I personally think it is real. Here are a few reasons:
Michelle and Jason both see the exact same things with the Penguins.
In Episode 2, After she is back at the cottage, Michelle reaches into the smaller rockhopper and brings out a red-nipped lib, a toy version, when there was a red-nipped lib in the ship from Bullamanka.
In Episode 3, Jason puts a chicken-mit over the rockhopper model, and then it still has the chicken mit on it when it comes to life. Later, when Jason is back home, the chicken mit is off of the ship still.