Busy book or quiet book? What's the difference

Mostly, they're the same thing. "Busy book" and "quiet book" are two names for an activity book with pieces to match, move and trace. "Quiet book" often refers to soft felt books, because they're quiet to play with. "Busy book" is used for both felt and laminated card books.

Where the names come from

The "quiet" in quiet book is about the kind of play: calm and focused, often used in places where kids need to sit still for a while. The "busy" in busy book is about the hands: lots to do on every page.

Felt vs laminated card

	Felt	Laminated card
Feel	Soft, fabric pages	Thick, smooth card
Cleaning	Harder to wipe	Wipes clean
Tracing and drawing	Not really	Yes, with wipe-clean markers
Pieces	Felt pieces, often with Velcro	Card pieces with hook-and-loop dots

Which one should you choose?

Think about how your child likes to play. If they love tracing, drawing and counting, a laminated book with markers gives them more to do. If they're younger and mostly want soft things to touch, felt may suit better.

Our choice

We made the Tiny Walkers' Busy Book from thick laminated card so the tracing pages can be wiped and used again. It's for ages 3 and up, with 28 activity pages and 8 wipe-clean markers. See the busy book.