I-Spy Jar

Whew!  What a busy week we have had!  I totally meant to get this posted earlier, but we had 3 1/2 days of SUPER nice weather before another snowstorm hit today.  So we had to capitalize on that.  But as promised, here is our I-Spy Jar!  OK, well here it is in a bowl - but more on that later.

I love those little I-Spy bags you can find on etsy and such.  I am a middling seamstress, I could probably pull off figuring one of those out, if it weren't for my horrible fear of sewing vinyl.  Then I saw an I-Spy bag in a JAR on Mama Jenn.  Cool!  I could do that!  But I put it off as a project for another day . . . I think E was about a year old when I first saw the idea. 

It resurfaced a day or two before our trip to Kansas for Thanksgiving this year.  I was desperate for something to bring in the car to entertain E for the long car ride.  So I put one together for the trip, using things I had around my house. 

Our I-Spy Jar is a Ball canning jar - kinda on the heavy side, but we aren't usually running around with it, so that seems to be ok.  I filled it about 2/3 of the way full with plain white rice (these were our pre-rainbow rice days), and tossed in all sorts of random treasures.  Some of the items to "spy" are:

• a paper clip
• an old key
• a small hair bow
• several different colored/shaped/sized buttons
• colorful floral stones/marbles
• animal beads - we have a giraffe, lion, boat, and elephant
• smiley face pencil topper
• a tiny ball of yarn
• a google eye
• a penguin that fell off of one of my old earrings
• a screw
• a foam leaf
• a small piece of ribbon with a cow and pig on it

I did not seal our jar.  E does not like to open jars, so it's not an issue for us.  She does like me to pour it all into a bowl sometimes for her to sift through, so I'm glad I left it open.

To play, you shake up the jar and find something to spy.  Then you say "I spy something that starts with /__/"  For example, "I spy something that starts with /s/."  The child looks through the items in the jar and tries to find something that begins with that sound.  "/s/ smiley face!"  or "/s/ stone!" or "/s/ screw!"

To make a more individual game, you can print up a card with all the items on it and have the child find them on their own.  I have seen cards with  items grouped in numbers, such as find one coin, two beads, three paper clips, etc.  I have also seen cards with items grouped in colors.  The child can be challenged to find all the items in a category.  If you have two I-Spy bags or jars, you can see who can find the most in a set time, or who can find everything in one category first.

I do plan on getting over my fear of vinyl at some point and sewing an I-Spy bag or two in the future.  I'd really love to do a whole set for each letter of the alphabet.  They have those at the Children's Museum here, and they are AWESOME.  I could sit looking at them for hours, and E likes them too. 

New Felt Sets!

E needed some new tot school activities, and I have a box full of felt bits and pieces - time for a couple of felt sets for Christmas! I'm working on a Nativity one, but it's a little more complicated. Here are the easy ones I whipped up in about 20 minutes the other day during naptime.

Snowman with several outfits. Two scarf and hat sets, plus a top hat and vest. Also a carrot nose and some arms. You can't have a snowman without arms! We will work on body parts and where things go. The hat goes on the head. The nose goes on the face. That kind of thing.

Christmas tree with ornaments. There are three of each color, except no green. We can do counting with these and color recognition.

Rainbow Rice Sensory Box

Sensory boxes are so much fun! I saw this idea on Pink & Green Mama, and I knew I had to try it!

You will need:
* a large "under the bed" plastic storage box - I think mine is 36 qts. or so, I got it at WalMart for $6.50
* rice - I used two 10 lb. bags
* food coloring
* rubbing alcohol
* gallon-size food storage bags

1. Separate the rice into 6 bags (or as many colors as you want).

2. Add a little rubbing alcohol to each bag.

3. Add food coloring to each bag. We decided to do primary and secondary colors. If you child is old enough, have them help put the food coloring in.

4. Seal bags and shake! Add more color, if necessary, to achieve your desired shade.

5. Pour rice out on waxed paper to dry. It will dry fairly quickly, but I like to give it a day for the alcohol smell to air out.

6. Put rice into the plastic storage container and let the kiddos have at it!

the first scoop!

pouring into a bowl

I couldn't stand it any longer - we had to mix the colors together!

the "aftermath" on my floor - wasn't too bad, actually

This is great for scooping and pouring! It would also be fun for hiding things inside to find (like an I-spy), or as an imagination play box with small toys. Check out Pink & Green Mama's ocean box, construction box, and farm box - those will be making an appearance at our house soon, I am sure!