Elmo Games for Children

Board Games

• Children race to reach the top step at 123 Sesame Street and deliver three presents in Milton Bradley's "Elmo's Birthday Game," recommended for ages 3 and up. Players move their game-pieces along a colored path and an Elmo game-piece along a footprint path. Once Elmo reaches the bottom step of the stairway, the player whose piece reaches the top step and delivers all three presents first wins.

  Other Elmo-themed board games include Cardinal's "Don't Tickle Elmo," which challenges kids to put plastic feathers into game-board holes without setting off a laughing alarm, and "Giggling Elmo's Hot Tomato Game," in which kids pass a plush, laughing tomato-shaped Elmo around a circle.

Computer/Video Games

• Children practice food identification, sorting and sound recognition in Sesame Workshop's "Sesame Street: Elmo's World -- Pets, Food &Telephones," available for the PC. Tasks include identifying pictures of foods, sorting pets by various characteristics and using sounds to guide Telly to Elmo's playhouse.

  Children work on critical-thinking, problem-solving, and pattern- and sound-recognition skills in "Sesame Street: Elmo's World -- Shoes, Bugs &Farms." In this PC game, children listen to animal sounds and locate corresponding animals at Old MacDonald's Farm; they also guide an ant through a maze and use patterns to solve mysteries.

  Elmo and Zoe take children on a search for animals in Warner Bros. Interactive's "Sesame Street: Elmo's A-to-Zoo Adventure -- The Video Game," available for the Nintendo DS, Wii and PC platforms. Players explore the Arctic, an aquarium, a forest, a jungle and a savanna as they identify letters and sounds and work on literacy and word-family skills.

Online Games

• The official "Sesame Street" site hosts a number of Elmo games for children. In "Counting with Elmo," kids click objects to count and participate in a count-a-long. Kids choose the proper attire for Elmo to wear in "Dress Elmo For Fall," selecting his top, bottom and shoes. Players learn about firefighting in "Elmo's Fire Safety." In this game, children move Elmo to safety after a fire starts, dress Elmo as a firefighter and learn how firefighting equipment works. Players make lemonade and sell it at the community market in "Elmo and Grover's Lemonade Stand" and help Elmo sort clothing in "The Laundry Game."

Party Games

• Elmo-themed parties let children play games based on Elmo and his pet goldfish Dorothy. For "Fill Dorothy's Fishbowl," kids divide into two teams and line up near a bucket of water. The first player in each line fills his cup with water, races to an empty fishbowl 15 feet away and pours the water into the fishbowl. Upon returning to the starting line, the first player tags the next player, who repeats the actions of the first player. The first team to fill its fishbowl wins the relay.

  For an Elmo spin on a classic kids' game, children "Pin the Nose on Elmo." While blindfolded, kids take turns walking to an Elmo picture and putting orange-construction-paper noses on Elmo. The child landing her nose closest to the correct spot wins.