Road games

It's seven o'clock on the morning of your first family summer road trip. The car is packed with clothes, toys and snacks for the drive. Your weary family members are in their seats, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes as you head for the coffee shop on your way out of town. As the kids slowly come out of their early-morning haze, you notice the toys aren't keeping them as quiet as you'd hoped. Dolls and figurines get discarded, colouring books are thrown to the floor and soon they become restless and irritable.

So how can you ensure your trip is as peaceful and headache-free as possible? Games that are both fun and challenging to your kids are your best bet to keep them busy -- and possibly quiet -- for hours. Here are a few games your kids can play with you or on their own that are sure to make the journey as much fun as the destination. All games are for ages four and up.

• License plates: Print off a list of all the provinces and states and have your children keep track of how many you see from which province or state. Add challenges like making phrases from the letters on the plates (ZXY would be Zelda Xylophones Yearly) or holding a contest to see who can guess how many plates from which area will be spotted.

• Counting games: Pick a make or colour of vehicle and keep track of how many you see. Give each person playing a different colour or make to spot and see who can reach 50 first. Add variations to make the game more challenging -- if you pass an auto repair shop and someone says "your blue cars are in the shop," then you're back at zero and must begin counting again.

• Word games: Put those pesky billboards to use by playing an alphabet game. Start at the letter A and find a word that uses that letter. Once you see the word, say it out loud, then move on to B. Make the game more challenging by saying the word can only have the letter once, or that it can't have the letters that come before or after your letter in the alphabet (the word for E couldn't have D or F in it, for instance).

How do you keep your kids occupied on road trips? Share your tips with other readers in our forums!