Club Penguin, the online game for kids, has had a great effect in our house:

• Milo's penmanship and drawing skills have improved dramatically because he, along with his whole kindergarten class, has been drawing puffles (an easy-to-draw furball creature from the game) nonstop.
• Felix is getting tons of practice reading as he and Milo work their way through the secret agent adventures online.

It's managed to get around Lucie's allergies to computer games. Milo in particular is a bit obsessed with it, and counts down the time until supper's being cooked when he can get on.