Travel challenge

'Muuuuuum, are we nearly there yet?' Are you dreading the repetition of the familiar cry of a bored travelling child?

If your holiday plans involve a long car journey, plan ahead to make sure your children have something to keep them occupied. We've picked the five best new car activities to keep your children entertained whatever their age.

  • Klutz The Amazing Backseat Booka-ma-Thing *****
  • Thinking Putty *****
  • Lego Bionicles ****
  • Space Travel Slate *****
  • Story Telling glove ****

    Klutz The Amazing Backseat Booka-ma-Thing
    Age: 5 to adult
    Price: £10.99
    Buy online: amazon.co.uk
    The Amazing Booka-ma-Thing is more a collection of puzzles and activities than a book to read. The inside front cover is a magic writer and pen with ideas for activities. The back cover is a mini-pinball game. Some of the games and activities are familiar, like noughts and crosses, but there are also novel ideas like a mini version of twister that you play with your fingers instead of hands and feet. Lives up to its cover promise: 'thousands of miles' worth of hand-on games and activities'.

    Thinking PuttyAge: 4 to adult
    Price: £8.99
    Buy online: firebox.com
    A tin of Thinking Putty is a great companion on a long journey. It is expensive at £8.99, but there is a 90g handful of putty in each tin. Children are fascinated with the brighter colours - red and purple putty were our favourites. It moulds, stretches and even shears off. Used like modelling clay, children can build shapes and miniature sculptures. Stretched and folded, it traps air and will snap, crackle and pop when squeezed. To keep it clean and shiny, avoid using it as a ball to bounce, as it picks up dirt.

    Lego Bionicle
    Age: 6 to eleven
    Price: £4.99
    Buy online: mailorderexpress.com
    Characters in Lego's Bionicle range come in handy canisters that make them ideal as a toy for journeys. Once you have built your Bionicle, the figures fold up and fit back into the canister. Lego is launching new characters over the summer months. They are well worth buying, hide them away and then as motorway boredom begins to bite, produce a new Bionicle to the delight of little Lego fans. Bionicles are pretty easy to build and make good action figures for pretend play.

    M&S Space Travel Slate
    Age: 4 to eleven
    Price: £5.00
    Buy online: marksandspencer.com
    Marks and Spencer has a new range of travel games this summer. The games are fun and have plenty of educational value. Our favourites are the dinosaur-themed trumps card game and the Space Travel Slate. There are eight different game cards that slot into the travel slate. You play with a wipe clean pen. Games include hangman, things to spot on your journey and word searches. Wiping the cards clean with the sponge means you can play games over and over again and the contents all pack away into a practical carry-case.

    Story Telling Glove
    Age: 4 to adult
    Price: £6.99
    Buy online: letterbox.co.uk
    Finger puppets provide plenty of distraction for children bored by having to sit in the same place for a long time. Most good toy shops sell finger puppets designed to fit onto little fingers. Letterbox's Story Telling Gloves are slightly different. The gloves have five themed characters - five different animals in a jungle setting and a witch and fairies in a castle setting - and are large enough to fit an adult's hand.