Recently, Publications International, Ltd., (PI) sent me a sample of its new interactive product, Poingo. Michael (my 4 years old son) loves it.

Basically, kids (suggested ages 3-7) use the pen-shaped Poingo to touch pictures or text in the accompanying books which makes the characters talk, make sounds and play music. The starter kit comes with the Poingo and two hardcover books (Cars and Finding Nemo). Here are the three things that I like the most about the Poingo set:

1. The books (duh!). I like that they are fun, popular stories that keep Michael’s attention. Sometimes, he asks me to sit down with him and point out each word of text as it is read by Poingo. At other times, he’s content to explore the books by himself. Right now, there are six titles available – all of which are already loaded into Poingo’s memory. New titles are planned for the future.

2. It is user friendly. Really. You just turn a button on the Poingo, touch the books and it’s ready to go. (For non-techs people like me, that is a definite plus!) Note: When new titles become available, you will have to download the content from their site though.

And

3. It is reasonably priced. The starter set (including the two books) is $34.99. Additional books are $9.99 each. You can find the set at a variety of stores (Toys R Us, Target, etc.) as well as online at www.discoverpoingo.com.

The only thing that I don’t like is that the reader goes back to the top to read the entire text of each page every time any text on the page is touched. (I prefer to be able to read word by word.) Other than that, I really like this product.

Posted by Kimberly on 14 Nov 2008 at 01:40 am | Tagged as: Products