Online Christmas Games

With kids in danger of getting alternately over-excited and bored at this time of year, I thought I would put together a collection of the very best Christmas-themed games to keep them happy, calm and quiet while passing the time until the big day. The games here are aimed at young children (age 3-11), although older kids might enjoy them too.

I've tried to exclude games which produce pop-up windows or excessive advertising. For most of the games you will need to have Flash installed.

I hope that you and your children enjoy playing these games as much as I do!

Tweenies Christmas Tree

Help the Tweenies to decorate their Christmas tree. A very simple game for little ones. Click each decoration to pick it up, then click again on the tree to decorate it. When you have hung all the decorations on the tree, you can click on the Tweenies' presents to open them then print out your finished scene. (BBC - CBeebies)

Santa's Little Helper

Use the up and down arrow keys to help Santa's Little Helper to collect all the presents. You have to move to the end of the right conveyor belt and catch the present in Santa's sack. If you miss, the present disappears. See how many presents you can catch in one minute. (CBeebies)

Advent Calendar

Move your mouse around to find the hidden numbers, then click to start a game. Games include online coloring, catching presents in the chimney and flinging for fish although I'm not sure what fish have got to do with Christmas. (KentEd)

Snowflake Skater

Enter your name and pick a character to start the game. You can choose to use your mouse or the arrow keys to control the skater. Try to avoid the snowmen and the penguins as you skate around the track. (CBeebies)

Christmas Puzzles

Click to select a Christmas puzzle, then you can choose to use 6, 12, 25 or 40 pieces. There are lots of puzzles available, including Rudolf, decorating the tree, snowmen, penguins and Santa. (TheKidzPage)

Snowstorm

This deceptively named game is actually quite calm and gentle. Use the arrow keys to move each snowflake to the matching stack. There are three levels to choose from. (CBeebies - Balamory)

Snowboard

Use the left and right arrow keys to guide Tamba the snowboarder through the trees decorated with the correct color. Make sure you listen to the instructions so you know which color to aim at, and avoid the wrong colors. Great game for little ones. (BBC)

Dress the Snowman

Dress the snowman and read along with the story - click on a word and it will be sounded out for you. This is a fun activity for children who are learning to read. It ends with a snowman song and you can print out the snowman you have made. (Starfall)

Christmas Story

Read the traditional Christmas story. There are lots of other activities relating to the Christmas story, such as a pairs game, story sequencing, quizzes, make a picture and jigsaw puzzles. (NGfL Cymru)