Christmas Tic Tac Toe: Snowman vs Tree

How to play

Take turns placing your mark in a free square of the 3 × 3 board – the tree always goes first. The first to get three of their marks in a row – across, down or diagonally – wins. If every square is taken and nobody has three in a row, it is a draw – so play another round.

For teachers: put the game on the interactive whiteboard and play the whole class against Santa, the children taking turns to pick a square. Start on the easy level and try the hard one at the end.

Fun fact: tic tac toe has no winning strategy – when both sides play perfectly every game ends in a draw, so against the hard computer a draw is the best you can get.