Six of the best travel toys to eliminate the cries of “are we nearly there yet?”.

1. CORDLESS IN-CAR DVD PLAYER

£390 from the Great Little Trading Company (0870 8506000, www.gltc.co.uk), extra screen £160, extra headset £29.99

Not cheap, but guaranteed to keep the children entertained for at least the duration of their favourite film. This one is compact, with the DVD player built into the screen to avoid little fingers fiddling with the controls. Extra screens and headsets are useful to stop fighting, or if one child wishes to sleep.

2. CRAYOLA PORTABLE LAPDESK

£12.99 from Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk)

A moulded desk with storage for pencils and paper that allows children to keep on colouring on the bumpiest of roads. Good for planes, too.

3. 20Q

£9.94 from Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk)

The latest portable electronic game from Radica is based on the popular website, www.20Q.net and its artificial intelligence version of the classic game of 20 Questions. Players think of an object and the handheld unit will ask 20 questions that can be answered with “yes”, “no”, “sometimes” or “don’t know”. At the end, the computer will use its artificial intelligence to guess the answer. A good one for parents, too.

X 4. STICK-A-PICTURE

£2.99 from Letterbox, (0870 6007878, www.letterbox.co.uk)

Children will be delighted that they can use their favourite stickers over and over again to create different Maisy, Barbie, Disney or Thomas the Tank Engine pictures.

5. IMAGINETICS W

£5.99 from the Great Little Trading Company (0870 8506000, www.gltc.co.uk).

Choose your children’s favourite characters and they can use these magnetic boards to create their own pictures and stories. The magnets are robust, which means you don’t have to fish pieces off the floor.

6. POCKET SCRIBBLER

£3 from Early Learning Centre (08705 352352, www.elc.co.uk)

Ideally sized for slipping into small pockets and bags, this magnetic scribbler allows children to draw to their hearts’ content without filling the car with scrunched-up paper. Also good at the noughts and crosses stage.

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