IT is that time of year again when mums and dads head off on car journeys and get the inevitable "I'm bored" protestations from the back seat.

There is nothing more frustrating than hearing the immortal question "are we nearly there?" as St Peter's Way is reached on the way to Torquay.

But help is at hand and there are a few simple games that can ease the boredom and lead to a far less stressful journey for all the family.

And the great news is that they do not cost a penny.

CSMA, the UKs largest private home, leisure and motoring organisation, has come up with a suggested list of games for children to play in the car, leaving parents free to negotiate the traffic.

Some of the games can be played alone but others require a little help.

20 QUESTIONS. One person thinks of something that falls under the category of animal, vegetable or mineral and tells the other player which group it is in. The players then take turns asking questions that have a yes or no answer. If a person guesses it before 20 questions is up then they are the winner.

LORRY LOOK-OUT. Each player chooses a colour and then gets a point for every lorry, or car, they see in their chosen colour. The game can be played until one player has reached the set target.

NUMBER PLATE BINGO. Start by writing the letters of the alphabet on a piece of paper. Then each player looks out of the window and sees which letters of the alphabet he can see on the number plates of nearby cars. You then check off the letters on the bingo card as they are found on the number plates. If you want the game to last a bit longer, or you want to make it more challenging for older children, then the child has to find the letters in sequence and cannot cross off a D until he has found A, B and C first.

GEOGRAPHY. Someone starts by naming a country, such as Japan. The next person must name a country with a name beginning with the last letter of the previous country. In this case Japan ends with an N so a country beginning with N must be named. You could also do football teams, film stars, food, just about anything you want.

Gail Fee, marketing director of CSMA, the Civil Service Motoring Association, said: "Travelling long distances can be a very stressful experience, particularly when you have children in the car who get bored very easily. Hopefully these suggestions will go a long way to help solve the problem.

The group's website can be contacted on www.csma.uk.com for further hints and tips and more games to play on car journeys. For further information on becoming a member ring 0800 669944.