Every activity in this book is designed to be ruined and then rescued. A child works the page with a dry wipe pen, the page shrugs it off with one wipe, and the whole book is new again, which is exactly the quality you want in something packed for a journey.

The scenes travel too: visit the beach, pitch a tent on a camping trip, laze by the pool and zoom down the ski slopes, with puzzles tucked into every spread. Underneath the fun the pages are quietly doing their job, building the counting, observation and pen control skills that early school will ask for, one maze and matching game at a time.

Twenty four durable wipe clean pages by Kirsteen Robson, illustrated by Manola Caprini. At this size it slides into a seat back pocket, and at this price it can live in the car.