Google's Santa Tracker welcomes in the most wonderful time of the year
'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring ... because they were all staring at their phones tracking Santa's location on Google.
For 12 years now, an entire generation of excited kids have spent Christmas Eve with their eyes glued to the computer watching Santa Claus circle the globe. Over the past few holiday seasons, Google has pulled out all the stops for an interactive holiday experience that runs from the start of the month until Christmas Eve.
Every day, a new activity goes live in Santa's Village along with the countdown to the big sleigh ride. These experiences range from games that teach basic coding skills, geography and languages along with introductions to charitable educational organizations.
New activities for 2016 include customizable Snowflake Cards to share with friends and web games called Penguin Dash, Wrap Battle and Reindeer Runner.
Also debuting is an educator resource page with ideas and lesson plans for teachers, Android-app exclusive games and integration with Google Assistant — just ask Google Home or Pixel "Where is Santa?" and according to the page, "the answer may surprise you."
With an app, a Chrome plug-in, a Maps feature and of course the home base on the Santa's Village page, we're going to know exactly where the big man in red is this year. Just be sure to keep yourself on the nice side of the spectrum until Christmas Eve, or the one place you won't be seeing Santa is coming down your own chimney.
Topics Google
Brett Williams is a Tech Reporter at Mashable. He writes about tech news, trends and other tangentially related topics with a particular interest in wearables and exercise tech. Prior to Mashable, he wrote for Inked Magazine and Thrillist. Brett's work has also appeared on Fusion and AskMen, to name a few. You can follow Brett on Twitter @bdwilliams910.
