‘Twas three weeks before Christmas and all through the land
all the children were playing with Androids in hand.
For Google again is in our good graces
with its Santa Tracker, puzzles and races.
Follow Saint Nick’s long journey with your own Google Map
Or learn how to code and build your own app
There are games, quizzes, and puzzles galore
So fun and so techy, the kids will scream, “more!”
For upon the first light of every new day
Google unwraps gifts for the children to play
On tablets, on smartphones, on Nexus, on Chromecast
The Yuletide fun will make the time fly fast
Head to the Play Store, get your download on
'Fore the holiday season has come and gone
Jolly Santa shall surely exclaim with a groan,
Merry Christmas to all, now turn off that phone!
Google is ramping up its annual Santa Tracker app, adding in a ton of games, puzzles, kid-friendly coding lessons, and of course real-time updates when Santa travels the globe on Christmas Eve.
There are new activities to check out each day, which you can unlock on Google’s Advent Calendar. The activities are diverse, including a map with write-ups of how different nations celebrate Christmas. It’s very child friendly, with no ads or external links to anything worrisome.
The Santa Tracker app also supports the Chromecast (presumably casting to the Nexus Player also) and Android Wear for real-time updates about Santa’s progress on your wrist.
Google also built a Chrome extension if you want one-click access to all the fun on your browser.
The story behind the story: Google has been tracking Santa for a while, and each year it adds in more Christmas cheer. For the first time it’s also branching out into Chromecast, Android Wear, and Android TV, a not-too-subtle suggestion about what you should put on your shopping list.
This story, "Google Santa Tracker returns with gaming, puzzles, and learn-to-code goodies" was originally published by Greenbot.