Leapfrog's My Pal Scout - A pal for a toddler and their parents

I first gave this toy to a son of a family friend. He loves his pal Scout. His eyes light up when Scout says his name! Scout was easy to customize with his name. We also added his favorites (color, food, animal)! If you want, you can choose your own songs to play (both lullabies and songs better for daytime). All we needed was a PC with an Internet connection and an USB port.

Since then, we have used Scout and Violet as our present for kids on their first birthday. Every child we gave this as a present has loved it. They bring it with them everywhere.

Give learning a personal touch with this soft, cuddly green puppy named Scout! Scout connects to the computer so you can customize the music and personalize the learning with your child's name and favorite food, animal and color. Scout comes with 5 pre-loaded songs, or you can select and download your choice of learning tunes and lullabies from an online list of 30 songs.* Press a paw to play music, learning songs or games! Parents can connect to the online LeapFrog® Learning Path for customized learning insights and ideas to expand the learning.

*Internet connection required to personalize Scout with your child's name and favorite items or to change songs.

Comments from Parents and Grandparents who have My Pal Scout or My Pal Violet.

Great!

My one year old got this for his birthday and we love it. It is so cute and has the cutest voice. My son can easily press the paws for songs. He cuddles it and sleeps with it all the time. Very easy to program as well. This is a great gift for a one and up! - PHM517

This is an excellent and very affordable toy. It took about 10 minutes to download the software and program Scout. My son is 6 and a half months old and is captivated by his new talking friend. Scouts voice is quite clear and says his name and all other words in a sweet tone with no cut out or distortion. It's adorable that the toy teaches how to count to 5 by saying he has hiccups and asking to count along to 5 and see if they go away. - Teri M.

My husband and I get frantic if we can't locate scout! We play the bed time music and put it near baby's crib and baby knows it is time to lay down and go to sleep and stops crying instantly. We have a 5 month old. Also if he is having a fit and crying we bring out Scout and it cheers him up instantly. We could not live without Scout! Love that it says my son Xavier's name also (it had options for 3 common ways of pronunciating it!). I wish there were even more options to customize and longer bedtime music. - D.W. Johnson

Not so Great
The only problem we had was that my daughters name is NOT common enough to be on the large list of names. "Laiken" was not there. - Dana H.

My only complaint is that I haven't got a clue how to wash it, and since my son adores this toy, sooner or later it is bound to get stinky. - Kagome USA

It has gotten a little grungy looking despite my attempts to keep it clean, but it isn't that big of a deal. It looks well-loved. - Sweet C.

My Pal Scout is surface wash only. It has lots of electronic parts inside of it that would not be able to handle a washer or dryer. So make sure you only wash the surface of your toy.

Here is a quick primer on surface washing. Wet a cloth with a mild detergent and water. Ivory and Dreft are good examples of a mild detergent. (If you haven't used the detergent on Scout before, put a tiny dot of the soap and water on the fur, and wait until the spot is dry to make sure it doesn't change the color.) Wring out until the cloth is only damp. (Make sure it isn't soaking wet -- that can cause a problem.) Wipe the cloth over the soiled area. Then, wring out the dirt and soap out of the cloth. Re-wet the cloth with only water then wring. Wipe the areas you did before to get rid of the detergent residue.

Let the surface dry completely. If the fur seems to be sticking together, use a new brush (or one just for stuffed animals) to make it look a bit better. Make sure the brush is not wire - that is too rough on the surface. Brush gently, you don't want to pull out the fur.

After all of this, your Scout or Violet should look a lot better.

The Best Toys for Toddlers is an online review club open to moms and dads everywhere. Write a review of your toddler's favorite toys. It's free, and you could even earn a royalty for the great articles you create.

More about us: Our goal is to helping parents raise the quality of playtime with their toddlers. It's not just about the newest toy--it's about sneaking education into your kid's playtime. Parents know: Playing is serious business! We're always on the lookout for the best toys for our little tots.

Here is the leapfrog page you should go to in order to customize your toy - My Pal Scout support page. The following is their description on how to do the customization:

• Connect the doll to the computer.


• On the LeapFrog Connect Home page, click the orange button in the My Pals box.


• On the My Pals Home page, click the Get Started button to go to the My Name page.


• My Name page: Type your child's name in the First Name field and click Find Audio. Click Save to My Pal to save the name to Scout or Violet. Click Continue to My Picks to go to the My Picks page.


• My Picks page: Pick an animal, food and color/colour your child loves. Click Save to My Pal to save the picks to Scout or Violet. Click Continue to My Music to go to the My Music page.


• My Music page: Select up to five lullaby melodies and five daytime melodies to play for your child. Click Save to My Pal to save the songs to Scout or Violet. Click Done to return to the Home page.


• My Printables page: Print a puppy adoption certificate for your child and more!

You have now created a custom puppy for your child. You can click any page at any time to make changes.
To begin playing, click the Eject icon and remove the USB cable. Then touch any paw.