Parents are truly in the thick of the holidays at this point, and for those understandably still scrambling to put the final touches on the holiday magic, the end of the season likely can’t come soon enough. As you get all the fixings ready for a hearty meal and wrap gifts until your fingers are sore, finding activities to keep the little ones entertained is high on our to-do list. Well, this year, Google is here to make it a little easier with a fun Santa Tracker. While the Santa Tracker has run for some time, the company upgraded its tracker to include kid-friendly multiplayer and educational games and also other fun tools.
Ahead of the evening when Santa travels around the world, Google offers “holiday fun for the whole family” with a new hub for games and activities before switching to the tracker on Christmas Eve.
“Santa’s Village is the perfect place for families to celebrate the season,” Google writes. “You’ll find all your favorite characters together with fun, educational and interactive activities for every age.”
There are various games for kids of all ages, and adults will likely have fun while learning something new, too.
Some of the games in Google’s Santa’s Village include:
Learn to code with Santa's Elves
- Code Lab, a coding game that helps an elf find lost presents in a forest
- Code Boogie, a coding game that helps elves dance their elf-butts off
Discovering holidays around the world
- Kids can learn holiday traditions worldwide — like what they do from Canada to Australia on a cool mapped globe
- Translations, where kids can learn how to say seasonal greetings in different languages
- Map Quizzes, to see just where Santa might be
- Holiday Traditions Quizzes, to see just how much you know about different holidays
Get inspired and create something
- Santa's Canvas, where you can paint a “canvas” online
- Snowbox, for those minecraft fiends who want to create their own snowbox
- Elf Maker — where kids can build their own elf “head to toe” and “make sure it looks elftastic”
- Santa Selfie, where kids get to give Santa a makeover in a barbershop
Come together for family time
- Ollie Under the Sea, a story about a narwhal & undersea holiday
- Elf Car, a short video where you watch what it’s like to drive in a (super packed) elf car through the streets of the North Pole
- Santa's Takeoff, where you watch Santa (and the team) get ready for his big job in just a few short days!
Then, on December 24th, Santa’s Village will transform into a fun Santa tracking, keeping tabs on where he and his reindeer are in the world, and the list above just shows a few of the awesome games, videos, and experiences on offer for the whole family.
Visit Google's Santa's Village to play the sweet, cute games and tune into the tracker.