I found the best Black Friday deal for stressed parents — this gift will solve Christmas for you

Any parent wondering what to get their kids this year would do well to check out the early Black Friday deals on the Yoto Player. If you're not familiar with the device, it's a screen-free, ad-free, algorithm-free audio player for kids. Like a cassette deck for the modern age, it uses bespoke cards to play stories and songs for children ages 3-12.

And right now, the Yoto Player (gen 3) has been slashed by 25% down to $82 at Amazon. A slightly worse version of the deal (20% off) is also available at Amazon U.K. where the player is down from £89 to £71.

If you want to save even more, you can opt for a bundle that packages audio cards alongside the player. For example, the Disney Classics bundle is down a massive 40% at Amazon — dropping the price from $144 to $86.

Yoto Player (3rd Gen): was $109 now $81 at Amazon

The Yoto Player is an audio player for kids aged three to 12 with a simple lo-fi display and up to 24 hours of playback on a single charge. It uses curated audio cards for songs and stories that have all been moderated to be age-appropriate. The dual-speaker system offers plenty of clarity, while the 32GB internal memory can save up to 600 hours of content for offline listening. There's no microphone and the device can be controlled by parents via the Yoto smartphone app.

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Yoto Player (3rd Gen): was £89 now £71 at Amazon

The Yoto Player deal above is also replicated in the U.K. Even though the discount is slightly less, it's still a great saving to take advantage of.

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The Yoto Player doesn't feature a traditional screen. Instead, the front of the device shows pixelated stills that change with the story — think a mosaic Elmo if your child is listening to Sesame Street. For the growing number of parents concerned about their kids' screen time, the Yoto Player is a perfect replacement.

As you'd expect for a kids' toy, usability is super simple thanks to those big orange dials up top. During playback, you can click the dials to track forward or back and twist the left dial to control volume.

There's an old-fashioned simplicity of slotting one of the compatible Yoto cards into the card slot up top to begin the story. Yoto says there are over 1,400 audio titles from the world’s greatest creators, spanning stories, songs and activities. And kids will enjoy building out a collection the same way we did in bygone years with vinyl, cassettes, CDs and, yes, even MiniDiscs.

The Yoto Player comes with a Welcome Card that you can use to record your own audio. For example, you can record your child's favorite bedtime story and use the nightlight on the back of the device to help put them to sleep at night.

Yoto Cards themselves can start around $4 and rise to around $15 for the more popular compendiums. The choice on offer is pretty staggering, and more are being produced all the time. You can get popular Disney stories (with the original vocalists singing the songs) or books by children's authors like Julia Donaldson and Roald Dahl.

Just about everything Yoto Player-related is also discounted for Black Friday. For example, you can pick up a compatible hard carry case at Amazon U.S. for $19 right now or the entire Chronicals of Narnia Yoto Cards for $47 (down from $59). So even if your child already has a Yoto Player now is a perfect time to accessorize and build out their collection.

If you're on the hunt for even more deals, our Black Friday live blog will help you save money on the latest products as the sales intensify.

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