6 Cool Christmas Games for Kids
It’s not hard to get your kids into the Christmas spirit. What can be a little tricky, though, is keeping them entertained during holiday celebrations involving long meals and conversations fueled by too much egg nog. Your kids have, after all, had to wait patiently for their own personal wish lists to be fulfilled. To help you give your kids the best Christmas ever, MainStreet rounded up a few ways to keep them entertained while they wait for Santa. Photo Credit: Just Taken Pics
How can your kids see what Santa is up to? North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the U.S.-Canadian military organization responsible for aerospace and maritime defense, tracks his journey in real-time every Christmas Eve. It’s done so since 1955, after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement for children to call Santa misprinted the telephone number and inadvertently connected them to the then-commander in chief’s operations hotline. Since then, NORAD employees, who in a rather fortuitous turn of events actually do have access to the technology that could locate Old Saint Nick, have volunteered their time to personally respond to phone calls and e-mails from children around the world. Kids can also track Santa over the Internet via NORAD’s Santa Cam network, a live video feed. Visit the organization’s Santa-centric website to check out additional features. Photo Credit: search-engine-land
Kids can play Santa, Rudolph, Hermey the Elf or Clarice in this DVD board game that’s set in the world of the beloved Christmas cartoon classic. Kids 6 and up are charged with rounding up lost Misfit toys while avoiding Bumble, the Abominable Snowman. To do it, they must play puzzle games and answer questions about the original cartoon. Get the board game for a steal on Amazon.com, where it’s going for $6.35. Photo Credit: clip words
Keep your kids entertained by having them do a holiday-themed jigsaw puzzle. Ravensberger offers a wide variety of puzzles to fit the bill, including the 240-piece Santa and His Reindeer three-dimensional puzzleball, designed for kids 10 and over, and retailing for $23.36 online. There’s also a 100-piece standard jigsaw puzzle for kids 6 or older that shows angels baking treats in front of a Christmas tree. Buy yours on Amazon for $11.99. Photo Credit: Grand Communications
Let the kids show off their artistic sides by organizing a craft project. The craft site Kaboose offers instructions for several art projects to complete at home, including a paper bag reindeer, a snowman made of glue, and felt stockings to hang on your mantle. Photo Credit: brooklyn
Parents interested in providing entertainment at little to no extra cost should stick to the basics. One way to do that is to organize a Christmas treasure hunt, where the organizer hides a Christmas treat (an ornament for the tree, or a cache of candy canes, e.g.) somewhere in the house that kids can only find by following a series of clues. Party-planning website Peppers and Pollywogs actually has sample clues online that feature traditional holiday items (Christmas tree, wreath, nativity set, etc.) and locations. You’ll keep the holiday hunt cheap with very little legwork. Photo Credit: whiteafrican
Kids can play this holiday themed version of hot potato by passing around a multi-layered parcel with a small gift inside each layer. When the music stops, whoever is holding the gift ball gets to unwrap a layer and collect a trinket! The game continues until the last present has successfully been unwrapped. Photo Credit: Micknfrenzie
MainStreet tapped families around the country to share their wonderfully wacky holiday traditions. Get inspired! Photo Credit: miss pupik
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