If the movies are to be believed, road trips are either a complete disaster or the best fun you can have in your life. The reality of a long journey is finding ways to combat the boredom. Travelling with young children can be particularly trying and one way to keep them happy is to play car games.

Toddlers and very young children will hopefully sleep for a fair proportion of the trip and be entertained by cheerful songs like The Wheels on The Bus. Teenagers tend to be attached to their phones listening to the latest music and keeping up with social media. Somewhere in the middle there is a lot of boredom and the inevitable Are We There Yet every five minutes.

There are a number of ways to entertain the children and keep them busy on your journey. If there is plenty to see along the route make a long list of things for each child and they can check off things they see. Whoever sees most wins a small prize. Keep in mind where you are driving as Seattle might not have too many cows and you will have trouble spotting the Space Needle in Texas.

You can help your children learn their multiplication tables with a number game. Take turns saying the next number in a sequence or count from one to a hundred but replace the numbers that divide by four with a funny word. Decide which tables are appropriate for the age of the children. Maybe the youngest says a word on all the fives and the eldest has to say another word for prime numbers. There can be many ways to keep score or simply see how far from the start you can get.

Name that tune is a popular game to play and you do not need a piano or music. Hum the start of a tune and see who guesses quickest. This can be extremely funny and almost impossible if the person humming is not very musical. Twist things around and try TV show themes or movie music. The possibilities are endless.

Journeys on the freeway can be particularly dull. Miles and miles of road and cars and little else to see. Pick a color that is unusual like pink or orange and the first person to spot a vehicle that color gets to set the next thing to look for. It might be a RV or cow in a field depending on where you are driving.

On busy holidays and when weather is bad you may find yourself stuck in traffic. On the freeway you can look out for a person wearing glasses or with red hair. Again, the person who spots first gets to pick the next thing to look for. Alternately each have a different thing to spot and whoever gets to ten first wins.

Long journeys do not have to be dull. Make up things to play with the children and help them learn at the same time. Keep everyone entertained and enjoy the ride.