Camping with the kids is great fun, they get the chance to have a bit more responsibility and a bit more freedom. Taking them out of their usual routine and away from their usual mates is quite a liberating experience for them most of the time. That's all great until it rains or it's too early to inflict them of the rest of the campsite or they're just hanging around the tent. Then they need something to keep them entertained as let's face we've gone camping to have a break too and entertaining the kids isn't usually part of 'having a break'.

This is when handheld games consoles come to the rescue! On our last trip we took a Nintendo DS and a Leapster. The Leapster is more 'age appropriate' for our kids (2 and 5) but they ended up both wanted to play on the DS on a Peppa Pig game that we have for it. Our eldest also played his Ben 10 game. The DS has a pretty good battery life, it only needed one recharge while we were away, which is good as the in-car charger we took along to recharge turned out to have a bit of a dodgy connection so took some coaxing into working.One good thing about the DS as far as camping goes is that when it's closed it's quite well protected against the bashing the everything gets during a camping trip. To further protect the DS we have a hard carrying case for it, which also holds the games not currently being played.

The Leapster as I said is more' age appropriate' but just didn't get played with like the DS did. It uses AA batteries rather then having a charger and they lasted all holiday (not surprising how little it got played) but they do seem to last quite a long time normally. Replacing them wouldn't have been a pain as AA's are pretty easy to find. The Leapster is pretty robust and you can get a cover to protect the screen.

We've been away in the past with family who have a PSP this is bigger than either the DS or the Leapter. The size and the large screen make it a bit more vulnerable to knocks and scrapes. It also seems to require recharging more often that the DS, around once every couple of days as far as I can tell. It has the advantage that you can watch films and TV shows on it too, if you've been organised to copy them onto it (or a memory stick) before you go.

All in all I'd recommend taking a handheld gaming console on your camping trips if you have kids, they take up a small amount but can provide a lot of entertainment and enjoyment.