I’ve always enjoyed children’s books, but having nephews has opened up my eyes to a whole new world of children’s literature. I’ve discovered great new picture books like Bathe the Cat, How to Count to One, and Pokko and the Drum. Reading to them is one of my biggest joys, even if it tests the limits of my high school theatre accent work. One of the neatest tricks I learned recently, though, is that it’s possible to record personalized music and audio books for kids—and it’s not even hard! All you need is a recording device (the audio recorder on your phone will work just fine), a Yoto player, and blank “Make Your Own” Yoto cards.
To be clear, this isn’t a sponsored post. I’m just a fan, and I think more people should know about this cool audio book player for kids. As audiobook aficionado myself, I love that my nephews can enjoy audiobook versions of their favorite picture books. So when my sister recently asked if I could record some personalized audiobooks, I was thrilled to learn that was something I could do. I picked out several picture books I knew they would like, spread them out on my desk, popped open my recording app, and got to narrating. This was my moment to live out all my wildest audiobook narrator dreams. Just don’t ask me how many times I had to re-record the audio until I was satisfied. Call it perfectionism, or being a good aunt, but I wasn’t about to give my nephews anything but my very best performance.
I sent the MP3s to my sister, and that was that. It was that easy to record these audiobooks for my nephews where they can feel like they’re having private story time with their auntie even when I’m not there.
Here’s what you need to know to record personalized audiobooks for kids yourself:
- You can record on the Yoto app or upload an MP3 file that you’ve already pre-recorded.
- You can add up to 100 tracks per card with a maximum of 100 MB / 60 minutes for any one track and 500 MB / 5 hours total on a card. That’s a lot of storytelling potential!
- You can add your own stickers to personalize each card.
Yoto cards are 54mm x 85.6mm (or 2in x 3.35in), and blank Yoto cards can easily be decorated with stickers or labels. Since my nephews love books but aren’t reading yet, I personally wanted to create some labels that they could understand through book covers. Even my one-year-old nephew can pick out books by cover, so this seemed like the perfect solution. Since I recorded several books to put on the card, I created a graphic in Canva (1080 x 1920px) with images of the books I’d read. On Yoto Space, they recommend blank Avery labels with are almost the perfect size (50 x 80mm) for blank Yoto cards. You can even download a template and print images onto the labels from your home printer. Easy!
Here are some more examples I made featuring single book covers, if you prefer to only record one book per card. Feel free to use them as templates or inspiration.
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Personally, though, I vote for adding a lot of books to one card. That way you get maximum bang for your buck. Add pixel art to every track to help kids see which book they’re listening to and easily pick between different tracks. You can choose from Yoto’s pixel art library or customize your own.
It’s really that simple. Yoto has lots of information and recommendations that will likely cover any other questions that come up. There are also a community space full of even more resources and free content that others have uploaded for all to enjoy.
So go ahead and let your inner audiobook narrator free. The kids in your life will thank you for it.
Source : How to Record Personalized Audio Books for Kids with Yoto
