Review: StoryPhones, worth £85

Review by VIP Club Member Megan Prior

My 3.5 year old, Rosie, and I  were very excited to be chosen to do a review for StoryPhones. As a fan of reducing screen time, I was particularly excited!

They arrived in a lovely box that looked like a storybook. It included the StoryPhones, one Mickey Mouse StoryShield (a magnetic disk that sticks to the side of the headphones) and all the necessary cables and instructions.

The headphones themselves look lovely, and according to my daughter, they are comfy.

You need to download an app to set up the StoryPhones and connect them to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, which took less than 3 minutes. However, getting the story to play was a bit fiddly. The StoryPhones would briefly turn on to say the battery was high then switch off again. Luckily after a few more goes, they seemed to work fine.

The StoryShield was easy for Rosie to attach, as they are magnetic, but she struggled with holding the small on/off button down. Changing the story requires rotating the Story Shield on the headphones, which proved to be difficult. The shield would easily dislodge unless you were very specific with your movements—something a three year old isn’t great at! The Story Shield also fell out a few times when she ran around with them on.

The Story Shield contained 6 stories, which lasted 35 minutes in total. The stories and the narration were good and my daughter enjoyed it. The selection of other Story Shield’s available is quite small, and I’m personally going to hold off on ordering more until it’s a bit wider.

They were great for a car journey, as I could easily turn them on while popping her in the car and then letting her listen. The headphones don’t take up much room in a bag, especially as they can be folded.

Overall, they are a bit too finicky for my 3 year old to grab and set up herself, unlike other story players she can use without help. They might be better suited for slightly older children, but the selection of Story Shields currently available on the shop is definitely geared toward a younger audience, so they may not appeal. But they are convenient for travelling and being out and about, and my daughter felt very cool with her very own headphones.

Available to buy from Argos