After fighting through the standard packaging with its multitude of wire-ties, I was finally able to hand Penbo to my daughter. Her immediate reaction: "She's cute, and I like her bow. It looks pretty on her." Happily, batteries are included with Penbo, so as soon as we got her out of the package we were playing with her.

Penbo also comes with a baby penguin, named Bebe, who you'll find in an egg stored in Penbo's tummy. Once you open the egg, you can use Bebe to interact and control Penbo, via infrared signals. Penbo can also interact with you through the sensors on its head and tail, and the microphone hidden in its neck. Push the hidden buttons in Penbo's head and right wing, for example, and it plays a mimic game. Press Bebe's right wing, and Penbo plays a peek-a-boo game.

My daughter loved interacting with Penbo. As soon as she'd say something, Penbo responded. When she got the mimic game to work, she had a lot of fun. However, even with my help, my daughter had difficulty getting Penbo to play some of the the other games, such as the hide-n-seek and musical chairs games.

The baby penguin is probably my daughter's favorite part of the toy. The first night we got Penbo, she slept with Bebe on her pillow. One thing to note: It's a little difficult for a four-year-old to get Bebe in and out of the egg and back into Penbo's tummy. Again, parental help comes in handy.

Overall, Penbo is a fun toy--but don't expect hours of entertainment. My daughter played with Penbo for about 15 minutes when she first got it, and then didn't go back to it until later in the day. Over time, when she's a little older, it might hold her attention longer--and without Dad's help.