Track Santa with Your Kids and Also Get Them Coding with Elves

Children all over the world are anxiously waiting for Santa Claus and his reindeer to arrive, and NORAD is helping them follow Santa’s route.

Screenshot/NORADNORAD is once again tracking Santa’s journey around the world as he delivers presents to children everywhere.

“But before it’s quite time for that Christmas Eve snooze, you get to check on Santa, and there’s nothing to lose!” Google’s Santa Tracker is a more colorful cartoon representation while NORAD shows a more life-like avatar of Santa with his reindeer galloping in the sky.

Trackers worldwide can speak with a live phone operator to inquire as to Santa’s whereabouts by dialing the toll-free number 1-877-Hi-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) or by sending an email to [email protected].

It developed into a tradition where volunteers staff call centres on Christmas Eve and take around 70,000 phone calls each year from 200 countries.

NORAD has video of Santa flying all over the world. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through operations hotline for the commander of the Continental Air Defense Command. Volunteers also will share Santa’s location on Facebook and Twitter. It started back in 1955, when a local Sears store in Colorado Springs printed a newspaper ad, inviting kids to call a certain phone number and talk to Santa.

But the children can not get the question of the night out of their minds: When will Santa Claus get here?

“Throughout the year, we can be pretty cynical”, Matthew Quinlan, marketing director for Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, said in a blog post.

Separately, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is marking its 60th year of tracking St. Nicholas as he makes his annual worldwide flight. Google’s Santa Tracker app tracks Santa and also has interactive games. But one day a year, NORAD turns its watch onto one very popular air traveler.