that goes along with it in this fun collection of stories. The stories in this collection include 'My Teacher Is an Alien', 'World Book Day', 'The Secret Door', 'The Escapades of the Escaping Hamster' and 'Sick Bay'. Aimed at children aged four and up, this is perfect for family listening and learning and as development for young minds.
Row Your Boat and other Pre-School Songs. £7.99. Row, row, row your boat and get on the bus for this collection of timeless children's songs perfect for little ones starting at Reception. Includes The Wheels on the Bus, London Bridge is Falling Down, Jack and Jill, Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes and many more.
For older children, the content gets even more exciting for supporting learning for going back to Big School:
Yoto Originals, The Human Body. £24.99 for the collection, or £7.99 each. Explore the human body from the inside out! Meet the BrainBots: Nellie, Buzz and Gibbs! Their goal? To find out as much as they can about the Human Body and all the cool stuff it can do and upload their findings to the BrainBank - a big cloud where all that information is stored and shared to kids. Watch out for nostril hair, pizza and poop!
Horrible Histories: Vile Victorians. £7.99. Explore the Vile Victorians in this horrifically hilarious series packed full of the facts they don't teach at school! Discover all the foul facts about the Vile Victorians, including the murderers who wouldn't hang, the flushing of the first public loo and stag hunting in Paddington Station. These bestselling titles are sure to be a huge hit with yet another generation of Terry Deary fans.
Ladybird, My First Words in French. £9.99. Bonjour! We're off to France! Pack your bags for an audio adventure - the perfect intro to learning French. Get your passport and suitcase ready, because we are going on an adventure! This interactive adventure is written to help young children confidently learn new language skills, while having some fun along the way. During this action-packed hour children will learn simple greetings, directions and a range of helpful French phrases.
YOTO HELPS PARENTS WITH THE BACK-TO-SCHOOL ROUTINE
Yoto supports both morning and bedtime routines, making it easier for parents to get kids up and out first thing and then back in bed on time in the evening. Use Yoto to both ease and enhance the daily rhythms of school life;
The NEW Alarm functionality launching late September on all Yoto Players, and Yoto Minis should make waking up on time a breeze. Children can choose from a pre-set list of six alarm sounds designed in-house taking into account scientific research, to wake up gently and independently.
There’s even more newness from the App to help parents whizz through the must-dos before the school run. Free Timer tracks for brushing teeth for example will make morning tasks that bit more fun!
Over your morning Weetabix or whilst travelling into school, tune in to Jake’s Yoto Daily podcast episode for fun and informative facts about the day, as well as games and chat, all for free, freshly delivered to your Yoto Player every single day.
Come bedtime, the child-friendly moon/sun display will help children know when it’s time for bed, and the Yoto Player’s Night light functionality and the endless Story library and Sleep Radio will help children drift off to sleep, fuss-free. Ready to start all over again tomorrow!
Back to School Tips from Jake, Yoto Daily podcast host and Audio Producer at Yoto: “The thought of summer’s end and ‘real’ life starting again can be difficult for children to grapple with, especially children who can’t picture what lies ahead. For them school can still feel like an abstract concept, outside of their small world. We can help our little ones feel more prepared, more relaxed and ultimately, excited to enter the classroom. There are no perfect answers - all our children are different - but read on for some practical tips on how to prepare them for their big adventure
Talk
● Communication is key. Talk to your little one about the name of the school, the uniform, the teachers - discussing the practical aspects of their new school can begin to help them process the change
● Talk about your own experiences of school - what was it like when you first started school, what was your uniform like, who was your teacher, what did you learn. To know that you had a similar experience can be comforting
Practice
● Walk, cycle, scoot or drive the school run. However you are going to get to school, practise the route; familiarise yourselves with the journey you will be taking every day for the next few years
● Try on the uniform, encouraging your little one to do it as independently as possible. Same goes for those new school shoes (mmmm, new shoes). The more they can do themselves the better, but don’t worry if they haven’t quite mastered all the buttons and clips and zips - they will get there
Share
● Remember your little one is sharing this experience with 30 other children - it’s good to help them prepare to share
● Play games together, make puzzles, build Lego - with an emphasis on taking turns and sharing
Prepare
● Start to get your child familiar with how their name looks written down. If they can recognise their name then they will be more prepared to navigate the classroom - finding their peg or their own drawer
● Prepare everything you need for the first day the night before, uniform, bag, lunch etc. Try and make the morning routine as relaxed as possible; early preparation is key to this
Yoto Player and Yoto Mini are available to purchase for £89.99 and £59.99 respectively. For more information please visit www.yotoplay.com. The free Yoto parental app is available to download for free on iOS and Android.
