Vtech BUBLE GUM PHONICS FUN User Manual

A Guide to Using
Bubble Gum Phonics Fun
Dear Parent,Dear Parent,
Dear Parent,
Dear Parent,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 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?How Can You Help?
How Can You Help?
How Can You Help?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 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.
VTechVTech
VTech® designed the Fundamentals of learning product line to help
VTechVTech
VTechVTech
VTech® to be there with fun, innovative
VTechVTech
Sincerely,
Your Friends at
VTechVTech
VTech®
VTechVTech
1
BUBBLE GUM PHONICS FUN™
26 LETTER BUTTONS26 LETTER BUTTONS
26 LETTER BUTTONS
26 LETTER BUTTONS26 LETTER BUTTONS
ACTIVITY DIALACTIVITY DIAL
ACTIVITY DIAL
ACTIVITY DIALACTIVITY DIAL
TO BEGIN PLAY
1. To begin play, press the coin-shaped You will hear an opening short tune, followed by, “Hi! Let’s get rolling. Please turn the dial to select an activity.”
TO BEGIN PLAY
ON/OFF ON/OFF
ON/OFF button.
ON/OFF ON/OFF
LIGHT-UP TRANSLUCENTLIGHT-UP TRANSLUCENT
LIGHT-UP TRANSLUCENT
LIGHT-UP TRANSLUCENTLIGHT-UP TRANSLUCENT
LCD SCREENLCD SCREEN
LCD SCREEN
LCD SCREENLCD SCREEN
COIN-SHAPEDCOIN-SHAPED
COIN-SHAPED
COIN-SHAPEDCOIN-SHAPED
ON/OFF BUTTONON/OFF BUTTON
ON/OFF BUTTON
ON/OFF BUTTONON/OFF BUTTON
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 again. You will hear, “See you later!” followed by a short tune.
ON/OFFON/OFF
ON/OFF button
ON/OFFON/OFF
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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 ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
Learning Benefits for Your Child - The Learn the Sounds activity introduces your
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child 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.”
SOUNDS
LEARN THE
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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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 ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
Learning Benefits for Your Child - The Find It activity is presented to familiarize
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child your child with the 26 letters of the alphabet, their phonetic sounds, and their associated objects.
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FIND IT

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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BUBBLE GUM PHONICS FUN™ ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 2 - FIND IT
4.
There are three chances to answer the question correctly. If you are unable to find the correct answer after three chances or within 30 seconds, the friendly Gumball character will appear on the screen and say, the answer.”
“Time's up! Let me help you! This is
(continued)
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ACTIVITY 3 - MISSING LETTER

This activity strengthens spelling skills. Your child must decide which letter is missing in order to complete the word. He or she must rely on his or her knowledge of letter sounds in order to complete this activity. Using the objects from the learning toy, your child will be asked to tell which letter is missing in order to complete the word. Your child may refer to the letter buttons for help.
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
Learning Benefits for Your Child - The Missing Letter activity provides opportunities
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child for your child to spell words correctly. The main objective is for your child to recognize that there is a letter missing from the word. It also teaches your child how to correctly spell 26 different words.
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ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS:

MISSING
LETTER
1. Turn the activity selector to the activity “Missing Letter.” The activity name will be voiced followed by a short tune. You will hear a sound effect and an object will appear on the screen. You will then hear, “This is the apple. What letter is missing in the word APPLE?”
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BUBBLE GUM PHONICS FUN™ ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 3 - MISSING LETTER
2. When the correct letter button is pressed, the answer will be heard, followed by a positive phrase. For example, for the question “AP_LE,” if you press the letter “P” button, you will hear “ it!
P is
the missing letter in the word APPLE.” You
will then see a reward animation on the screen.
3. When an incorrect letter button is pressed, you will hear “Oops, try again!” and the question will be repeated.
4. There are three chances to answer the question correctly. If you are unable to find the correct answer after three chances or within 30 seconds, the friendly Gumball character will appear on the screen and say, “Time's up! Let me help you! This is the answer.”
(continued)
Cool! You got
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ACTIVITY 4 - SPELLING

This activity explores spelling skills. Your child must rely on his or her knowledge of letters and sounds in order to sound out and spell simple words. He or she will be able to determine how many letters are in the word by looking at the number of blanks on the screen. Your child will then need to enter the letters of the word in the proper order.
SPELLING
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
Learning Benefits for Your Child - The Spelling activity ties together all of the skills
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child of letter and sound recognition that your child has been practicing.
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BUBBLE GUM PHONICS FUN™ ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 4 - SPELLING
(continued)

ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Turn the activity selector to the activity “Spelling.” You will hear the phrase, “Let’s learn to spell” followed by a short tune. Then you will see an object appear on the screen followed by a question. For example, a picture of a tiger will appear on the LCD screen and the question will be voiced, “How do you spell the word TIGER?”
2. Press the letter buttons to spell the word in order from left to right. Each correct letter will appear one at a time, replacing the blanks on the screen. When you have successfully finished spelling the word you will hear a positive reward phrase and sound effect followed by the complete spelling of the word. For example, “Cool! You got it. TIGER is spelled T I G E R.”
3. When an incorrect letter button is pressed, the pressed letter will be identified. Then the unit will erase the letter automatically and you will receive a hint. For example, if you are spelling the word TIGER and you press the letter “B,” you will hear “B. Oops, try again! Give me a T.” This helps the child identify which letter he or she is looking for in an effort to spell the word correctly.
4. There are three chances to answer the question correctly. If you are unable to find the correct answer after three chances or within 30 seconds, the friendly Gumball character will appear on the screen and say, “Time's up! Let me help you! This is the answer.”
SPELLING
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BUBBLE GUM PHONICS FUN™ ACTIVITIES

ACTIVITY 5 - CREATE A SONG

This activity stimulates creativity by allowing children to create their own melodies. Your child can choose notes to be included in his or her song by pressing each individual button and hearing its accompanying note. Your child can replay the song by pressing the letter “Z” or create a new song by pressing the letter “T.”
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
Learning Benefits for Your Child - The Create a Song activity provides your child
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child with an opportunity to have some fun! This activity stimulates your child's creativity through free play.
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ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Turn the activity selector to the activity “Create a Song.” You will hear the phrase, “Let’s create a song” followed by a short tune and the activity instruction, “Press a letter button.”
CREATE
A SONG
2. Press the letter buttons to create a song. Each of the letters is a musical note with the exception of letters “Z” and “T.” When you press the letter “Z” you can hear the song you composed. Pressing the letter “T” will erase the song that you have composed and allow you to create a new song.
3. If you do not press a letter button within 12 seconds, the friendly Gumball character will ask, “Are you still there? Press a letter button.”
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BUBBLE GUM PHONICS FUN™ ACTIVITIES

ACTIVITY 6 - Music Box

This activity enables your child to enhance his or her listening skills by pressing the letter keys to play various songs. A fun animation will be displayed on the screen while the song is played.
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child
Learning Benefits for Your Child - The Music Box activity provides your child with an
Learning Benefits for Your ChildLearning Benefits for Your Child opportunity to have some fun while enhancing his or her creative skills.
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ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Turn the activity selector to the activity “Music Box.” You will hear the phrase, “Let’s play a song” followed by a short tune and the activity instruction, “Press a letter button.”
2. Press a letter button to hear a song. There are 26 different melodies in this
activity. They include:
A The Alphabet Song
B Billy Boy
C Chopsticks
D Did You Ever See a Lassie
E Entertainer
F Für Elise
G Good Night Ladies
H Hey, Diddle Diddle
I I’ve Been Working on the Railroad
J Frère Jacques
K In the Hall of the Mountain King
L London Bridge
M The Mulberry Bush
N Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy ( From the Nutcracker Suite )
OOde to Joy
P Pachelbel’s Cannon
Q Mary, Mary Quite Contrary
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BOX
MUSIC

BUBBLE GUM PHONICS FUN™ BATTERIES

ACTIVITY 6 - Music Box
R Ring Around the Rosie
S Swan Lake
T Toyland
U The Blue Danube
V Spring by Vivaldi
W Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone
X Pop Goes the Weasel
Y Yankee Doodle
Z Take Me Out to the Ball Game
3. If you do not press a letter button within 12 seconds, the friendly Gumball character will ask, “Are you still there? Press a letter button.”
(continued)
BATTERY INSTALLATION
1. Make sure the unit is turned OFF.
2. Locate the battery cover on the back of the unit. Use a coin or screwdriver to remove the battery cover.
3. Insert 3 new “AA” (UM-3/ LR6) batteries following the diagram inside the battery box.
4. Replace the battery cover and tighten the screw to
BATTERY
secure the battery cover.
INSTALLATION
BATTERY NOTICE
• Install batteries correctly observing the polarity (+, -) signs to avoid leakage.
• Do not mix old and new batteries.
• Do not use batteries of different types.
• Remove exhausted or new batteries from the learning toy when it will not be used for an extended period of time.
• Do not dispose of batteries in fire.
• Do not attempt to recharge ordinary batteries.
• Do not short circuit the supply terminals.
WE DO NOT RECOMMEND THE USE OF RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES.
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BUBBLE GUM PHONICS FUN™ BATTERIES

AUTOMATIC SHUT-OFF

To preserve battery life, the automatically after 3 minutes without input. The unit can be turned on again by pressing the
ON/OFFON/OFF
ON/OFF button.
ON/OFFON/OFF
BUBBLE GUM PHONICS FUN™BUBBLE GUM PHONICS FUN™
BUBBLE GUM PHONICS FUN™ learning toy will turn off
BUBBLE GUM PHONICS FUN™BUBBLE GUM PHONICS FUN™
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Note:Note:
Note: If for some reason the program/activity stops working, then please follow
Note:Note:
these steps:
1. Please turn the unit off.
2. Interrupt the power supply by removing the batteries.
3. Let the unit stand for a few minutes; then replace the batteries.
4. Turn the unit on. The unit should now be ready to play again.
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If the problem persists, please call our Consumer Services Department at 1-800-521­2010 in the U.S., 1-800-267-7377 in Canada or 01235-546810 in the U.K.

CARE AND MAINTENANCE

1. Keep the unit clean by wiping it with a slightly damp cloth.
2. Keep the unit out of direct sunlight and away from any direct heat source.
3. Remove the batteries when the unit is not in use for an extended period of time.
4. Do not drop the unit on hard surfaces or try to dismantle it.
5. Do not expose the unit to moisture or water.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Creating and developing the Fundamentals of Learning product line is accompanied by a responsibility that we at make every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information, which forms the value of our products. However, errors sometimes can occur. It is important for you to know that we stand behind our products and encourage you to call our Consumer Services Department at 1-800-521-2010 in the U.S., 1-800-267-7377 in Canada, or 01235-546810 in the U.K. with any problems and/or suggestions that you might have. A service representative will be happy to help you.
VTECH®VTECH®
VTECH® take very seriously. We
VTECH®VTECH®
11
CARE AND
MAINTENANCE
BUBBLE GUM PHONICS FUN™ BATTERIES
CARE AND MAINTENANCE
NOTE:NOTE:
NOTE:
NOTE:NOTE:
This equipment generates and uses radio frequency energy and if not installed and used properly—that is, in strict accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions—it may cause interference to radio and television reception. It has been type tested and found to comply within the limits for a Class B computing device in accordance with the specification in Sub-part J of Part 15 FCC rules, which are designed to provide reasonable protection against such interference in a residential installation. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:
1. Reorient the receiving antenna.
2. Relocate this product with respect to the receiver.
CARE AND
MAINTENANCE
3. Move this product away from the receiver.
WARNING: All packing materials such as tape, plastic sheet, wire ties and tags are not part of this toy and should be discarded for your child's safety.
(continued)
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Look for these additional products
in the Fundamentals of Learning product line
Alphabet Apple™
3 years and up
80-26800
Flip For Phonics™
3-5 years
80-29100
Get A Grip!™ Phonics
5-8 years
80-41400
The Search for Hidden
Treasure™
4-6 years
80-41000
Get A Grip!™ Math
5-8 years
80-41100
Alphabert The Ready
to Read Robot™
4-6 years
80-29400
Our helpful Consumer Services staff
is available to answer product
questions and to assist in finding
the retailer nearest you
USA
1-800-521-2010
CANADA
1-800-267-7377
www.vtechcanada.com
UK
01235-546810
www.vtechuk.com
© VTECH
Printed in China
91-01435-000
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