We’re off camping this coming weekend. Great – except, the weather forecast isn’t looking too good. Typically, it’s going to rain. Just in case we find ourselves stuck in the tent for hours on end, waiting for the rain to stop so that we can get out and explore, we’ve had to think of ways we can pass the time while we’re lurking within tent.

Then it crossed my mind that plenty of other people may find themselves in a similar predicament this summer, so just for you, here are our top tips for surviving a soggy weekend in a tent in West Wales (or anywhere else where rain is a permanent fixture):

Music

As long as your MP3 player is charged and you’ve got either travel speakers or a headphone splitter, things won’t get dull.

You can play ‘spot the intro’, ‘guess the next line’, ‘name the year’ and a variety of other music trivia games – or just lie back and enjoy the music with a nice glass of wine.

If you’re likely to miss your TV or you can’t be bothered to read, you could also load up your MP3 player with comedy CDs and audio books. I’ve added The Mighty Boosh and a selection of naughty Derek and Clive CDs to my MP3 player, just in case.

Books and magazines

If you’re backpacking, taking more than one book is probably not an option as books add a lot of weight to your baggage. But if, like us, you’re taking everything in the car, weight won’t be a problem – so pack a book or two. Or three, if you’re going on a longish trip or are a very fast reader.

Do make sure you take a camping lantern or a decent torch with you, though… a book isn’t going to entertain you much once darkness descends if you don’t have a decent light source packed.

You could also take magazines and puzzle books; when you’ve finished with them, chuck them in the nearest recycling bin and you won’t have to carry them back with you.

Travel games

A pack of playing cards can keep you entertained for hours, and takes up very little space – so it’s the ideal travel game to take on a camping trip. Ever played strip rummy in a tent during torrential rain? No, me neither – but never say never!

Top Trumps is another excellent game that takes up very little space – like our Simpsons Top Trumps and Mullet Cards games, for instance.

If you’re going by car and can manage a little extra luggage, consider stocking up on other travel-sized games before you set off. Like our mini billiards in a box, travel chess, Bedlam Cube or magnetic darts set, for example.

Notepads and pens

There are loads of games that you can play with just a notepad and pen.

‘Hangman’ is always a good one. ‘Consequences’ can be lots of fun, whether you play the naughty version or the clean version. And ‘noughts and crosses’ (or ‘tic tac toe’ in some parts of the world) is timeless, of course.

But here’s a pen-and-paper game you may not have come across before: The Name Game. It’s one of the most infuriating, competitive and enjoyable games you can play with just a sheet of paper and a pencil.

Each player should take a sheet of paper, and write out the alphabet down the left hand side of the page, in a single column. Like this:

A
B
C
D

and so on.

Then start a new column, just to the right of the alphabet column. In this new column, spell out – again, one letter per line – a sentence from a book or newspaper, or a line from a song – anything that has at least 26 characters in it. So let’s say you used the line “tonight I’m gonna have myself a real good time,” from the Queen song “Don’t Stop Me Now”. You should now have 26 pairs of initials, like this:

AT
BO
CN
DI
EG
FH

and so on.

You then have 10 minutes to come up with one celebrity name (NOT a character name – it has to be a genuine famous person) for each set of initials. For example:

AT = Anthea Turner
BO = Billy Ocean
CN = Cynthia Nixon
DI = David Icke
EG = Eddy Grant
FH = Finola Hughes

and so on.

When the 10 minutes are up, work out your scores as follows:

If you’re the only player who managed to find a name for a particular set of initials – you score 15 points for that set.

If you managed to find a name for a set of initials, and so did at least one opponent, but they’re two completely different names – you each score 10 points

If you and an opponent both find an identical name for any set of initials, you each score 5 points.

Add up all the scores for each set of initials, and whichever player has the highest total is the winner. Simples!

What’s great about this game is that it can be played anywhere – in the office, on a long journey, in front of the fire on a winter’s evening – and not just in a dripping tent in Wales.

Happy camping!