Last week, I reviewed the totally awesome LeapFrog Touch Magic Rockin’ Guitar. (Refresher: it’s awesome!) Today I’ll be reviewing the equally awesome LeapFrog Touch Magic Learning Bus from LeapFrog. The alphabet bus has the same magical touching qualities that made the Rockin’ Guitar on the cutting edge of toy technology.
Side note: would “toy tech” not be the coolest job ever?

Like its alphabet toy predecessors, this ABC toy is colorful and features all 26 letters of the alphabet. Unlike alphabet toys of the past, it has some cool characters and even piano buttons to make this toy a class all its own! There are three touch buttons along the top of the bus: Learning, Letter Exploration (games), and Music.

Learning
When you touch the Learning star, your child is invited to touch a letter. The first time you touch a letter it says, “H as in hammer,” followed by a sound effect. Touch it again and it says, “H makes the sound huh.” Then finally it reinforces when you touch a third time by saying, “H.” So many toys emphasize the name of the letter, but for toddlers to make the leap (haha, no pun intended, but it’s staying!) into reading, they need to learn the sound of the letter. I love that this serves as a gentle introduction into the sounds letters make!

Letter Exploration
This touch button is in the shape of a ball. When you touch it, the toy asks you to, “Touch a picture that makes the sound…” (then makes the appropriate sound effect, like a ringing telephone for the letter T.” When you do so correctly, it reinforces, “that’s the duck!” and plays the sound effect again. Or it may ask you to touch the letter P. These activities are a fun way to strengthen the connection between the name of the letter and the sound it makes.

Music
My personal favorite part of the toy is the Music note touch button! A friendly voices calls, “Let’s jam!” and asks you to touch a band member. As the song plays, you can add in different notes that each animal plays – the penguin will chime in with his tambourine, for instance. You can press a letter during the sound, which layers in the sounds of the letter, or create your own music on the piano keys.

This toy is a little more sedate than the Rockin’ Guitar was for my children, which doesn’t bother me. It is such a cute introduction to letters for my two year old, Abigail, that I think we’ll be using this throughout the year! It’s a great starting place for a child who is just starting to learn their letters.

Speaking of the Rockin’ Guitar, the video contest is still going strong! Vote daily for a chance to win a $100 prize pack each week from LeapFrog. Enter your own video to win $500 cash!

Disclosure: I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and was given free product by LeapFrog.  The content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Links: www.leapfrog.com; www.clevergirlscollective.com