Alpha-Bug Step 'n' Spell® by Learning Resources®

Alpha-Bug Step ‘n’ Spell®

Features interactive play with a fun character that invites kids to explore letters, sounds and spelling

Offers 4 activities, including a step-along to “The ABC Song” and a music mode that turns letters into notes

Challenges developing skills with 2 degrees of difficulty

First place the mat on the floor. Turn the mat on, set difficulty level. You will hear Alpha-Bug say, "Hi! Good to see you! Choose an activity! Step on my shoe!"

Choose a game by stepping on one of Alpha-Bug’s shoes! Alpha-Bug’s shoes are labeled as: DISCOVER, SPELL, ABC SONG, and MUSIC. You’ll notice that Alpha-Bug is also holding a flag that says, CHANGE GAME. Step on CHANGE GAME at any time to switch games.

Answer a question by stepping on a different letter on the mat. There are two chances to answer each question correctly. If you answer the same question incorrectly twice, don’t worry! Alpha-Bug will move on to a new question.

To start a new game, step on the DISCOVER, SPELL, ABC SONG or MUSIC shoe. During a game, you can press the CHANGE GAME flag at any time to change the game!

Alpha-bug Step ‘n’ Spell TM has two skill level settings for both the DISCOVER and SPELL games. Beginning players should start with Level 1 games. Level 2 games are designed to be a little more challenging, with more advanced spelling activities. Below is a brief description of each game so that you can determine which level is the appropriate one for the player.

Playing the Games:

Turn ON the unit. Alpha-Bug will say, "Hi! Good to see you! Choose an activity. Step on my shoe!"

DISCOVER MODE
This activity helps teach the basics of learning to recognize letters and the sounds they make!    Try Level 1 first and work your way up to Level 2!

Level 1
In this game, you will be asked to some basic questions to explore letters and sounds!
Level 2
When you advance to Level 2, players are asked to explore and learn other important skills. The questions include finding the first letter of a word, or what letter come before or after a letter in the alphabet! Players will also be asked to identify the sounds of letters.

SPELL MODE
This game is designed to help young learners gain confidence with spelling simple words.

Level 1

In this level your child will gain confidence building 3 letter words with a little guidance from Alpha-Bug. For example, Alpha-Bug will ask the player to spell the word "cat". First Alpha-Bug will ask the player to find the "C", then the "A", and then the "T". If the player misses a letter twice, then Alpha-Bug will move on!

Level 2
In Level 2, players move on to more advanced spelling. In this level, players are asked to spell words without the assistance they had in Level 1.

ABC SONG MODE

Alpha-Bug will sing the alphabet song and ask the player to follow along by stepping on the letters with the song. During this activity, stepping on the letters does not affect the song, so don’t worry about stepping on a wrong letter, moving too fast, or too slow.    This is simply an exercise to help build those recognition skills and have some fun all at the same time!

MUSIC MODE

In this activity, all the letters of the alphabet become musical notes. In the back of the manual we’ve taken these letters and composed a few simple, familiar songs. Match the colors and letters written on the notes to the letters and colors on Alpha- Bug!

CYBER COACH

Match Me

Match all the cards.

Choose a card and flip it, then choose another, if the two cards match you win points.

Match the cards faster for more points. Take turns as a team or play against your friends. Get another go when you get it right in a competition.
Up to 4 simultaneous games. Up to 4 players per game. Maximum players 16.

Controls.

 

"Cyber Coach is an example of technology fused with children’s lifestyle to produce a winning result all round. By allowing children to develop and design their own dance classes the children then feel compelled to use them. Like many great ideas, simplicity is at its heart. And the money follows. Unit growth over the next 2 yrs is predicted to more than triple. Turnover for the last two years escalated six-fold turning the company today into a multi-million pound organization with a rapidly developing global sales force. A key component of innovation is risk. The owners embraced this facet by sticking to their plan during three whole years of product development and partnership negotiations resulting in significant early losses. Today they are reaping the rewards"

Dr Moneeb Awan, President of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce

Example

 Listen, then Repeat – Test your memory against your friends.

Animals are shown on the screen in a grid which corresponds to the Dance Mat. Listen to the noises and repeat the pattern ONLY WHEN PROMPTED.

The controls on the floor mat that correspond with the game in question.

This game is very similar to my idea. Associations are key, whereas in this game,  the sequences become more intense as you progress, eg

1.   goat
2. goat, frog
3. goat, frog, goat
4. goat, from, goat, dog ... etc etc

Disaster

Not only have I been without internet for the last few days but the pitching of my idea was horrid! What a knock back really.