I made them for my children when they were about 3 to keep them occupied on car rides, etc. Made one for my nephew and saw him using it during a wedding ceremony (it did keep him quiet). I used a white sheet for the pages (felt like the high thread count would hold up better) and a medium weight interfacing. At age 3, I put things in such as a shoe to lace, a zipper to zip, heavy duty jeans-type snaps (used the actual waistband from an old pair of jeans that I knew was not going to come apart), shapes to Velcro into place, a belt to buckle. Was very cautious to make sure there wasn't anything they could swallow. For a younger child, you could make it all about texture and touch by using silky fabrics, corduroy, fake fur and machine appliqueing different shapes onto the pages so she couldn't get them off and choke on them.