The "Sims2" Computer Game

Kids (particularly girls) love games in which they act out their lives with others on the computer like Habbo, and now Sims2. (Habbo is free on the Internet, but children need a computer and a broadband connection to play.)

This morning, my daugher (12) told me about a computer game that some of her friends are playing, called Sims2. In this game, children go to school, make friends, go to work, buy furniture for their homes and use their imaginations.

I see my daughter's interest in this game as a perfect opportunity to encourage her to start blogging. So, I immediately helped her to start a blog, (in which she and her older sister are both administrators), where she can look for a way to get a CD to play this game, and where she can talk with her friends about this game. Below is the first entry in my daughter's Sims2 blog, which is called Club Sims2:

Of course, my daughters are not convinced that starting this blog will help them to actually obtain the game CD which costs about sixty dollars in Brazil (because of importation taxes, probably.) I might eventually buy the game for them as part of Freedom Technology Christmas, but first I want them to explore the most economical way to obtain the game, and the best version to buy, through blogging and communicating with others about their desires and potential solutions.

I am translating her blog posts to English and she is helping me to learn better Portuguese grammar as I help her type in her first blog posts. Working together with children on blogs is a really great educational experience, both for them and for us! But, they can only engage in this experience if they have computers and broadband connections.

I have encouraged them to share the URL of their new blog with their friends at school, so that they can explore together the best way to get the game CD and begin playing. Here's her first post at her blog:

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Ai, que tanto gostaria de jogar o Sims2, (site oficial) pois acho que a eu aprenderia muito e brincaria com meus amigos também. Só que não tenho o CD de instalação. Mas eu tenho tanta fé que vou conseguir jogar Sims2 que eu comecei este blog Sims2 onde eu e os meus amigos vamos falar todo de Sims2.

In English: Oh, how I want to play Sims2 (official site) because I think I would learn a lot and play with my friends, too. But, I don't have the game CD! Still, I have so much faith that somehow I will be able to Play Sims2 that I have started this blog where my friends and I are going to talk about Sims2 and all of the fun we are having playing the game!

Fiquei sabendo que dá para comprar o CD Sims2 no Amazon.Com por 23.99 dolares nos estados unidos, recebendo o CD por correio. (Aqui no Brasil o jogo custa até mais de cem Reais.)

In English: I found out that you can buy the Sims2 CD for $23.99 in the United States, at Amazon.Com, receiving the CD in Brazil by international mail. (Here in Brazil, the game costs twice as much!)