Online Christmas games

Online Christmas games are great fun for you and your kids to play - somehow there's just something extra special about playing a game when it's... Christmas!

And you can even build a snowman online these days, or make your own digital snowflake.

How about jumping around in the snow with a bunny and some bells... or opening up a digital Advent calendar and finding today's surprise - cool!

As we head into December, some of the big sites are still gearing up for the Christmas season, so let's see what's on offer:

Online Christmas games for kids

Christmas fun at CBeebies
The fun has begun in the CBeebies Christmas section! Christmas games, songs, coloring and storytime are all available, as well as this year's Advent Calendar. There are also some video clips, but depending on where you are in the world, they may not be available in your area.

But you can still play the games! Why not start with these:

• CBeebies Santa's Little Helper
• Tamba's Snow Race or
• Snowflake Skate

Curious George is ready for Christmas!
A Curious George Christmas game at PBS features Present Time, where your kids have to pick out presents, match pictures, dodge around the store, color in the wrapping paper... boy is this a busy game!

Kids will also enjoy watching a video preview of A Very Monkey Christmas.

UpToTen Advent Calendar
Starts December 1st, an online Advent calendar for kids - and you can check out more fun with Boowa and Kwala on the site.

• three online Christmas games
• one musical activity
• ...and one animation.

Orisinal - Winterbells
Winterbells from Orisinal is a lovely online Christmas game where your bunny jumps around falling bells, touching them to score.

Not so easy for very little ones, but I think this could be a game that you could play while your child sits on your lap, watching and listening to the wonderful music!

And if you want more from Orisinal, your child can Fly with Santa - it ain't easy, it moves fast, but your 6 year-olds and up will enjoy it! Another Orisinal classic game.

Pingu
It's off to the icy world of Pingo first of all, where you can help Pingu on the Fish Run, choose a jigsaw to complete, with either 4, 6 or 12 pieces to suit your child, or play a matching game with three levels of difficulty.

The new Crazy Sledging game is fun. Choose your character, level and sledge run, then zoom along at high speed to the finish!

Northpole
A nice selection of christmas online games for kids - have fun with the online coloring book, or trim a tree and build a snowman!

Elsewhere on the site you'll find a Disco Dancing Santa to enjoy, a "Good Deeds" calendar for your child to fill in and leave under the tree for Santa, as well as many other fun and educational activities.

Here are two build a snowman games:

Crayola Snowman Builder
Choose hats, noses, hands and outfits for your snowman, then print out and color your snowman.

Starfall's Make a Snowman
A fun, educational little game here from the fab Starfall site - spell the word "snowmen" - then dress up a snowman and listen to a snowman counting song!