miniclip.com
'Probably outlawed by the League against Cruel Sports but the aim is to throw penguins as high as you can.'

Well, it wasn’t a white Christmas (though I did get a bit of snow in the New Year up North', and there seems to be rain everywhere now – so let’s take our minds of it and play online snow games!

All games are free downloads or free to view online, and need the minimum of equipment. Some games require your browser to have a 'plug in' for Shockwave, Flash or Java.

To play a game, simply click on its name. If you are a parent, we advise you to try the game and the site it's on first before letting your kids play them, to make sure you're happy. Don't forget, you can also find great games for kids at Christian Aid's Global Gang website

When downloading games from the Internet, don't forget to keep your anti-virus and anti-spyware software up to date.

Snowman Stacker
Create a stack of snowballs by aiming with the mouse, holding down the mouse button to get the strength you need and then letting go. When you think it’s as high as it will go, save it, because a badly aimed snowball will knock the whole lot down).

Yeti Sports Throw
Probably outlawed by the League against Cruel Sports, but… the aim is to throw penguins as high as you can, helped by the odd bounce off walruses (walri?) Click to p-p-pick up a penguin, click to set it swinging, and then click again to throw.

Snow Flake
Remember cutting up pieces of paper to make snowflakes? Now you can do it virtually – use your mouse as the scissors and see what happens.

Ski Free
Rarely for this column, this one is a download. Use your mouse to guide the skier downhill, avoiding the Abominable Snow Monster. Look out for the hidden Easter Eggs.

Dog in the snow jigsaw
Not done enough jigsaws at Christmas – have a go at Charlie in the Snow. Move the pieces around with your mouse; when you’ve got the right pieces in line, they will lock together.

Snow-Storm
Snow has covered the car park – it’s your job to get it clear. Left and right arrows turn the snow plough round and up and down push the snow. Once a pile is a certain size you can’t add to it but you can push it. Once you’ve cleared your target (percentage in the top left corner), the cup of tea symbol appears – click on that and you can move to the next car park.

3D Snowfight
A 3-dimensional snow fight. Use the arrow keys to move, Ctrl to throw a snowball, space to duck or reload with snow, and shift to jump. You can even make it foggy by changing the settings.

Snow Drift
You are a yeti! Use your left and right arrows to move, up to jump, and down to slide. Knock over penguins and monsters as you slide (you can’t slide on snow) but don’t fall into the depths.

Drop Off
In this snowboarding game, use your arrow keys to flip or spin, and select tricks. I died very horribly…

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