My kids are home from school today as this is the first day of their winter vacation. The level of anticipation for Santa’s arrival is quite high (my kids are five and six). One of the things they may do today is track Santa and play some Santa-themed games on Google’s Santa Tracker website. 

One of the many games and activities available on Google’s Santa Tracker website is the Santa Tracker Code Lab. Santa Tracker Code Lab has fourteen levels that kids can work through as they apply some basic programming concepts. The Santa Tracker Code Lab starts with simple skills like matching pieces to an outline before moving into programming a full animation with logic blocks similar to those that you might find in Scratch. Don’t let the term “programming” make you think that the activities are too techy for you. My five and six year old daughters can do them. 

NORAD also has a Santa Tracker website and mobile apps that you and your kids can use to track Santa’s progress on Christmas Eve. The site includes an interactive map of Santa-themed traditions around the world. I’ll be exploring that map with my kids.