Clever Tonies: What the new knowledge figures for the Toniebox are good for
16/3/2024
Translation: machine translated
Our Tonie family has grown: The new Clever Tonies are designed not only to entertain children, but also to quench their thirst for knowledge. Will they succeed? And do they come close to their big siblings? My daughters and I had a listen.
For many years, the Tonie family has had a permanent place in both my daughters' bedrooms. Or rather, in front of it: the box and the audio play figures live on a wall shelf between the children's bedroom doors.
Currently, however, some Family members are on seniority sabbatical, at least for the older daughter. She is eight years old and "Benjamin Blümchen", "Bibi Blocksberg" and "The Ice Queen" have done their job for her so often that they have lost their appeal. She no longer wants anything to do with the boring "Bobo Siebenschläfer" or the uncool "Conni". Perhaps the new "Knowledge Tonies" will bring a breath of fresh air to the shelf.
Source: Katja Fischer
The Clever Tonies have been on the market since the end of February and have been available in the Galaxus shop for a few days now. What makes it special: Instead of just entertaining with a children's story or children's songs, they are also designed to impart knowledge. A kind of "The programme with the mouse" in Tonie form.
The first impression: loveless, but cheaper
There are supposed to be four Tonies in there? That's what I ask myself when I hold the first Clever Tonie set - the "Tierisch!" series - in my hands. The packaging is surprisingly small and thin. I realise that the new knowledge Tonies have little in common with the usual Tonies. While the classics are individually designed, hand-painted figurines, the new ones have a careless, spartan design.
Source: Katja Fischer
All Clever-Tonies look almost the same: like a micro version of the Toniebox, but in a flat version. Each of the 4.5 centimetre wide, 5 centimetre high and 1.5 centimetre deep cubes with two little ears has a printed motif for the respective episode. Each one appears to be pixelated. Nevertheless, the casing of the Clever Tonies is made from up to 50 per cent biocircular material. This means that half of the material used in production is obtained from recycled raw materials. Nevertheless, the Clever Tonies don't win any beauty awards. But they don't have to.
The four figures come in a cardboard template, plus a small flyer with a few safety instructions. There's nothing else in the packaging, which is completely plastic-free.
Source: Katja Fischer
So much modesty benefits the price somewhat. A set of four with 30 minutes of audio content each costs around 35 francs, while you can get a single Clever Tonie for around 13 francs. By comparison, you usually pay between 16 and 20 francs for a classic single Tonie. Not a cheap listening pleasure. After all, I know from experience that children are happy to play the same story several times.
Off to the box!
The handling of the new Tonies is uncomplicated as usual: You place a figure on the box, which is connected to your home Wi-Fi, and press one of the little ears for a few seconds. As soon as the LED on the top lights up green, the story starts.
An important feature of the Clever series is that the figures adhere magnetically and therefore remain stable on the box. The Clever Tonie survived my younger daughter's unexpected tipping test when transporting the box across two floors of the house without any problems or interruption to the radio play.
In terms of content, however, the episode about the fastest and slowest animals doesn't convince my younger one: after a few minutes, the five-year-old is no longer interested and moves on to something else. The aim of making "pre-school and school children aged 5+" - the target audience according to the Tonies website - seem a little over-motivated. I later discover a "6+" on the packaging itself. That's more like it.
My eight-year-old is completely different: She curiously listens to the entire 30 minutes of the same episode and then enthusiastically shares her new knowledge with me. "Did you know that a sloth only has to get big once a week?" No, I actually didn't know that. "Maybe it's too lazy to do its own big business?"
On a mission in the Pacific Ocean
I obviously still have a lot to learn from the new Tonies. I also listen to an episode and am almost bombarded with exciting and bizarre information. But in a very understandable and playful way.
The story is led by Quinn, who uses her magical vehicle - the Lodistar 360 - to search for animal record holders: the biggest, heaviest and fastest, for example. We dive into the Pacific Ocean and explore the underwater world near Monterey Bay in California. Our mission: to find the king of the ocean, the blue whale. We soon make a find and follow a group of blue whales, a so-called school. And we are amazed every second: for example, at how incredibly loud the animals are or how incredibly much they eat every day - 40 million small crustaceans per day.
Source: Katja Fischer
While we continue on board the Lodistar to the coast of Indonesia and Octopus Olivia, Quinn provides us with a guessing game. This helps us to process all the information. The whole journey is also recapped again at the end of the radio play. Either way, it's great how the common thread with Quinn and Lodistar runs through all the "Beastly!" stories.
This is similar with the other Clever-Tonies that we listen to during our test days. A child-friendly story unfolds around the knowledge topics. However, the selection is still relatively limited: four sets (four figures each) and six individual Clever-Tonies are currently available. However, the manufacturer promises to expand the range soon.
And what does my big daughter think in conclusion? She is thrilled and soaks up the information like a sponge. However, she "definitely needs to listen to all the episodes again to understand everything". Any concerns that the fun will be over after just one listen seem unfounded. It is quite possible that she will soon be sending "Bibi Blocksberg", "Bobo Siebenschläfer" and co. into early retirement for good.
Source: Katja Fischer
In a nutshell
Great edutainment for children thirsty for knowledge
The new Clever figures for listening to bring a welcome change to the Tonie family. The audio content on topics such as animals, technology or nature is varied, professionally realised and uses a common thread to guide children through a 30-minute story with many knowledge building blocks. Playfulness is important to attract children's attention - but also to keep it. However, it is too difficult for five-year-olds to stick with it and understand the many facts, and the manufacturer's minimum age is set too low. However, older children aged seven and up will get their money's worth. It doesn't matter that the figures don't look much like the classic Tonies.
Pro
- Varied science stories for children aged six and over
- Cheaper than classic Tonie figures
- Uncomplicated handling: figure on the box and off you go
Contra
- Loveless optics
- Currently still a small selection: four sets of four, six single tonies
Header image: Katja Fischer
Katja Fischer
Senior Editor
Katja.Fischer@digitecgalaxus.chMom of Anna and Elsa, aperitif expert, group fitness fanatic, aspiring dancer and gossip lover. Often a multitasker and a person who wants it all, sometimes a chocolate chef and queen of the couch.