A storytelling device for kids

Yoto and Tonies play stories. A child chooses one and listens. That is a good thing to have in a house, and nothing on this page is an argument against it. Being read to, and inventing what happens next, are different pieces of an evening.

A search for the best storytelling device for kids usually means a parent trying to tell those jobs apart. There is no best device for every house. There is a player, and there is a machine that helps a child make a story and is designed to print it. If you already have a player, keep it. Talebrix is for the story that does not exist until your child says it. Prices and ages are on Talebrix vs Yoto and Toniebox.

Storytelling toys for kids are usually a soft toy, a figure, or a player with a library of recordings. Talebrix is none of those. It is a device that sits on the table. It has no character of its own, and it does not arrive full of stories to play back.

You press the button. Your child says what the book should be about. A handful of questions follow, and then they stop: who it is about, where it happens, what goes wrong, how it ends. Whatever they leave blank is filled in. Whatever they decide is kept. The point of the exchange is a book, not a thing that keeps talking.

It is designed for children aged 3–8, with a parent nearby. Younger children can take part with a parent leading the activity. They say the story. They do not hold the machine, they do not unlock it, and they do not log into anything. There is no app and no account for the child. A parent sets it up. Choosing a picture on the screen is a way of answering a question. The finished story is read as a book.

It has a 7-inch colour touch panel. If you bought an audio player to keep a phone out of bedtime, that sentence matters. The display is for choosing while the story is being made. It is not a feed, and it is not where anyone reads the story. It is still a screen. Why a printed book concedes that and then says what the paper is for.

The planned book is 26 pages, 148 × 210 mm portrait, using pre-bound blank books made with 250gsm smooth paper. The child is named as the author. Once it is printed, the story is on paper, and it can leave the house without the machine.

We are aiming for a finished book in a few minutes. We have printed onto the book paper as a test, but the machine has not yet made a whole book from start to finish. We will say how long it really takes before launch.

It plugs in and stays plugged in, and it needs wi-fi, because the writing and the drawing happen on our servers rather than inside the box. How it works is the sequence. Who writes the books is the division: the machine writes and draws, and the decisions are the child’s. The reading levels show one idea written for eight ages. The books on the shelf are written examples, not books made for a family.

Four questions sort the category more honestly than a ranked list.

Does the child make the story, or choose one that was made already? Is the thing they keep a book, or a recording to play again? Is there an account for the child? What does the next story cost — another purchase each time, or material for a few more books?

Talebrix is the making, the book, and no account for the child. It has not shipped, so the honest answer to “can I have one for a birthday next month” is no. We aim to start making them in June 2027. There is no delivery date. How many we make depends on how many people ask.

Making a single posted book from a story you already have written down is a different purchase, and often a smaller one. That comparison is on make your child’s story into a book.

Target launch prices. £149 including material for 4 books. A Story Pack supplies material for 4 books, without limiting the characters or setting. The target pack price is £15, or £3.75 in pack material per book. No subscription is planned. Ink pricing and final contents will be confirmed before orders open.

No payment required. Unsubscribe any time. The list is an email address, not an order and not a payment. The figures in full are on what it costs, and the measurements that are still open are on the specifications.