Summer Survival Guide - Part 2 - Children's games

You don't have to hypnotise your children with a DVD player or electronic game to keep them happy.

A tray, some crayons and a few pieces of paper can keep them entertained - and exercise their creative muscles too. However, you'd be amazed what new ideas a trip to your local toy shop can uncover.

Even so, try to arrange a journey so you set off three to four hours after the kids have woken up - that way, they might sleep before you need to plunder your treasure chest of toys.

As with any games, encourage the children to take a break from playing and keep an eye on the world going by their window to avoid travel sickness.

Creative toys
Taking blank paper and a set of crayons is as simple as it gets.

Suggest the kids draw some of the things passing by if they're the right age, or just let them scribble, if not.

Alternatively, it doesn't cost the earth to upgrade to a colouring book, and sticker books can reward you with a decent stretch of silence as well.

For messy toddlers, a Crayola Colour Wonder set (from £4.99) is a great idea. The colourless ink pens only work on the special Colour Wonder paper - so no mess can appear on car seats, clothes or kids.

We felt a strong pang of nostalgia when we found Fuzzy Felt, but it's also something that could turn the upholstery of the car into a canvas without destroying it.

There are loads of other things to keep the more nimble fingers of older, budding Picassos happy, too.

We particularly liked the pretty mosaic kits for girls, and there's a world of choice from Lego and beyond if model-making is more the order of the day.

Something for nothing
You don't have to pay a penny for good old-fashioned entertainment.

I Spy is the first freebie fun that springs to mind, but what about 'I went to the shops...'?

Someone kicks off with something that begins with 'A', then the next person repeats and adds in something that begins with 'B' - so, 'I went to the shops and bought an apple and a banana' - and so on. Good fun.

Alternatively, work your way through the alphabet by spotting letters on number plates and signs, or see who can spot all the colours of the rainbows on cars.

There are loads of games that you can play with registration plates - make a sentence out of the letters, or see who can add up, or even multiply, the numbers together first.

Lorry-spotting is an old chestnut - set points for different hauliers, with more points for the more wild and wonderful.

Or just play the first to 20 Eddies (Eddie Stobart, of course).

If you've got a fun car game you'd like to suggest, click here.