Vtech BUBBLE GUM PHONICS User Manual

A Guide to Using

Bubble Gum Phonics Fun™

Dear Parent,

You know how important reading is to your child's future. If your child can read, your child can do anything. That's because reading is the foundation upon which all fundamental learning is built. A good beginning is absolutely essential.

That is why VTech® designed the Fundamentals of learning product line to help your child develop language skills, the skills crucial to learning how to read. Our age-appropriate activities will help your child feel successful every step of the way. In fact, we provide three levels of reading progression to help your child move from a Beginning Reader, to a Growing Reader, and finally to an Advancing Reader.

Our curriculum begins with letters, letter sounds, and letter formation all the way through vowels, consonants, word recognition –even full sentences. With the Fundamentals of Reading product line, children think they're playing, but they're actually learning. Their confidence grows, their self-esteem grows and their appetite for learning grows, too.

How Can You Help?

You've already started by showing you're interested in your child's reading development. By being a good role model, your child should see you read books, magazines and newspapers. Of course, there are other sources including billboards, grocery lists, recipes and street signs. What's most important is that reading is a fun, interactive experience that should be shared with your child daily.

We encourage you to play the activities in the Fundamentals of learning product line together. You'll see first hand what progress your child is making. Children love positive reinforcement so praise your child's achievements. As your child embarks on the road to learning, he or she will encounter challenges. This is a natural part of the learning process. Please be patient and if your child needs help, be sure to provide it. Have fun. Remember, learning to read isn't a race. It doesn't matter who gets there first. It's simply “getting there” that really counts.

We wish you the best as you help your child get off to a great start in becoming a lifelong learner. As your child grows, count on VTech® to be there with fun, innovative learning toys to help your child do his or her best every step of the way.

We thank you for entrusting us with the responsibility of building your child's future.

When your child can read, your child can do anything.

Sincerely,

Your Friends at VTech®

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TO BEGIN PLAY

BUBBLE GUM PHONICS FUN™

26 LETTER BUTTONS

ACTIVITY DIAL

LIGHT-UP TRANSLUCENT

LCD SCREEN

COIN-SHAPED

ON/OFF BUTTON

TO BEGIN PLAY

1. To begin play, press the coin-shaped ON/OFF button.

You will hear an opening short tune, followed by, “Hi!

Let’s get rolling. Please turn the dial to select an activity.”

2. Turn the Activity Dial to select one of the six activities. Our animated Gumball character will guide you through each of the following activities:

1. Learn the Sounds		4.	Spelling
2.	Find It	5.	Create a Song
3.	Missing Letter	6. Music Box

3. To turn the learning toy off, press the ON/OFF button again. You will hear, “See you later!” followed by a short tune.

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BUBBLE GUM PHONICS FUN™ ACTIVITIES

ACTIVITY 1 - LEARN THE SOUNDS

This activity teaches sounds of consonants and vowels. Your child will hear the correct pronunciation of each letter sound. He or she will recognize that the vowels

A, E, I, O, and U can make two different sounds, both long and short, while consonants C, G, and Y can also make more than one sound. Every time your child presses a letter button, the learning toy will tell your child the sound(s) that the letter makes.

Learning Benefits for Your Child - The Learn the Sounds activity introduces your child to the letter sounds. Your child will hear the correct pronunciation of each letter. He or she will learn that some letters even make two sounds. There are no specific instructions telling your child which buttons to press, thus giving him or her the freedom to learn at his or her own pace.

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ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Turn the activity selector to the activity “Learn the

Sounds.” You will hear a short tune followed by “Hi, let’s learn the letter sounds. Press a letter button.”

2. Press a letter button to hear the sound(s) of each letter. For example, when you press the letter “A” button, you will hear “This is the letter “A”; “A”, says “a” and “ah.” The letter will appear on the

LCD screen.

3. If you don’t press any button for 12 seconds, you will hear the phrase, “Are you still there? Press a letter button.”

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LEARN THE SOUNDS

FIND IT

BUBBLE GUM PHONICS FUN™ ACTIVITIES

ACTIVITY 2 - FIND IT

This activity reinforces letter identification, object identification and letter sounds.

The friendly voice will ask your child to find a certain letter, letter sound or object.

Your child must rely on the skills presented in the previous activity in order to play this activity.

Learning Benefits for Your Child - The Find It activity is presented to familiarize your child with the 26 letters of the alphabet, their phonetic sounds, and their associated objects.

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ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Turn the activity selector to the activity “Find It.”

You will hear the activity name voiced, followed by a short tune.

2. Then the friendly voice will ask a random question.

For example, you will hear, “Find the letter A”, “Find the letter that says A and Ah” or “Find the APPLE”.

Each time a question is asked a visual clue will appear on the screen.

3.Find the answer by pressing a letter button. The friendly Gumball character will identify the letter, object, or phonetic sound of the pressed button. If you answer correctly you will receive a positive

response followed by a reward sound effect. For example, you will hear “Cool, you got it!” followed by a reward sound effect and the phrase, “A, APPLE. APPLE begins with the letter A.”

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