Kids love activity books because they’re fun, and parents love them because they keep kids busy. If you could create a custom activity book, with only the most fun and interesting activities, you could keep your kids happier – and possibly even make money on the side.
How can you create a custom activity book from scratch?
Why Create a Custom Activity Book for Kids?
Why should you consider creating a custom activity book for kids?
There are several possible motivations here, including:
Family fun
Some parents and family members are interested in creating a custom activity book so their children or relatives have something new and interesting to keep them entertained. This is your chance to choose only the best activities and present them in the most appealing way for the children you love.
Gift ideas
Custom activity books can also make for great gifts. If you have lots of children or families to buy for, a single design can provide you with a gift for all of them.
Business-specific applications
Some people design activity books for a specific business or organization. For example, you might create custom activity books about the importance of oral hygiene and dental health so you can distribute them at your local dentist’s office.
Wider sales
Of course, you can also create a custom activity book for kids with the intention of selling it to a broader audience. These books can be printed relatively inexpensively, so if you have sufficient market appeal and a decent pricing strategy, this could help you turn a significant profit.
How to Create a Custom Activity Book for Kids
These are the most important steps you’ll need to follow to create a custom activity book for kids:
Choose your printing strategy
First, you’ll need to consider how you’re going to print and distribute this activity book. For example, are you going to use spiral binding, perfect binding, or another type of binding altogether? What type of paper stock are you going to use for the pages so that your activity book can be durable, yet capable of facilitating writing and coloring? How much can you reasonably afford to pay for your first round of printing and how can you make sure you stay within that budget? Once you have the printing logistics sorted out, everything else is going to seem easier.
Do your market research
It’s important to do some market research, even if your target market is just your elementary-school-aged children. Who are the children that will be engaging with this activity book? How old are they? How do they see the world? And which activities are and aren’t appropriate for them? What design elements make an activity book successful for this demographic?
Research the competition
It’s also a good idea to review some of the most popular activity books that are currently in circulation. Pay attention to the types of activities that are presented, the design elements that make the activity books more engaging, and any missing features that you wish were present. You’ll likely want to copy some of the tactics they use, but it’s also important to incorporate your own style and activity book design philosophy.
Select a central theme or character
Something needs to hold the individual elements of your activity book altogether. That usually means choosing a central theme or a main character that can be found throughout the activity book. What deserves to be the central focus? What allows you the creativity necessary to design a book full of different activities?
Decide on a mix of activities
Next, you can start deciding which activities to include in your activity book. This is mostly going to depend on the age group you’re targeting, as children of different ages have different intellectual capabilities. Common choices include puzzles, quizzes, interactive games, coloring, writing, and drawing.
Develop individual pages
With your activity selection in mind, it’s time to start designing and developing individual pages. Consider testing these pages with your target demographics so you know they’re appropriately intellectually challenging.
Start combining and editing
At this point, you can start combining different pages and editing the entire book as a finished product. If you’re new to this process, it can seem overwhelming, so try to take things one step at a time.
Apply the finishing touches
Finally, you’ll be ready to apply a final round of edits, then format the activity book so it can be printed properly.
After your first custom activity book, you’ll have the skills and experience necessary to expedite the process, should you ever choose to repeat it in the future. If you have a talent for it, and you’re a little bit lucky, creating activity books could even become your full-time job!
