Google's new Santa Tracker teaches kids coding skills

It's that time of the year — Google has launched its Santa Tracker! It's one of the more attractive Santa Tracker pages we've seen, and it is packed full of content to keep the kids (and adults) entertained. Those who have used Google's past trackers will be familiar with the page — it is wintery and styled after Santa and other Christmas elements, and features interactive elements related to the holiday, as well as a timer counting down the days, hours, and minutes before Christmas.

The website will be up until Christmas, and features a section for every day of December. As we're only on Day 1, only one interactive element is live at this point. The second will go live tomorrow, and the third on December 3, etc. As well, there's a section for learning about holiday traditions, a section for playing games, and also a "Code Lab".

The Code Lab is the most interesting aspect of the newest Santa Tracker — it uses fun Christmas animations and imagery to teach kids very basic coding skills. It starts off with assembling small characters, then presents blocks with commands and a related animated board where the code is shown in action, and progresses from there.

The Code Lab points users to Google's "Made with Code" website, which presents things made possible with coding. Santa Tracker also presents information on a bunch of charities under its "Season of Giving," including things like SolarAid, Jane Goodall Institute, Nature Conservatory, and more.