Nickelodeon has announced it will premiere Wallykazam!, the kidsnet’s first preschool series with an embedded literacy curriculum, as a free download on iTunes the week of January 27, which is before the show makes its Nickelodeon debut on February 3.

Set in a magical forest filled with a variety of mythical beasts including giants, goblins and sprites, the 26-episode series follows the adventures of a troll named Wally and his pet dragon, Norville.

Letter and sound clarification skills, as well as rhyming, vocabulary development and comprehension strategies are taught to kids through comedic storylines involving Wally’s use of a magic stick that makes words come to life. Each episode features a new set of magical words.

Wallykazam! , which will debut at 1 p.m. (ET/PT) and also on NickJr.com, is created by producer/writer Adam Peltzman (The Backyardigans, Bubble Guppies) and features celebrity voice guests such as Vanessa Bayer (SNL), Weird Al Yankovic, Kate Micucci (The Big Bang Theory) and Alanna Ubach (Nick at Nite’s See Dad Run).

The series’ fan page on nickjr.com offers letters tracing activities, a Wallykazam! board game, puzzles and coloring pages among other features. Parents can also submit letters to Wally on the site for a chance to see their child’s art featured on the show.