Christmas Games for Kids

1. 

   1. Christmas Ornaments Jigsaw Puzzles

   Festive ornament pictures split into jigsaw pieces you drag into place. There is no clock, so it works as a sit-down puzzle rather than a race.

2. 

   2. Christmas Hexa Puzzle

   Fit hexagon blocks onto a snowy board to clear rows. There is no timer, which makes it a good choice for a quiet afternoon in December.

3. 

   3. Mission Santa: Deliver the Gifts

   Get the presents to the right houses before time runs out. Simple controls and a goal children understand within seconds of starting.

4. 

   4. Christmas Bridge Runner

   Collect blocks, build a bridge and keep running across the gaps. A festive coat of paint on the bridge-runner format that turns up across a lot of arcade games.

5. 

   5. DIY Ugly Christmas Sweater

   Design a deliberately over-the-top holiday jumper - choose the pattern, the colours and the decorations, then dress the character in it.

6. 

   6. Christmas Onet Connect

   Match pairs of festive tiles by linking them with a clear path across the board. It gets trickier as the tiles thin out.

The page pulls together holiday jigsaws and tile-matching puzzles, gift-delivery runs, winter dress-up and makeover games, festive cooking and a fair number of snowy arcade games.

Christmas games for kids come into their own at exactly the moments you need them — a dark December afternoon, the long wait before dinner, or a quiet half hour while the house is busy. Open the page, tap a game and it starts on the family tablet, a laptop or a phone without installing anything.

What to play together on Christmas Eve

The jigsaws and tile-matching puzzles are the easiest ones to play as a pair, because there is no clock and no reason to rush — one person spots the piece, the other places it. On a tablet propped on the table they work well for a parent and child side by side.

For something noisier, the gift-delivery and bridge-runner games make good take-turns games: each run is short, so passing the device around after every attempt keeps everyone involved.

Puzzles, dress-up or Santa runs — picking a lane

Holiday collections get big and repetitive quickly, so it helps to decide the type before you scroll. Puzzles are the calm end: jigsaws, hexagon boards, tile connects and spot-the-difference. Dress-up and makeover games are about choosing outfits and decorating, with no way to lose. Santa runs and arcade games are the fast end, built around a countdown.

Cooking games sit slightly apart — they follow a recipe step by step, which suits children who like instructions and a tidy result at the end.