Now that we are approaching the festive season there will be a wealth of Christmas websites full of games and activities for children.
Both www.northpole.com and www.billybear4kids.com (click on holidays and then the Christmas link) are sites packed with activities, puzzles, Christmas and personalised stories, colouring pages and e-mail Santa pages.
Each site has good and not-so-good sections, so it is worthwhile spending a bit of time deciding on the best bits of each.
Writing to Santa online is a popular activity and you don't always need to have an e-mail address. Some sites respond immediately with an onscreen letter, while others send an automated response by e-mail. The sites above all have e-mail Santa sections; also try www.emailsanta.com to choose from a range of colourful stamps and include carrots for the reindeers!
There are many websites that have arts and crafts ideas, colouring pages, cards, printables and recipes for young children. DLTK (www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/xmas) has themed cards, gift tags and wrapping paper and the option to make customised Christmas cards. Kids Domain (www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/xmas) also has good ideas and links.
For the youngest children, practise some early mouse skills with activities such as decorating the tree or building a snowman at the Northumberland Grid for Learning (ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/ict/default.htm) There is also a simple online 'guess the present' story at www.lil-fingers.com/cgift/index.html.
Away from the web, try creating a series of line drawings such as crackers, angels or a decorated Christmas tree for children to colour using the fill tool in your art software. If there is a "stipple" brush tool, this is great for adding tinsel. If you think you are hopeless at drawing onscreen, try downloading some outline clipart, or draw on paper and then scan.
And don't forget to dress up your floor robot (Roamer or Pip) as a reindeer or Santa and use it to deliver presents around the classroom.
Online advent calendars are sparse and perhaps a little old for some youngsters but Dinosaur Designs has a reasonable version (www.dinosaurdesign.com). As the days progress towards Christmas use the calendar as a counting activity clicking each day of Christmas in the correct order but only up to the current date of course! This site also has some online activities which would particularly stretch the thinking skills of older children.
