The combination of print materials and augmented reality in education is increasingly accessible due to advances in mobile technologies. Using familiar paper-based activities overlaid with digital items, also known as interactive print, educators can create a custom learning experience for students. There is very little guidance on the design of interactive print activities, particularly methods used to structure the appropriate levels of cognitive load for engagement with content. This study examined over 13 000 data points in two different interactive print activities for trends and patterns in user engagement. The results showed that the instructional design, number of digital interactions and pedagogical strategies influenced user interactions within the activity. In particular, a page designed with immersion, instant feedback, a focused task and high level cognitive tasks engaged users to interact with the digital content.