'Put your feet up and treat yourself to eleven Christmas games.'

This month, Suzanne Elvidge looks ten online Christmas 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.

Once the last window on the Advent calendar is opened, the turkey is thawed and in the oven, the presents are wrapped, the Christmas Quizaid event has been staged, and the sprouts have been boiling for weeks, put your feet up and treat yourself to ten (actually eleven) Christmas games (plus an extra hidden in a link). Warning – a lot of very annoying music will follow…

Gobbler
Get the turkey across the farmyard, avoiding the sheep, llamas, molehills, cows, pigs, foxes and tractors to the safety of the sheds. When all the sheds are full, go on to the next level. Join the Facebook group if you enjoyed this one!

Christmas Wrapped
Beat the clock and figure out which one is your wrapped present by matching the shape with the picture at the top. It gets harder as you go along.

Adventure Elf
The penguins have stolen all of Father Christmas’s gifts. Help Oliver Elf to reclaim the stolen presents. Use left and right arrows to run and space to jump. Watch out for yellow snow (eww), cracked ice and reindeer poo, as well as bear traps, jack in the boxes and fruitcakes. A Christmas pickle will make you invincible for a little while (bet you thought it was the kind you have with cold meat for Boxing Day supper).

Attack of the Mutant Artificial Trees
The artificial trees have mutated and are sucking the spirit out of Christmas. Aim with your cursor and click to throw a snowball and hit as many of the trees as you can, but mind the elves. Warning – very bad puns on the opening screen. To find a real Christmas tree, go to the Forestry Commission website.

Santa Caught Christmas
Catch the presents, and then drop them into the sleigh by moving to the far right of the screen. Use left and right arrows to move, and space to jump. Too many presents will slow Father Christmas down.

Santa’s Chimney Trouble
It’s Christmas Eve, but your chimney isn’t connected to your fireplace – how will Father Christmas deliver your presents? Use the cursor to place the current piece of chimney. The picture in the top right of the screen shows you what is coming next. To destroy a block, click on the bulldozer icon. Don’t let Father Christmas crawl out of the end of the chimney before you are finished.

Santa’s Cannon
Deliver presents using Santa’s cannon. Click on a place to deliver the presents, see what the child wants, select the right toy, move the slider to aim the cannon in the right direction, hold the red button to get the cursor in the right place and let go to deliver the present. Sounds more complicated than it is, honest.

Gift Worms
The worms are trying to run away with the presents – clicking on a worm will make it let go. Avoid the worms holding coal. Harder than it looks! Want to give someone worms for Christmas? Christian Aid’s Presentaid can help you out.

Gift Lander
Land the gifts gently on the chimney pots. Use the left and right arrows to fire the left and right thrusters, and the up arrow to fire the main thruster.

Present Panic
A sprite has stolen the Christmas presents. Use the left and right arrow to catch the presents, and avoid the safes. Running into alarm clocks gives you extra time.

An extra game…

Attack of the Sprouts
I know this is in the Advent Calendar as well, but it makes me laugh. Use the left and right arrows to punch the sprouts away. Watch the flying ducks.

And my annual Christmas present to you…

NORAD Tracks Santa

Begun in 1955 when NORAD’s phone number appeared in the paper by mistake, the organisation has tracked Father Christmas every year since. Visit the site in the run up to Christmas (it goes live on 1 December), but keep a close eye on Christmas Eve and see how Father Christmas is doing (you’ll need to download Google Earth). The live video feeds begin 11 am GMT.

Suzanne Elvidge is a freelance writer and Surefish Ethical Living Editor

Links

• Other games

• surefish.co.uk culture section index