PopCap games, the studio behind such cult favorites as Plants VS Zombies, Bejeweled and Chuzzle announced today that they’re kicking off an auction to benefit children’s charities in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Up for grabs are original artwork, personalized sketches and one of a kind items, and all of the proceeds go to the Starlight Children’s Foundation in the United States and SpecialEffect in the United Kingdom.

“This auction is our way of letting consumers peek behind the creativity curtain at PopCap, but more than that, it’s a wonderful opportunity for us and fans of our games to support children in need,” said Ben Rotholtz, Vice President of Marketing for PopCap Games. “Every piece in the auction is unique and each reflects a facet of PopCap’s history in a whimsical way.”

PopCap is no stranger to the giving; since the company’s founding, the company has donated money and games totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars to support children’s charities including Make-a-Wish Foundation, Child’s Play, Children in Need, Childhaven, Drawing Dreams Foundation, and Art with Heart, among others.  Popcap also included the below video to promote the auction.

“PopCap’s games are well known to provide therapeutic effects to adults and children alike, but now consumers have the opportunity to take home a tangible piece of PopCap happiness,” said Elaine Siver of Starlight Children’s Foundation. “Thanks to PopCap’s support, we will raise a lot of awareness and thousands of children will continue to be helped given our mission at Starlight Foundation.”

The auction can be found here and Blast encourages its readers to bid and donate generously.

Android owners rejoice! PopCap has finally detailed the release of Plants VS Zombie and Chuzzle on the operating system; and even more — they’ll be free. Well, for a day.

The two games will be released exclusively via the Amazon Android Marketplace (which itself is free) and will be free to download the first day of availability. Chuzzle hits the service tomorrow and will be exclusive until May 30.

PopCap hasn’t released any specifics about when Plants VS Zombies would be hitting the service, but when it does, expect a very sharp drop in productivity from this proud Android owning Editor.

Later this month, you’ll be able to Peggle to your little heart’s content — if you can turn away from Spore for 10 seconds.

Peggle Mobile, lanching soon for cell phones in North America and parts of Europe, promises the same gaming experience on a smaller screen, PopCap Games said in‚ a statement Friday.

Peggle has been a hugely popular casual title. Since its first introduction in March 2007, Peggle has been downloaded more than 20 million times.

“Peggle combines elements of pinball, pool and pachinko to create a completely different kind of game experience. The game challenges players to use skill, strategy and luck to clear progressively more difficult levels of orange pegs by firing a small silver ball from the top of the screen,” PopCap says of its title. “Stationary and moving obstacles along with numerous power-ups and special effects combine with dynamically-assigned peg colors to make each level unique every time it’s played.”