Make your own eye-spy

Have you heard of an eye-spy bag or toy?  It's a genius little activity for kids.  They look for different objects that are hidden in a container of rice.  I've seen marvelous little cloth bags on Etsy or in nice toy stores.  I would love to be able to sew up a little one but I am not that crafty.  So instead I made my own by using a water bottle.

It's still cute no?

Here's how I did it.

1. Collect a variety of little odds and ends from around your house.  The sky's the limit as long as it can fit inside the mouth of the bottle.  I'd suggest at least 20, especially if they are on the small size.  Think of it as a way to re-use the junk that accumulates around your kid's room!

2. Take a photo of the items.

3. Using a funnel (much less messy) put some rice in the bottom of the bottle.  Add a few items.  Add more rice, add more items.  Repeat until the bottle is full of items and rice.  Leave a little space at the top for it to be able to shake around.

4. Now this is key unless you want rice all over your car, house or airplane seat (yikes).  SUPER GLUE the top to the bottle.  Seriously, don't skip this step.

5. If you have the time to prepare I would make a copy of the photo you took in step 2.  Otherwise, using the photo as a guide draw out the items on a card and color as appropriate.  Tape  or laminate the card.

6. Punch a hole in the card (or photo) and attach to the top of the bottle.  Now the child has a guide for what to look for.  You could also have a dry-erase marker (if you're brave) and let the child mark off the items as he/she finds them.  You could even make boxes next to the items so they have a place to check.

Voila, an activity that will hopefully make your travel a bit less agonizing!