Eye-Spy

"Eye-spy"

The kids and I put together our own Eye-Spy jar.  It is quick, easy and provides endless hours of entertainment.  Moving the jar around, you uncover various objects hidden inside.  The kids enjoy "spying" new items.  It is also fun because I can give them a clue of something to find, and then they have to seek it out.  I plan on keeping ours in the car.  That way I can pull it out whenever boredom seeps into my children and the car ride becomes painful for all of those involved....

To make this project you will need:

A Jar or clear container with a lid.

(AC MOORE has a variety of glass jars for under $1.  I had this one lying around from once containing Atomic Fireballs)

Random items found around the house.

(We put unused toys, safety pins, sequins, buttons, lost pieces to games, etc.  The more random the better) 

Filler.

(I wanted to use Rice, but I did not have enough.  This bag of trusty split peas came to my rescue though!  Next time I think I'll use beads.)

Now that you have all necessary items, fill container with all of your chosen treasures.

Put in filler, leaving at least 1 inch between filler and lid to allow items to move freely.

Screw on top and VOILA!  You now have your own homemade Eye-Spy jar!  Have fun!

Reviews:  

The kids had fun finding treasures and filling the jar.  Alex was a little disappointed at how quickly the project was finished.  He particularly was upset to find game pieces that he wanted to use for his game.  Oops!  My bad, I thought they were junk pieces.  At some point I will fish them out to make little man happy!

What I like about this is that it is quick, simple, and CHEAP!  Plus, when the kids get tired of finding these items, you can add more, change them out, or make a whole new one!

Let me know if you create your own and how they liked it.

Variations that I would like to make:

A nature jar -filled with items we find outside our home: nuts, rocks, sticks, etc.

A Learning jar- I'd like to put in items with every letter of the alphabet, this way we can play an educational version "Find something that starts with the letter...."  And colors "Find me a red item..."

We will save that for another random day.


I got this idea while reading the magic onion's blog the other day.  Thank's magic onion!  By the way, hers is much better than mine, but we don't have hers, we've got ours, so that's that :)