LeapFrog Alphabet PalŪ Caterpillar (Colors May Vary)
by LeapFrog
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Our Price: $95.96 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $5.00 (click here) Category: Toy See more product details |
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Toys and Games Reviews of LeapFrog Alphabet PalŪ Caterpillar (Colors May Vary)
Customer Review: Minimum Recommended Age is Too Low
Summary: 3 Stars
My wife and I have liked all of the LeapFrog toys that our son (who is just turning one) has. However, Alphabet Pal falls a little below their usual standard, at least at his current age. Many baby and infant toys suffer from design that tries to do too much with no regard for how a baby or infant will actually play with it. I guess bells and whistles sell in today's very crowded toy market; however, what if all of the bells and whistles can potentiall go off at once? In this case, you end up with Alphabet Pest.
Our son is always very interested in Alphabet Pal with its bright colors and friendly appearance. However, once he starts picking it up, rolling it back and forth and/or batting at it, the real problem comes out. Every one of its feet triggers a different sound, letter, song, etc. depending on what mode it's on. Also, the bug sitting on its back is another button that plays a different song. Plus, if you tug on the cord around its neck, it plays yet another song. I'm all for versatility, but every triggering event stops the previous sound. So, you get a mish-mash of songs that never finish crashing into each other - it can sound like flipping through the radio dial too fast. If Alphabet Pal tips over on his side, then all sorts of random feet go off while your baby plays with it. This confusing medley of musical snippets eventually becomes upsetting to your baby, but only long after it's become incredibly irritating to everyone else within earshot. Finally, its speaker has two settings - loud and louder.
So, if your child isn't walking and isn't yet steady with his or her hand movements, this toy is just not for them. I highly recommend LeapFrog's Discovery Ball instead, which doesn't go haywire regardless of the amount of jostling your toddler can dish out. We hope that our son will eventually get more productive use out of Alphabet Pal once he's a little bit older. Alphabet Pal seems best suited for sitting with an older toddler and playing "press the letter that I say", or else using it as an intro to phonics or as a pull toy, but we'll have to wait and see.
Customer Review: Every house needs an Alpha Bug!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of our favorite toys! The Alphabet Pal introduces himself as "Alpha Bug" and plays the alphabet song when his sting is pulled. His feet are different colors, and each leg has a different letter on it. Depending on how you set the switch, when you push his legs he will either say the letter, say the letter's sound, or say the color. He has a funky, wobbley gait when he is being pulled, and his antennae light up.My daughter received this for Christmas when she was 9 months old. In the beginning she enjoyed pressing the legs to get a response out of Alpha Bug. Eventually she learned to walk, and then Alpha Bug REALLY got the workout. We joke that Alpha Bug needs an odometer, because we're sure that ours has had many miles put on him! She loved to grab the string and just march around and around, around and around, singing the alphabet song with her friend. She also liked to pick him up and hug him, which I think is a little weird, because he has an oddly shaped, hard plastic body. I guess that's love for you! She's now 3 1/2, and Alpha Bug doesn't see too much action, but he still has a special place in her heart (as in, I better not throw him away!)
As a parent, the truth is that Alpha Bug can be annoying. He does have a switch that offers 2 volume choices, and "off" is an option on the switch with the leg choices (letters, sounds or colors), but when your child is pulling him along, he sings that alphabet song over and over and over.... At least the alphabet song is something you want your child to know!
When he has been left alone for a while, he will start up a "good-bye song" and turn off, which is good for batteries. We change the batteries rarely, and our bug has been used a lot!
The durability is quite good, but I only gave 4 stars because eventually some of the legs quit working. Since my daughter prefered to pull him, that wasn't so important, but it does mean that I need to buy a new one for my youngest.
Welcome Alpha Bug into your family - you'll be glad you did!
Customer Review: Poorly Executed
Summary: 1 Stars
This is a great idea, but poorly executed. This toy just doesn't seem to be designed for a one year old baby. The string is too short to pull while walking...I understand that this is a safety issue, but come on! Having a pull toy that you can't pull along is kind of pointless.
My second complaint is the buttons. They're small, protrude outwareds, are very close together, and really close to the ground. If you have a medium to high pile carpet, this will wreak havoc on the toy. Not only are the buttons not very durable, but playing with the toy on carpet will trigger many inintended letters, which is probably pretty confusing for a little tyke.
My third complaint is also button related. My daughter has pretty long legs, and as she's sitting and playing on the floor with the toy, her feet set off buttons unintentionally while she's pressing other buttons with her fingers. THe result? You hear the letter "J" while the letter "B" is being pressed by a pudgy finger!
The upside to this toy for my daughter anyway is that she likes the music, particularly the xylophone instramental version of the ABC song. She's not really much into anything else. It's a cute toy, but I ended up exchanging it for the ABC Bus by LeapFrog instead. The buttons are a little further apart and are more easily distinguishable. The buttons on the bus are several inches above the ground and do not protrude out, so there;s no chance of my daughter's toes hitting letters unintentinally. They were the same price in our area, and for us it was a much better solution.
Customer Review: Cute but not anything special.
Summary: 4 Stars
My 1 year old niece got this toy as a gift for her birthday. My first thought when I saw this toy was "Oh great, yet another electronic toy!". But, of course, electronic toys appeal to young kids so my niece ended up really liking this toy.
The actual caterpillar is rather cute. There's a string attached to it that toddlers can use to pull the caterpillar around. And when you pull the string, the caterpillar sings the alphabet. My niece can't walk by herself yet so we don't use the string.
The real entertainment comes from the caterpillar's legs. You can switch to a few different modes and when you press one of the legs, it'll say the name of the letter or the color of the leg. My niece's favorite part is when it's on song mode. When you press a leg on this mode, a popular children's song is played.
There are a couple of things I really don't like about this toy. First, as others have pointed out, the voice is irritating (to adults at least). I understand that children like "happy" sounding voices but the voice on this particular toy is just, well, annoying. Second, the reason why I don't like electronic toys is because they use batteries. More like, they EAT UP batteries. With all the electronic toys my niece has, her mother spends a good chunk of money just to replace batteries.
If you're considering this toy, I wouldn't say that I don't recommend it. However, I just don't think that it's anything special.
Customer Review: ANNOYING caterpiller!!
Summary: 1 Stars
My daughter received this toy when she was 8 months old. She has loved more advanced toys since about the age of 7 months old, so I wasn't concerned about the age level for this toy. She had many Leap Frog toys by this age, and LOVED them all. (The table, the ball, & the farm book).
She did not play much with this caterpiller since she did not like toys that were VERY loud. This toy has two levels for sound, and the low level is still TOO LOUD. Also, this toy is ANNOYING!! She would hardly bump it, and it would play a sound or song (whichever it was set to), and then you bump it again, and it plays something different. Then, when she would crawl over it, it would stick "on" and play over and over again. She would get so upset that she would try to kick or throw it away from her!!
I read the other reviews, and I guess I have the "old" one. Maybe the newer one is better... I would hope! My daughter is now 11 months old, and still annoyed with this toy. (So am I, since it's loud and annoying!) It still just sits in her toybox, not being played with. I did take it out this week, to see if she likes it now, and she throws it away each time she sees it!
So, I would NOT buy this item (and I'm glad that it was a gift and I didn't waste my money on it!), and I would "test play" with this item before bringing it home, if you are thinking about buying it.