DIY I-Spy Craft

Sarah is one of the craftiest gals I know.  She’s sharing a fun project idea that will make your kiddo’s day AND get the junk drawer clean in the process.  Oh, and it’s a recycle/reuse project too. This girl is pushing all my happy buttons!

Sometimes presenting something old in a different way is just the thing to get kids interested in it again.

We had a bunch of colored rice hanging out in a bin that hadn’t been touched for a while, and I thought it would make a nice filler material for an I-Spy bag. (If you don’t have any old colored rice on hand, grab some expired rice from your pantry and color it using the recipe on my website.)

I happened to have an empty zippered pencil case that I used to hold my materials, but you could just as easily use an empty plastic beverage bottle to hold your stuff. We’re recycling all around in this craft!

As for the things for your kid to spy, you don’t need to look beyond the junk drawer and the bottom of the toy bin. The extra pieces and broken bits are perfect for this project. A spare coin, a die, a paperclip in a funky shape, that puzzle piece you don’t know where belongs, random little kids’ meal toys, it’s all fair game.

I actually collected too much stuff for mine because it was so easy to find little things to stick in there. When you collect it, if you have an older child you might want to take a picture of all the items before you put them in the bag and print it out so your child knows what to search for.

Putting it Together

1. Put some rice in the bottle or bag first (I used about 2 cups to start in my bag, or fill the bottle about halfway up).
2. Put in your search items, top off with a little more rice and close up.
3. You’ll probably want to secure the top, which you can do by gluing the lid to the top of the bottle (or use electrical tape) or gluing a piece of ribbon over the zipper. I tried to use washi tape on mine and it came right off, so now my daughter loves opening it up and pulling things out, which can get kind of messy.
4. If you printed out a picture, try to keep it with the bag or bottle. If you have a bag, punch a hole in the picture and tie it to the bag.

Thanks so much to Fawn for including me in this special month! If you’d like to know more about me, or find more easy crafts for kids and adults, please visit my website.

Sarah E. White is a mom, blogger and craft writer based in Northwest Arkansas. She’s the author of the knitting websites at About.com and Craft Gossip, and she writes about crafting for kids and adults as well as helping women regain their creative mojo at Our Daily Craft.

Related posts:

Back to School Closet Organization (on the cheap) How it Began Free Trees and Showerheads = Energy Savings for Arkansas Residents! Free Photos and Haircuts from JCP