Look what I made for the kids @ work!

Got some extra rice kicking around the house?  Make an I Spy game!

After all, what kid doesn't love the I Spy books?!

Okay...so I needed to do something with a HUGE bag of rice I had that I couldn't cook (because I used it to absorb coffee when I spilled coffee all over my carpet and my laptop chord......urgh!). I can't take credit for the idea...but I can take credit for putting this together and making a couple of the little pieces from Fimo.....Actually, I had so much rice from my little incident that I created two of these I Spy games - one for my mom's classroom and one for my library :).

I got the idea from Pinterest (I can't get enough of that site....).  This is a nice easy project, but it can be a little time consuming to put together.....It's worth it in the end though!

Here's what you need to make your own I Spy game:
-A plastic or glass jar with a lid (unfortunately I couldn't get a transparent plastic one....)
-Duct tape
-Paint pen (for writing on the top)
-Objects to search for (i.e. a marble, a letter, a number, a leaf from a fake plant, a star, etc.)
-Recipe cards
-A camera
-A Sharpie
-Rice

Procedure:
1. Take pictures of all of the objects.  Load the pictures onto your computer.
2. Put some of the rice in the jar.
3. Put some of the objects in the jar.
4. Put more rice in the jar.
5. Put the rest of the objects in the jar.
6. Fill the rest of the jar with rice.  You may need to unscrew the lid, shake it up, place more rice in, screw the lid on and see if you can add any more rice.  I had to do this several times because when I thought it was full enough....it turned out it wasn't....
7. Send your pictures to get printed (or print them off from your own printer - it just depends on how you want to format your picture cards).
8. Once your pictures are printed, cut them out with a paper cutter and then glue them onto index cards.  Some people put small pictures of all of the objects onto one large card.  That's another option.  You can get really creative with this part.  I kept mine pretty plain Jane.  I just wrote "I spy...." and then the object name at the bottom of the card.

This is how my final set of cards turned out :)

9.  Hole punch each card and put on a binder ring (you can get these at the Dollar Store).
10. Duct tape the circumference of the jar (top) so that kids can't pull the lid off.  I'm also going to be writing a little reminder that if anyone attempts to remove it, the privilege is removed for all students.....I also plan on keeping mine on my desk with a sign about only teachers being able to carry it.....so that the kids don't just take it on me....

This is the final product:

Minus the duct tape....I put that on afterwards!

And again - different angle

I put one super challenging little shape in.......My Nanna gave it a test run and it took her about 30 minutes to find every shape in the jar (because of the tiny gold star....I like a challenge, what can I say...).  I also plan on putting a pretty little bow at the top....

It's definitely a great way to keep kids busy!

Enjoy the Family Day weekend!

A.A.