Alphabet Pal is a caterpillar pull toy aimed at young children aged 1 to 6 to help teach them learn the alphabet. It was first introduced in June 1999, then it was remodeled in June 2001, and then 2008. Alphabet Pal has 26 feet which each contains a letter of the alphabet from A to Z. The vowel buttons are colored red, while the consonants are colored yellow, green, or blue. (In the 1999 models, the alphabet buttons had a specified pattern: red, green, yellow and blue).
Most of the Alphabet Pals have uppercase letters, though some have lowercase letters. Alphabet Pals come in a variety of colors, such as purple, green, orange, red or pink. The symbol is a LeapFrog with the frog on top of it logo in 1999 models (and 2001 Purple variants), different LeapFrog logo without the frog in the 2001 Red, Orange, and Green variants, or the 2008 LeapFrog logo in the 2008 models.
Alphabet Pal takes three AA batteries.
Modes[]
The slider is a butterfly (2001 and 2008 models only). When turned on, Alphabet Pal plays an opening tune and says their opening catchphrase, "Hi, I'm Alphabet Pal". In 1999 models, the caterpillar instead says "Hi, I'm AlphaBug!" To save battery life, Alphabet Pal automatically turns itself off by saying "Thanks for learning with Leapfrog. Bye bye!" ("Bye bye!" in 1999 models), followed by a closing tune after 20 seconds without input. Pressing any button or changing modes turns the toy back on.
Letter Names[]
Touch any letter to hear its name. The symbol is the first three letters of the alphabet.
Letter Sounds[]
Touch any letter to hear its sound. Starting with 2001 models, Alphabet Pal will not say inappropriate words, it instead giggles and says "That tickles!" (although you can press the button and interrupt the sound). The symbol is a frog talking (or the letter A with a sound vibration in 2008).
Colors[]
Touch a colored boot to hear the name of the color. The symbol is a crayon (or a paint palette in 2008).
Music (introduced in 2001 models)[]
Touch a letter to hear a song whose name mostly begins with each letter from Are You Sleeping? to Z-Wait for the Wagon. The symbol is a musical note.
Edison introduces his name to the alphabet song (2001 only). Once he's pressed again for the second time, an instrumental version of the Alphabet Song will play. On the UK version and some foreign versions, when the button is pressed, Edison introduces his name to the alphabet song and then Alphabet Pal sings it.
Alphabet Pal sings the Alphabet song when the string is pulled.
Letters, Colors, and Songs[]
| Letter | Color | Song |
|---|---|---|
| A | Red | Are You Sleeping?/Frére Jacques/Where Is Thumbkin |
| B | Yellow (Green in 1999) | Billy Boy/Das Wandern ist des Müllers Lust (German version) |
| C | Green (Yellow in 1999) | Oh My Darlin' Clementine /Arroz con leche (Spanish version) |
| D | Blue | Did You Ever See A Lassie? (also known as "Oh du lieber Augustin") |
| E | Red | East Side, West Side (an excerpt from "The Sidewalks of New York")/Ein Mann, der sich Kolumbus nannt (German version) |
| F | Yellow (Green in 1999) | The Farmer In The Dell (also known as "A Hunting We Will Go") |
| G | Green (Yellow in 1999) | Greensleeves (also known as "What Child Is This?") |
| H | Blue | Hey, Diddle, Diddle/Ein Männlein steht im Walde (German version) |
| I | Red | I’ve Been Working On The Railroad /El Cucu (Spanish version)/Jetzt fahr'n wir übern See (German version) |
| J | Yellow (Green in 1999) | Jimmy Crack Corn (also known as "The Blue-Tailed Fly")/De Colores (Spanish version) |
| K | Green (Yellow in 1999) | Camptown Races/La Cucaracha (Spanish version) |
| L | Blue | London Bridge/Brahms Lullaby (German version) |
| M | Yellow (Red in 1999) | Mary Had a Little Lamb (also known as "Merrily We Roll Along")/Hopp, Hopp, Hopp (German version) |
| N | Blue (Green in 1999) | The Daring Young Man On The Flying Trapeze/Suse, liebe Suse (German version) |
| O | Red (Yellow in 1999) | Old MacDonald Had A Farm |
| P | Yellow | Pop! Goes the Weasel/Weißt du, wieviel Sternlein stehen (German version) |
| Q | Green (Red in 1999) | Chopsticks/Sleep, Baby, Sleep (German version) |
| R | Blue (Green in 1999) | Row, Row, Row Your Boat/London Bridge (German version) |
| S | Yellow | She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain/Naranjas Dulces (Spanish version) |
| T | Green (Blue in 1999) | This Old Man |
| U | Red | Upside-Down World/Ein Jäger aus Kurpfalz (German version) |
| V | Yellow (Green in 1999) | Froggie Went A Courtin'/Los Pollitos (Spanish version)/Müde bin ich, geh zur Ruh (German version) |
| W | Green (Yellow in 1999) | The Wheels On The Bus/Grün grün grün sind alle meine Kleider (German version) |
| X | Blue | The Yellow Rose Of Texas/La tarara (Spanish version) Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass (German version) |
| Y | Yellow (Red in 1999) | Yankee Doodle/Las Mañanitas (Spanish version)/Ein Vogel wollte Hochzeit machen (German version) |
| Z | Green | Wait for the Wagon/Es tanzt ein Bi-Ba-Butzemann (German version) |
Trivia[]
- Most of the songs are reused from Fun and Learn Phonics Bus and Discovery Ball with a few differences:
- "Are You Sleeping?"/"Frére Jacques"/"Brother John" is now slightly shorter.
- "Oh Where, Oh Where has my Little Dog Gone?" is now replaced by "The Wheels on the Bus".
- "Yankee Doodle" now plays in E/F, instead of C, and is a bit slower.
- "Wait for the Wagon" has a new instrumental.
- A, D, F, G, O, and T are the only letters to have the same songs in all language versions. However, all the songs on the French Alphabet Pal are exactly the same as the English version.
- Alphabet Pal later makes its only other appearance in the Little Touch LeapPad book A to Z Adventure!
See also[]
Gallery[]
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