Looking for an easy way to make your own Yoto card stickers? I’ve been trying out the free Tiny Print Studio Yoto Sticker Maker, which lets you design and print personalised stickers for your Yoto Make Your Own cards.
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One of the things I love about Yoto is just how much you can do with it. Yes, at its simplest, a Yoto Player or Yoto Mini is an audio player. Pop in a card and listen to a story, music or other audio. However, if you want it to be, Yoto can be a much bigger and more creative experience.
We’ve previously had lots of fun creating our own pixel art for Yoto cards, but there’s another part of making MYO cards that is just asking to be personalised – the card itself!
I’ve recently been using the Tiny Print Studio Yoto Sticker Maker, designed by Bella, to make my own Yoto card stickers, and it’s great fun to use. Let me tell you more.
What is a Yoto Make Your Own Card?
Yoto Make Your Own cards, usually shortened to MYO cards, are reusable blank Yoto cards that you can link to your own audio and playlists.
You can use them for your own recordings, music files you own, Yoto content from your library, radio and podcasts, as well as other compatible audio. If you’re looking for free content to add to your Yoto collection you will find this post helpful.
You can also use a Make Your Own card to replace a Yoto card that’s gone missing – particularly handy when a favourite card has mysteriously disappeared behind a bed or sofa!
Yoto currently allows you to link up to 100 tracks to a single Make Your Own card, with a maximum of 500MB of audio content, and you can edit and reuse the cards again and again. Find out more about Yoto Make Your Own cards.
The flexibility of MYO cards is one of my favourite things about the Yoto system. You don’t have to stop once you’ve put the audio onto the card either. You can choose or create pixel art icons for the tracks and, of course, decorate the physical card itself.
That’s where making your own Yoto card stickers comes in.
Free Tiny Print Studio Yoto Sticker Maker
The Tiny Print Studio Yoto Sticker Maker is a downloadable programme designed specifically to help you create your own stickers for Yoto Make Your Own cards.
Once you’ve downloaded the programme, the interface is simple to get to grips with and there are plenty of options for making your sticker design your own.
You can:
- upload your own images – children could draw their own images
- choose images from a sweet built-in image library
- add your own text
- change the background
- combine different elements to create your card design
You can make something incredibly simple so that children can easily identify what’s on a particular MYO card, or spend much longer creating a full card cover. This easy to follow short, 3 minute video, tells you exactly how to use the software.
The best part for me is that the sizing for the cards is already pre-set for you – this can be the most frustrating part when designing card stickers. That’s why Tiny Print Studio Yoto Sticker Maker is such a brilliant tool.
It’s also something you can use with children. They can get involved in choosing the colours, images, backgrounds and text for their own Yoto cards, making the process of creating the card part of the experience rather than just something an adult does for them.
How to Print Your Yoto Card Stickers
There are different options when it comes to printing your finished Yoto sticker designs.
You can print onto pre-cut sticker sheets, which can make the process particularly quick and easy. However, I chose to print mine onto a single sheet of matt sticker paper as that’s what I had. However, I’ll explain why I’d choose something different.
You don’t need any specialist cutting equipment after printing. You can simply cut your Yoto stickers out using scissors.
However, if you’re making several cards – or you’re anything like me and want them to look that little bit more professional – I’d recommend using a paper trimmer to get lovely straight edges.
I then used a 4mm corner nibbler to round off the corners. This small finishing touch makes a surprisingly big difference and gives the finished sticker a much neater look that matches the rounded corners of the Yoto card.
What is the Best Sticker Paper for Yoto Cards?
I initially printed my designs onto standard matt sticker paper and was really pleased with how they turned out. However, there’s one change I’d make next time. I’d use printable vinyl sticker paper.
It’s more expensive than ordinary sticker paper, but I think it’s worth considering if you’re making Yoto card stickers that are going to get lots of use.
I’ve found that designs printed onto standard sticker paper can gradually rub off with repeated handling. Yoto cards can get a lot of handling, particularly favourite cards that are being pushed in and pulled out of a Yoto Player several times a day.
Printable vinyl should give the card cover a more durable finish and, depending on the vinyl you choose, can also make your stickers more resistant to water and everyday grubby fingers. If purchasing vinyl sticker sheets make sure you get the right sticker paper for your printer – inkjet or laser jet.
For cards that aren’t going to be handled very often, regular sticker paper is still a perfectly good budget-friendly option.
Making Yoto More Creative
This is exactly the sort of thing that makes me enjoy the Yoto ecosystem so much.
Children can simply choose a card, pop it into their player and enjoy listening independently – and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with keeping things that simple.
But there’s another creative layer available if you want it: Record your own stories and messages, make playlists and create your own pixel art icons. You can put together themed audio cards. And now you can sit down together and design your own personalised Yoto card stickers to go with them.
It turns creating a Make Your Own card into a little creative project in its own right.
There’s also something lovely about children being able to instantly recognise the card they’ve helped to create, particularly for younger children who aren’t yet reading independently.
Free Audio for Your Yoto Make Your Own Cards
If you’re wondering what to actually put onto your newly decorated MYO cards, don’t forget to have a look through the Busy Busy Learning free audio resources.
I’ve collected together free audio and content that can be used with Yoto, including stories, podcasts, educational audio and other resources that are brilliant for getting more from your Yoto Player and Make Your Own cards.
There are lots of possibilities for creating themed MYO cards – and once you’ve found the audio, you can use the Tiny Print Studio Sticker Maker to create a card cover to match.
Tiny Print Studio Yoto Sticker Maker – My Verdict
I’d highly recommend giving the Tiny Print Studio Yoto Sticker Maker a try if you regularly use Make Your Own Yoto cards.
It’s simple to use, there’s plenty of scope to personalise your designs and it’s genuinely fun. I particularly like that it’s something adults can use to quickly make polished card labels, but it’s also accessible enough to turn into a creative activity with children.
Even better, the Yoto Sticker Maker is completely free.
Bella has made the programme available without a compulsory charge, but there is the option to make a contribution. If you are able to, I’d really encourage you to consider doing so. It’s a lovely way to support a fellow parent who has put their time into creating something that makes Yoto ownership even more fun.
Now I just need to decide how many of our MYO cards need a makeover…