diy: busy wallet

this way-to-keep-a-little-one-occupied-during-travel will be tested on saturday when we fly across the country. we will be spending a little over five hours up in the air. since even waiting in our doctor's office waiting room with our daughter is quite an undertaking, i am a bit anxious about all those hours in an airplane with our very active toddler. 

i have been trying to come up with a variety of ways to entertain her during our trip. there will be snacks of course, some little toys and books, a little photo album (which i still need to put together) and some junk mail to open (i've been saving it for a few weeks). now i will be adding what i will call a "busy wallet" to the list of things to do.

this busy wallet is a budget-friendly and easy thing to prepare before traveling. it could also be used for a road trip, or kept in the diaper bag for those times of unexpected waiting with an antsy little one. 

to make your own busy wallet you need...a wallet, some paper or other material, and anything else you want to add (a pen, stickers, paper, maybe some coins for an older child). 

i didn't have an unused wallet laying around, so i purchased a wallet at a local thrift store for $1.99 (i thought this was a little pricey). i made sure to choose one that had a lot of pockets, pouches, and a zipper and snap.

i used one of the cards from my wallet to cut thick scrapbook papers to the size of cards. some of the papers have designs on them and some are solid colors with sparkles. i had a few sheets of shiny paper that is sticky on one side, so i stuck that on the back of the scrapbook papers to make it more interesting and fun. you could also include those fake credit cards that come in the mail, photos cut to size, or anything else that fits in the little pockets.

i added a pen to the wallet (our girl loves holding onto pens). and in the pocket for dollar bills, i put some larger pieces of paper.

this wallet has a zippered back pocket, so i filled it with stickers. our child is a bit too young to know how to put stickers onto paper, but she is fascinated by how they stick to her fingers. for an older child, i think it would be a fun idea to include letter or number stickers that can be stuck to the "cards" or papers in the wallet and can also be used as a learning tool.

let's hope this wallet keeps our girl busy for a good chunk of flying time! i will definitely report on how this worked for us after we test it out on our travels. i would love to know if you put one of these together and how it works for your child.