One airport, twenty four pages, and a pen clipped to the front cover. A child draws straight onto the coated pages, wipes them, and starts again on the next journey, which is the difference between an activity book that lasts a car ride and one that lasts a year.

The tasks are all set in the same place and get harder as the book goes on. On "Preparing the planes" you trace the jet’s windows and doors and add two wheels to each baggage trailer. On "Collecting the bags" you draw a line from every suitcase to its match on the carousel, then spot six differences between two bears called Bernie and Buddy. On "Control tower" you join the planes whose wing patterns match, trace the equipment on the desk, and find five pencils hidden in the room.

Usborne’s stated purpose for the series is counting, observation and pen control, and that is exactly what the pages practise: holding a pen steadily along a dotted line, looking twice before answering, and counting things that are moving. Gareth Williams fills the airport with animal passengers and crew, so the looking is worth doing on its own.

Paperback, 24 pages, by Kirsteen Robson, illustrated by Gareth Williams. Usborne Publishing, 2023. ISBN-13 9781805070153. Publisher age guidance: 3 years and up.

Five more Wipe-Clean books are on the shelf here: Wipe-Clean Travel Activities, Wipe-Clean Jungle Activities, Wipe-Clean Dinosaur Activities, Wipe-Clean Summer Activities and Wipe-Clean Alphabet.