From December 17th to December 27th, your little penguins can waddle up to the colourful Coins For Change area in Club Penguin and vote for their preferred cause (Provide Medical Help, Build Safe Places, or Protect the Earth) using the virtual coins they’ve earned through playing games on Club Penguin.

At the end of the campaign, Disney Online Studios uses the votes made in the virtual world to divvy up a $1 million donation to charitable causes in the real world, such as Warchild, Free the Children, Wildlife Conservation Network, Partners in Health, Children’s Surgical Centre and Rare. Watching the final results unfold on January 4th promises to be a remarkable opportunity for the kids to see that their actions, however small, do make a difference.

But can a computer game really help us sneak good stuff into our kids?

As a parent I really do hope that I’ve managed to be a good role model for my kids, but I’m also a big fan of the “education by stealth” concept. Others call it “learning through play”, but let’s call it what it is – sneaking lots of good stuff into our kids while they think they are just playing games. It works for learning phonics, or how to count, and for learning to take turns… but can it also work to reinforce morals and social responsibility?

Consider the kids who play Club Penguin, who in previous Coins for Change fundraising events helped more than two million people get medical care, enabled 200,000 less privileged children to go to school and helped protect more than a dozen endangered species and their habitats. Whichever way you cut it, that has got to be a good thing.

These kids could have used their hard earned virtual coins on cute little penguin accessories to show off to their friends, but instead they have chosen to use their coins towards a good cause. They’ve actively and independently decided which real-world causes are the most important to them, and cast their vote.

As a parent, I can’t help but feel moved that children as young as 6 are choosing to do something to make the world a better place. And I can’t help but be impressed that Disney’s Club Penguin are really getting into the Christmas spirit – not the commercial side, but the spirit of giving and of helping those less fortunate and reinforcing those values in our children.