Keeping the kids entertained

Are we there yet? An age-old cliché, but anyone with kids between about two and 21-years old will know perfectly well that it's a cliché for a reason; long journeys with children can be a complete nightmare.

We're here to help though, because after consultation with some primary school teachers well versed in the ways of keeping kids quiet on the road, we've compiled ten ways of making those journeys a whole lot easier.

The first five are things to buy and the second are games – none of which cost a penny. None of them involve gaffer tape either.

Things to buy:

Sony PSP / Nintendo DS

A handheld games system is perfect for entertaining older kids during the journey (and you during the Queen's Christmas message). Sony's PSP is available in two forms, the PSP 3000 Slim and Lite and the PSP Go!

The former is the latest version of the original PSP and costs around £140 , whereas the latter is a newer redesign that looks more modern but is around £200 and doesn't have a UMD slot, eliminating the possibility of buying cheap second-hand games.

The £100 Nintendo DS, generally regarded as a system for younger children or 'non-gamers', is less powerful and doesn't play video media, but has a wider variety of 'pick up and play' games for everyone, including the popular Brain Training.

Buy: Sony PSP 3000 from £132.99

iPhone / iPod Touch

Letting your kids play with your iPhone might be out of bounds, but the iTunes App Store has loads of games suitable for kids. Some are free and will melt the hours away. Good applications include Colouring Fun and Colouring Book: Christmas, which are educational too. There are memory-matching apps, simple math based ones, and spelling games too.

The iPhone / iPod Touch plays video as well, so load yours up with episodes of SpongeBob from the App Store.

Buy:iPod touch from £138.69

Portable DVD player

Once prohibitively expensive and laughably chunky, portable DVD players are now relatively cheap and, like everything else, getting smaller and more feature rich.

From around £80 you can pick up a decent branded player, or pay more for a sleeker, better system. Sony, Philips and Toshiba all do players from under £100 to over £200 depending on your need.

If you're really flash though, you could always buy an aftermarket in-car system fitted into your car seat headrests by a specialist. A local aftermarket dealer will do the work for a few hundred pounds, depending on the type of system you want and compatibility with your car.

Buy:Sony portable DVD player: From £116.76

20Q / Rubik's Cube

Portable games like the classic Rubik's Cube might work if your child's attention span is longer than average (because we're not kidding ourselves – most of the kids we know would rather use a Rubik's Cube as a weapon than solve it). A game like 20Q could work too. By asking you to think of anything, the spherical game then asks you up to 20 'yes/no' questions before guessing what you're thinking of. We've tried it a few times and are yet to beat it. It costs around £10.

Buy:Rubik's cube from £10.99

Magazines / books

Again, like the Rubik's Cube, this depends on the personalities of your children; some will roll up a magazine and terrorise their siblings with it. However, there are loads of kids' books and magazines based on children's TV to choose from.

CBeebies Magazine, for example, or Thomas the Tank Engine, or Charlie and Lola, or Bob the Builder, or The Simpsons... the list goes on.

Things to do:

Eye Spy

A classic. If you need us to go through it then there's every chance you've never been in a car in your life, in which case what are you doing here? (Thanks for coming though.)

The shopping game

This one involves making a list of stuff based on the alphabet, though not necessarily a shopping list. A person, let's call her Mrs. Brown, went to town, and on her way she found a (something beginning with A). The next person repeats the phrase, adding something beginning with B, the next person adds C, then D... you get the picture.

So, it's a memory game as well as a fun way of getting the kids to use their imaginations. The letters X and Z are always good too – if your family is smart enough to get that far.

Spot the thing

Planning is key here. Before you leave, write a list of things that you know you'll spot on the journey, some easy, some obscure. Give one list to each child and get them to tick off the things as they see them. Start with things like a road sign and a bus, and depending on how keen you think your kids will be you can also include weird stuff like a Bailey Beachcomber Club Pageant caravan, or a 1994 SEAT Marbella.

As an aside, this writer knows someone who wishes to remain anonymous – let's call that person 'Mrs. N' - who as a child was kept quiet for hours when asked to "look out for a haggis." If your offspring are that easily pleased, feel free to try it.

Number plate game

There are a few number plate based games, like spotting the oldest/newest car you can and making a contest out of who sees it first. Our favourite, however, is asking the kids to make a phrase out of the last three letters on any given number plate. The best one wins, or you can see how many phrases can be made, with the first to get stumped the loser.

Sing!

A good old singsong will either ease the time by like the grains in an hourglass, or be the most irritating thing you can possibly think of. That's your call. Obviously you can blast through all the classic lullabies and kids songs, like Bah Bah Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle and Run to the Hills by Iron Maiden. Or there are loads of CD you can buy cheaply. And if, like us, your head is spinning with the theme music for kids' TV shows, you could try singing them too. Peppa Pig is an easy one: its only two words are 'Peppa' and 'Pig'.