Riding out the holiday

The cool, blue sea beckons, but before we get to that long-awaited holiday, many of us have the dreaded car journey to contend with.

You may be lucky enough to have DVD players and games consoles to keep back-seat travellers occupied. If not, Andrea Nagel and Pearl Boshomane have compiled activities to help make car journeys part of the holiday.

SING-A-LONGS

SEE that family with smiles on their faces in the next lane, mouths open in unison, heads gleefully nodding along?

They must be singing their way along the highway, belting out a tune across the byways and singing their way into the sunset.

Family sing-a-longs are one of the best ways to entertain and bond with the children on long car journeys.

Cross cultural boundaries with these classics:

THE NATIONAL ANTHEM

The car is one of the best places to practise your national pride for the next big sports outing and to get the whole family singing in unison. It can also spark a great conversation with your children about how different cultures can work together to produce something great.

THULA BABA

If your car journey needs a bit of calming down, one of South Africa's best-loved lullabies can do wonders and get everyone singing along. The melody is soft and gentle and, if you're lucky, might even lull the young ones to sleep.

ROW YOUR BOAT

This well-known English nursery rhyme is often sung on the road. Children love trying it over and over again to get the timing absolutely right. The passengers should be split into two groups. One group starts with ''Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream." The next group joins in with the first part of the song, singing over the first group as it carries on with ''Merrily, merrily, merrily merrily, life is but a dream."

SHOSHOLOZA

Lending itself to strong voices and loud singling, this Ndebele folk song is a South African favourite. It was popularised by migrant workers in the mines, and has a call-and-response style. It has become so popular that is now known as South Africa's second national anthem.

UMZI WATSHA

This Xhosa nursery rhyme is fun and simple for young kids to learn and sing along to even though it refers to a house burning down and desperate attempts to put out the fire.

GAMES

SO YOU forgot the bag with the iPad, Nintendo, portable DVD player and magnetic board games. These device-free games will save you from the hell of bored-kid meltdown.

TWENTY QUESTIONS

Known in some parts as "animal, vegetable or mineral", this tried and tested game provides hours of fun for children and adults. The rules are simple: one person chooses an object, person or animal and everyone else asks them questions to narrow down what they could be thinking about. The only permitted answers are ''yes" or ''no". If you're playing with a group, whoever guesses the item correctly can choose the next word.

I SPY

This is probably the most classic of all car games and delights family members of all ages. It goes like this: "I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with [insert a letter of the alphabet]." Limit the guesses to avoid running out of objects along the way, and remember that scenic routes are more conducive to a good game than monotonously bland highway.

THE MUSIC APPRECIATION GAME

This game is great for teens and adults. Choose either the category of song or artist and then alternate between players in the car starting with the letter ''A" - like Aerosmith. Then use the last letter of the word to come up with another artist, like Hanson. It's not as simple as it might first seem when you get to the trickier letters in the alphabet.

BOOKS

EXCLUSIVE Books' children's books manager Colleen Whitfield recommends:

Books involving colouring in, dot-to-dot or word searches.

Julia Donaldson's The Gruffalo.

Martin Handford's

Where's Wally?

• For children under the age of three, get board books, touch-and-feel books and ones that make sounds.
• For older children, opt for series like Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid,Derek Landy's Skulduggery Pleasant and Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games.

SNACKS

TRY these snacks for the little ones during a long trip:

• Fruit like bananas, peeled oranges and apples are handy to have on hand;
• Snack on biscuits, brownies and muffins;
• Sandwiches with peanut butter, ham, cheese or avocado;
• Soft meats cut into small strips;
• Bagels, unsalted pretzels and yoghurt. - Parentables and Menus for Moms