Barbie's little sister, Kelly, and her friends invite young children to take part in a fantasy pet parade with their favorite stuffed animals.

Before players begin, they are offered a printable friendship bracelet, complete with their name and Kelly's. Once they've passed through the clubhouse, kids discover four dolls-come-to-life to dress up, and each needs to ready their favorite pet for the upcoming pet parade. Players click on any of Kelly, Tommy, Keeya, and Chelsie for a chance to accessorize the characters in costumes they will wear on the floats in the parade. Selecting one of the four animals -- elephant, pony, puppy, or polar bear -- leads to a multi-step game. The idea behind these games is preparation for the pet parade, so the animals need to learn tricks and get cleaned up for the floats.

The animal activities have a similar format, although the feature games are unique arcade-style activities. Kids help Poky Polar Bear catch fish in the Arctic, guide P.J. Pony in a practice jump, assist Emmy Elephant in her attempt to catch bamboo sticks, and pass a beach ball between Butterscotch Puppy and Kelly.

After each arcade-style game, kids can feed and then groom the animals. This involves such activities as bathing the polar bear and painting the elephant's toenails.

The finale is pleasingly interactive. In fact, kids can not only view their parade, they can participate in it by arranging the order of the floats, adding music and bursts of firecrackers (shaped like flowers, stars, and hearts), and decorating the floats with stickers.

We were impressed with the program's excellent graphics. We were also pleased that the characters appear on the floats in the exact costumes that children selected.

Technically Speaking
Minimum requirements are Windows 98/Me/2000/XP, Pentium 233 MHz, 64 MB RAM, 12X CD-ROM, and 100 MB hard drive space. Mac users require a Power Mac G3 233 MHz or faster processor, System 8.6, 9.2.1, 10.1.2, 64 MB RAM, 16X CD-ROM, and 100 MB hard drive space.

Skills Covered
Following directions, creativity, computer mouse skills, and eye-hand coordination.

Educational Value
There is minimal educational content offered in this program. Children develop some computer mouse skills in a pleasing and encouraging environment, however. The program helps build confidence in children's computer and creativity skills.

Entertainment Value
Although many of the activities offered are similar, this title remains very attractive to preschoolers. Not only are the graphics impressive, the pet theme goes over beautifully with the younger crowd and children's creative efforts are rewarded.

Design
The design of this program makes it especially approachable and easy to control. Aside from one activity that is a little difficult for children in the suggested age group, the program is well-designed and incredibly intuitive.

Replayability
Many of the activities are fairly similar, yet preschoolers will enjoy them over and over again. We expect decent replay value.

Dollar Value
Suggested retail price is $30 US.