For a stress free ride return to family car games this summer

As parents set off with their offspring on long car journeys this summer, it my pay well to remember those car games you used to play, or perhaps have never played before.

swiftcover.com, the ‘stress free' online car insurers - has come up with the "Top Ten Definitive Car Games" to keep the kids in the back seat happy.

1. The Name Game
The first player names a town in the UK, and the following player names a town beginning with the last letter of that name e.g. London -> Norwich -> Harrogate etc. Children can use road maps and expand on to other countries. Parents can tell children where the towns are located, and children can even test them (if they're using an Atlas). Otherwise players can have to name where the town the previous player named is found. Excellent for improving geography skills.

2. Guessing Game
Players pick a famous person and other contestants have to find out who the person is by asking a series of yes/no questions. If they guess wrong they lose (or they have a limited number of guesses).

3. Description Game
Players form two teams. Each person writes down a couple of names/objects on small pieces of paper, folds them up and places them in a hat/container where they are all mixed up. Players then pick out a paper and have 30 seconds to describe, without using proper nouns, the object/person. Teams score points for guessing correctly within the time limit, otherwise it passes over to the other team.

4. Memory Game
Player 1 starts a sentence including a noun beginning with the first letter of the alphabet. Player 2 then has to extend that sentence and include a noun beginning with the second letter of the alphabet e.g. ‘Yesterday I saw a sea anemone...when I was at the beach...looking for coral' etc. Each player has to start the sentence from the beginning, and the first person to forget part of the phrase loses. The game can be made simpler by being put in list form e.g. ‘Yesterday at the beach I saw a sea anemone, a banana boat, a single cloud' etc.

5. Spot the Car Game
The children pick a colour/brand of car or type of vehicle and have to spot a given number of that object. The first to reach the given number wins. Alternatively, all players can look out for the same criteria.

6. Who's Next Door?
When stuck in a traffic jam make up stories about the person/people in the car stuck next to you. Give them names, professions, ages, destinations etc.

7. Number Plate Maths
Children add/divide/multiply/subtract the numbers on number plates. Operations can also be combined to make the game more complicated.

8. Map reading
Give children the road map so they can follow the journey, or make up a trip and let them plan it for you. You can also use foreign road maps.

9. Car Cricket
Make a list of different car brands and accord them all different scores depending on how common/rare they are e.g. Ford and Vauxhall - 1 point; Rolls Royce, Lotus and Lamborghini - 10 points. Children then add up the points of all the cars they see, and the child with the highest score wins.

10. Shush
Children can't speak until they identify a certain object e.g. a yellow car.

Tina Shortle, marketing director, swiftcover.com said: "The philosophy of swiftcover.com is all about making our customers lives easier. With simple car games, a car journey from hell could potentially be quite fun. We hope these games will reduce holiday stress this summer!"