This little book has been one of my most asked about items since I first shared it on Instagram. Of course, I saved all the details to an IG highlight but I thought it would be helpful to give our beloved Busy Book a place to live outside of the gram!

A short story on how the Busy Book came to be. Like most mamas, I’m all for games, toys, and activities that are educational disguised as fun. When Georgia was around 20 months old, one of her classmates’ mom shared a book she was making for her daughter, and my immediate thought was “Georgia would love to get her fluffy toddler hands on that!” So, I followed in that mom’s footsteps and made this Busy Book. She’s currently 26 months old and still using it!

To get started, I first downloaded this Busy Book bundle I found on none other than Etsy. Once that order was placed, I began to build the book itself. I knew I would need a binder, velcro dots, and page protectors. From my previous life as a middle school teacher, the importance of lamination is not lost on me; when in doubt, laminate! It truly prolongs the life of any paper product your toddler gets his/her hands on. I do my own lamination at home because office supply stores will charge you 5x the price, and it’s totally unnecessary! I have this laminator that I love, but found another great option from Target, too! You’ll be shocked how often a laminator comes in handy at home, trust me. Just remember that you always need to cut the paper first, laminate it, then cut again! If you laminate first then cut, the laminate will peel off.

For what it’s worth, I originally put the pages in page protectors, but next time around I would forgo all that and just laminate the entire page and attach the velcro dots right onto the laminated page. Food for thought! We keep the binder on our kitchen counter, and Georgia pulls it out to play with her Busy Book all the time. I divided up the pieces into ziplock bags and hole-punched one of my favorite “puzzle bags” to keep everything in the front of her binder for easy, organized access.

I’m planning to add the Busy Book bundle #2 plus a few shapes and color page inserts soon. The Busy Book takes a little extra work to put together, but it’s a gift that keeps on giving. I laminate and cut an activity page every few days, and it’s provided Georgia weeks of new activities and me weeks of not having to figure out a new activity every single day! I’ve received SO MANY messages from moms saying their child loves the activities included, so if you’ve been on the fence and are looking for something to take the place of preschool this fall, this Busy Book is a great place to start!