Any parent can tell you, children often get bored with new toys before you can say "sales receipt." And when you still have hours of travel ahead of you, that low interest can quickly lead to high anxiety for everyone.

Making the choices all the more difficult, some of the best travel toys never make it into large chain stores.

 What's a parent to do?

 The Associated Press turned to two experts for their opinions on the best travel toys. Our panel included Stevanne Auerbach, an expert in children's products, child development and author of the annual "Dr. Toy" top picks; and Liz Walsh, mother of four children ages 3 to 11 and owner of Survive the Drive, a retailer specializing in travel toys.

 Before buying a toy for your child, think about their age, skills, interests and needs, Auerbach advises. "A good variety of toys provide activity, creativity and learning," she says.

 Here are their choices, beginning with those for the youngest children.

 The toy name is followed in parenthesis by the manufacturer, suggested price, recommended age range, and initials indicating whether the pick was made by Auerbach (SA) or Walsh (LW):

 --Baby Buzzer (Baby Buzz'r, $13, ages 3-36 months, LW) A baby soother that buzzes, blinks and plays five classical songs. Has a mirror on one side and soft ears for teething.

 --Wiggles (The First Years, $6.50, ages 6 months and up, SA) A plush toy that vibrates, jingling and crinkles.

 --Tangle with Texture (Tangle Original, $16, all ages, SA) A coil of 18 interconnected sections of five different textures that twist and bend into various configurations.

 -- "My First Puppets" (Folkmanis, $35, ages 6-36 months, SA) A soft book with four pages for baby play. Includes finger puppets that are attached to the pages so they won't get lost.

 --"Time to Sing!" (Center for Creative Play, $17, ages 2-6, SA) A CD featuring 26 classic children's songs that have been recorded with a slower tempo so that children can more easily learn the words.

 --Geosafari Laptop (Educational Insights, $50 includes one game card, ages 3 and up, SA) An electronic toy laptop with lesson cards to teach a wide variety of subjects. There are two cards available, each has 63 lessons. One is for ages 3 to 7, the other for ages 8 and up. Cards cost $20 when sold separately.

 --Play with Letters Desk (Fisher-Price, $35, ages 3 and up, SA) A preschool desk that teaches the alphabet, phonics and spelling by responding with texture, sounds and music to letter tiles.

 --Toobers & Zots, (HandOnToys, $7 and up, ages 3 and up, SA) A construction toy of soft colorful foam pieces that can be combined into hats, shapes, insects, dinosaurs, flowers and other creations depending on the kit.

 --Woodkins (Pamela Drake, $12-$23, ages 3 to 8, SA) Wooden sandwich boards with doll-shaped cutouts that are easy to dress by inserting pieces of fabric between the boards. Comes with fabric, four different facial expressions and a plastic tote for easy carrying.

 --Various electronic handheld games (Milton Bradley/Hasbro, $13, various ages, LW) Mr. Potato Head is recommended for children ages 3 to 6; Candy Land for ages 3 to 8; Connect Four for children ages 7 and older and Yahtzee for children ages 8 and older. (In addition, Pixter, a new handheld drawing device, is worth watching. It's from Fisher-Price and costs $40, for ages 5 and up.)

 --Crocodile Dentist, (Winning Moves, $11, ages 4 and up, LW) Try to find which tooth is bothering the crocodile. When you touch it, his mouth snaps shut. For one to four players.

 --Licence Plate Game (License Plate Games, $5, ages 4 to 10, LW); Based on the classic game, this bingo-type game comes with color license plate stickers to attach it to the included map. Includes scoring and point system for family competitions.

 --Alphabert & Sprocket (Vtech, $40, ages 4 to 6, SA) A robot that helps reading skills with 16 interactive learning activities. With a fold-up keyboard for easy portability.

 --Color n' Roll (Wrebbit, $14, ages 4 and up, LW) A refillable coloring desk that fits on a child's lap. Color a picture then just roll on to a new one with the 22 foot long roll. Convenient carry handle.

 --Scratch Magic (Scratch Art, $5 and up, ages 5 and up, LW) Draw by scratching the black or white coated surfaces to reveal colors.

 --Busy Board (Do A Dot Art, $7, ages 5 and up, LW) A foam core board and marker for "write and wipe" games of tic tac toe, hangman, hiding elf and connect the dots, plus a large drawing space. Board is 11 1/2 inches square and has carry handle.

 --Handheld games like Quick Bingo, Quick Backgammon, Twister and Boggle (Tootsietoy, $5-$8, ages 5 and up, SA) Push the button on a flashlight shaped device to roll the dice or scramble letters.

 --Klutz Kwiz, (Klutz, $18 including one "deck", ages 5 to 10, SA) A small electronic keypad that asks grade-specific educational questions and provides multiple choice answers. There are 10 "decks" with questions, two each for grades K-4. The decks, when purchased separately, cost $10 each.

 --"Kids Travel: A Backseat Survival Kit" (Klutz, $20, ages 6 and up, LW) A color book of car-appropriate activities, plus a 100-page game pad, and a vinyl pouch containing the items you need to do the activities described.

 --"Hunk-Ta-Bunk-Ta Chants" (Hunk-Ta-Bunk-Ta, $16, ages 6-12, SA) A CD featuring a multicultural collection of chants sung by Katherine Dines.

 --"Cool Mad Libs: World's Greatest Word Game" (Price Stern Sloan, $4, ages 7 and up, SA) One player asks the writers to shout out an adjective, verb or noun to fill in the blanks on a story, but only the first player knows what the story is about. When the player reads the story, the result is a Mad Libs game.

 --Wild (Cadaco, $13, ages 8 and up, SA) A family card game for two to four players.

 -- "Learn in Your Car for Kids" (Penton Overseas, $20, ages 7 to 12, SA) To help your children learn French, English, Italian or Spanish, the kit contains a 70-minute CD and cassette, as well as a reusable activity set filled with games, stickers, and non-toxic markers.

 --Yarn Critters (Quincrafts, $6, ages 7 and up, SA) A basic set includes a six piece set of yarn and pipe cleaners that can be crafted into a variety of fun objects.

 --Game Boy (Nintendo, $100 for the new Advanced version. Ages 6 and up, LW), Handheld color video console with volume control and headphone jack. Games, sold separately, cost $30-$40. Some new titles targeting children include "Disney/Pixar's Monsters, Inc.," and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."

 In addition to toys and games (pack extra batteries), practical matters arise when traveling. The Inflate-A-Potty (Brite Times, $17) and Travel Potty Seat (Fun Designs, $25), for instance, are useful for can't-wait emergencies (they use plastic liners that keep them clean for each use); the inflatable On-The-Go Booster Seat (The First Years, $20, ages 1 to 3) is secure and easy-to-use when visiting friends or dining in a hotel room, and the Snak-Rack Dump Truck (Kel-Gar, $11) is a fun way to hold snacks and drinks in the car.

 On the Net:

• http://www.survivethedrive.com/
• http://www.drtoy.org/