Ordnance Survey, the nation's map maker has come to the rescue with a free games section of their educational MapZone website, www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/mapzone

Not only are the 17 games available fun but they are also educational and will give them a head start to their geography assignments when back at school. The website encourages children to improve their map-reading skills and get out and about discovering their local area.

Games available on the interactive site include a European flag game - useful for recognising national flags at medal ceremonies - and a World jigsaw game so that children can even locate the most obscure competitor country.

Children can also download software called MapBuilder from the website - a fun and interactive mapping tool that allows you to design and construct your own maps of the British Isles, Europe and the World.

Elaine Owen, Ordnance Survey's Education Sector Manager, says, "MapZone is great for children looking for something educational but fun on their computers this summer holiday. They can even pop into a section called Our Favourite Places for ideas for days out and a Did you know...? area where you can search for weird and funny British place names."