If your doll is going to be taking all those books back and forth to school, she is going to need a backpack or messenger bag to get them there. For today’s doll play activity, I will share a few different bookbag options with you and then you can either choose to make one of those or take a little bit from each idea and come up with something uniquely your own.

The method for making a doll sized backpack is this simple version that Karen shared with us last fall – how to make an easy backpack for dolls.

Follow along with My Froggy Stuff as she teaches you how to make this smart looking doll backpack. With a little modification it can make a doll sized messenger bag, too! Watch the video on YouTube. (photo from My Froggy Stuff Facebook Page)

Change the dimensions on this simple duct tape tote for your dolls and they can take their school supplies on the bus in style. How to make this easy tote.

And today I took a little bit from each of the ideas above and make the dolls a messenger bag to carry their books in. If you look closely, you can see I used a paper clip this time. The paper clip serves two purposes – it helps secure the sides of the bag while I am working on it and for play, but it also makes it easy to attach the straps of the bag!

Basically all I did was take a piece of felt 6″ wide by 9″ tall (if I make another one I will make it 10″ tall to give me a bigger flap on the front) and covered it with duck tape. From there I made it like the tote bag but with an extra bit for the flap. I added a piece of fun foam in the bottom to make it easy to create the box shape, folded the felt like a box and secured the sides with the paper clip and coordinating duck tape. Self adhesive velcro dots are perfect for the bag closure.

I made the messenger bag wide enough to fit the American Girl binder and the portfolio folder we made in yesterday’s activity.

Perfect fit for the folders! Now if I had only made the whole thing a little longer (this is why I recommend 10″ long) so I would have a little more of a flap to work with.

Kanani is all packed up and ready to head out to the bus. Again, if I would have made the flap a little bit longer, I think it would have worked better. Oh, and by the way, I found this fun duct tape at CVS.

Kanani’s teacher gives her a piece of licorice as a reward for having such a great day at school.

So, do you have some great ideas for making a bookbag for your doll now? I can’t wait to see what you come up with!