Tickled pink (and red and green and blue and…)

Elmer, the colourful patchwork elephant, is a familiar character to countless children, but if your little ones reckon they could do a better job of colouring him in than Elmer’s creator, David McKee, then the new Colour Me Elmer might be impossible to resist.

Rainbow Designs’ new version of Elmer looks more like a crossword puzzle when you get him out of the box. At 28cm in height he is entirely covered in a black and white grid.

Take out the included pens, however, and you’ll soon put some colour back into his cheeks. And his trunk. And his legs.

Best of all, the pens use washable ink, so you can try out different colour schemes and, after a quick visit to the washing machine, start all over again.

The Colour Me Elmer is priced around £19.99.