Little Smart Phonics from A to Z!

Little Smart Phonics from A to Z! was released in 1996.

Overview

Little Smart Phonics from A to Z!

Photos taken from an old Amazon listing^[1]

The first release of this toy. The toy is a red board with rows of uppercase-blue letters on the face of the board (behind yellow plastic), featuring rows words accompanied by an illustration beginning with the letter they are above (printed on white plastic). Vowels are red plastic, and each illustration features braile of the letter embedded overtop of it-a rare feature little Vtech toys of this time have. In the top-left corner of the board there is a speaker with red-3d looking text spelling "Phonics" behind a plastic panel, with 2 red LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) out of view, which light up the text occasionally. The top-right corner of the toy displays the toy's name, the bottom-right corner of the toy has a repeat button, and the bottom-left corner of the toy has a power switch with 2 volume modes. The top-middle of the toy has a carrying handle and the bottom-middle has an activity selector-slider.

Little Smart Alphabet Phonics Teacher

Visually identical to the Little Smart Phonics from A to Z! but with lowercase letters, altered activity and word illustrations, altered words, and a different voice actor.

J’apprends l'alphabet

Photos taken from WorthPoint^[2]

Features different "Phonics" text, instead saying "Phonique" in a more stylish font. All letter buttons are uppercase and light blue (including vowels). Due to it being a French language variant, all words and illustrations are changed, and the toy features a different voice actor. The toy features a blue version of the 1996 logo with a white background (more typical of vtech toys made between 1996-2000).

Alphabet Phonics Teacher

Photos taken from Blogspot^[3]

A later release of the Little Smart Alphabet Phonics Teacher released in 2005.^[4] It is visually identical to the older version of the toy but features an updated logo and omits the "Little Smart" branding. The toy features updated software, such as higher quality voice lines, more advanced music, and sounds. The song "Alouette" is replaced with "Wheels on the bus".

Unknown variant

Photos taken from Facebook^[5]

A blue variant which alters nearly all colors and illustrations of the Alphabet Phonics Teacher. It features no name, nor logo present on the front of the toy, and it is unknown wether this is an OEM variant distributed by a different company, or an intricate knockoff of said-toy.

Letters

Letter	Word (US)	Word (UK, 90s)	Word (UK, 2005)	Word (FR)
A	ant			avion
B	bus	bag		balle
C	cup	cat		canard
D	dog			dé
E	elf	end	egg	renard
F	fox	fan		fée
G	gift	gold		guêpe
H	hat			haricot
I	ink			île
J	jet	jug		jupe
K	king	kid		koala
L	lip	log		lune
M	mug	mop		mur
N	nest	nut		nuage
O	ox	on	ox	orange
P	pig	peg	pig	pomme
Q	quilt			quatre
R	rug			robot
S	sun			souris
T	top	tap		tapis
U	up			usine
V	van			vélo
W	web			wagon
X	ax	box	x-ray	xylophone
Y	yam	yes	yak	yaourt
Z	zip			zèbre

Activities

1. Sounds of Words
2. Before & After
3. Letters & Shapes
4. Sounds of Letters
5. Music Play

Shapes Melodies

Little Smart Phonics from A to Z!/Little Smart Alphabet Phonics Teacher

1. The Alphabet Song
2. Old MacDonald Had a Farm
3. Alouette
4. The Teddy Bears' Picnic

J’apprends l'alphabet

1. La chanson de l'alphabet
2. Au claire de la lune
3. Promenans-nous dans le bois
4. Joyeux anniversaire

Alphabet Phonics Teacher

1. The Alphabet Song
2. Old McDonald Had a farm
3. Wheels on the bus
4. The teddy bear's picnic

Trivia

• In Music Play mode, letters I, J, and K pressed in order play a small portion of the song Polly Put The Kettle On. Letters N and O pressed in order play a small portion of the song Pop! Goes the Weasel.
• The same sun illustration can be seen on the Little Smart PC Mouse.
• Similarly, the same pig illustration on the US version can be seen on the Alphabet Tap Tap Bus, but blue instead of pink
• In the vein of illustrations, the bus and van illustrations have very similar designs
• The word "cup" is the only word to be written in a different font (this font being called "VAG Rounded")

Goofs

• On the Little Smart Phonics from A to Z!'s box photo(s), songs "Alouette" and "The Teddy Bears' Picnic" are swapped.

References

See Also

• Phonics from A to Z! Animated