SkyTonight.com - This Week's Sky at a Glance
Hi, cannylad. The above link might help. It's the Sky and Telescope website which is excellent for finding stuff in the sky and observing in general. There are probably other sky charts on the net to 'google' which will help you find planets.
One tip is that planets don't twinkle like stars - they're just very bright points of light.
If you can, find a friend with a telescope or see if any local astronomy clubs do public star parties. But even finding Jupiter in good binoculars will show you its four attendant moons, and Saturn will be a yellowy ellipse-shaped point of light.
Have fun
Madz