You know what it's like, don't you mums and dads. The prospect of the long summer holiday fills kids with excitement and fills most parents with dread (particularly working parents like us who would absolutely love to spend 6 weeks holiday with their little ones but can't afford to).

Around week 2, most kids enter that weird torpor where they've absolutely no idea what they want to do, so kick around the house bored out of their tiny little skulls.

Books to the rescue then! These two new "Where's Wally" activity titles from Martin Handford and Walker Books are so jam packed with fun things to do, stickers, observation challenges and a ton of other puzzles and activities, that your children will (hopefully) be completely engrossed by them for hour after hour.


"Where's Wally? Across Lands" and "Where's Wally? In Outer Space" cover the surface of the globe and then launch out into the cosmos while we search those busy and exquisitely detailed page spreads for that red-and-white-striped bobble-hatted fella and his friends Wanda, Odlaw and the wizard.

The observation challenges are still as tough as old boots (I think it takes a younger pair of eyes than mine to spot Wally and his pals). There are ace drawing and colouring challenges though, and I can definitely join in with those at least!

Each of the titles features over 100 stickers so once your little ones have exhausted their attempts to find Wally, they can get sticking.

These are fantastic books, we really can't get enough of the detail in these - each illustration truly does reveal something different every time you flick through, and there are so many spot challenges and extra quest items to find, it may well take you the whole 6 weeks to polish both books off completely.

Groovy word searches and colouring fun are dotted throughout the books to keep you busy!

Charlotte's best bit: Wanda is her fave so she always makes a bee line for trying to find her first.

Daddy's favourite bit: These books could well be the answer to your prayers this long summer holiday. If the weather is rubbish or great, grab one (or both) of these and get busy spotting, doodling, solving, colouring and sticking!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Walker Books)

"Where's Wally Across Lands" and "Where's Wally in Outer Space"

Written and Illustrated by Martin Handford

Published by Walker Books

Publication Date: 2nd June 2016

I must admit, I couldn't help but steal this book away from Charlotte at every opportunity. As a dyed-in-the-wool doodler, I love books that not only give you the opportunity to doodle away - but give you a fresh perspective with neat ideas to get you sharpening your pencils for a bit of creative fun.

"Grids - A Drawing Book for Squares" by Jacky Bahbout is a doodler's dream. Packed with interesting geometric patterns and designs, it will kick start your imagination as you realise just how much fun you can have with pixel art, perspective drawing and grid lines.

Hidden away inside the book is a huge selection of really cool drawing exercises that will have you thinking in different dimensions. Personally I utterly adore drawing in squares (I think it's a misspent youth largely wasted making weird little games on my ZX Spectrum where all the graphics were made out of 8 x 8 grids - I spent AGES poring over graph paper to try and make natural-looking game graphics and characters but never really got very far!)

Grids is a work of genius. Kids may think that the exercises are complicated at first, but with some brilliant examples to follow, they'll soon be creating really intriguing works of art themselves.

Released in good time for the long summer holidays and those 'bored' hours where kids will wail and squeak about having nothing to do, "Grids" is perfect for your little pencil pushers so pick up a copy as soon as you can!

Charlotte's favourite bit: Drawing amazingly intricate animals from square templates

Daddy's favourite bit: I just loved that forced perspective graph paper, drawing cityscapes and buildings using that.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Thames and Hudson)

"Grids - A Drawing Book for Squares"

Written and Illustrated by Jacky Bahbout

Published by Thames and Hudson

Publication Date: 6th June 2016

This book won us over with a rather neat combination of glorious design, simple text and 5 great little bird models to make, with additional scenery (neatly, the book's protective fly-cover pops off to become a dazzling backdrop). Meet the Sky Guys!

Here's a rather neat way of serving up a slice or two of art history in a hugely attractive way...

We love art activity books and we particularly love any book that can introduce us to new art styles or ways of drawing and colouring - and of course books that feature our favourite animals...!

Here's a fascinating take on a classic fairy tale where you can literally take control of the story yourself. A brilliant and innovative new retelling of the classic "Sleeping Beauty"

Still riding the tide of dino-mania from the summer? Looking to exercise your doodling skills? Time to get your draw on with this awesome and spectacular new doodle activity book!