Yesterday I managed to package GCompris 8.3 BETA 3-2 and successfuly run it at home. Packaging it was a bit tricky due to a couple of bugs I encountered along the way, but luckly bdoin was around #gcompris to confirm/deny my assumptions.

The main reason for me doing this was so that Yv, my oldest, could spend some time in front of the computer doing something educational. I was extremelly surprised with the amount of different games available and the very broad range of levels included. Gcompris comes bundled with games for all ages and it is guaranted to score big with the kids, including the big kid in you! :)

Throughout the entire time you play in Gcompris, you’re accompanied by a great selection of soothing classical music, and even some of the games, such as the first “jigsaw” puzzle included paintings from famous painters such as Renoir, Monet, etc.

One of the first games Yv played was this game where the program spoke the name of a letter, and you had to click on the corresponding block containing that letter. Was I pleasantly surprised to hear Gcompris speaking “fluent” Brazilian Portuguese!!! Though Yv can speak Portuguese, she does not know the alphabet and such, and I had to change the idiom to English in the configuration menu. But now she can learn the alphabet using Gcompris as her tutor! :)

Overall, I am very pleased with the interface and selection of games. My hats off to everyone involved in the project, specially for those who took their time to record (voice) the messages in my mother tongue! This is a project that I will most definitely find time to volunteer my free time!

Note: Close to the end of this post, I met yemanja hanging out on #gcompris. Descendent of Brazilians living in France, she explained to me the meaning of the word Gcompris. G is a playfull way to say J’ai, and compris means to understand. In other words, J´ai compris. :)