“I spy with my little eye something pink.”  I Spy is a fun game that can be played anywhere.  Fun Family Activities Specialist, Dr. Jody Hironaka-Juteau, played I Spy at the park with Emmaline, Selana and Abel.

Start by strategically placing some objects for children to find such as a ball or a banana.  Or you can use something in the environment like a tree.  Then, describe how the game works.  “We’re going to play a game where we’re rhyming and using our eyes to look for things.  So, the rhyme that we’re going to say is, “I Spy with my little eye’, and we’re gong to go like this.  (Jody pointing to her eye.)

Then give the children some clues.  Ask the children to listen very carefully for their instructions, whether it be to identify shapes or colors.  If no one guesses, then you can add one more adjective.

• I spy with my little eye something (color - red, green, blue, etc.).
• I spy with my little eye something that begins with (letter of the alphabet).
• I spy with my little eye something (adjective - big, small, soft, hard, etc).

Jody:  “I spy with my little eye something with stripes on it.”

Items were placed high and low.  This gives the children a chance to really work on reaching, moving about physically, and paying close attention to detail in the instructions.  This guessing game also teaches children how to use adjectives.

Jody:  “Do you see it?”
Emmaline:  “Yeah.”
Jody:  “Alright bring it over here.  Good job. That was a hard one.  That was tough.  Do you see the stripes and the colors pink and green?  Good job.”

So there you have it, a chance to use a great environment like a park to be able to engage the children.  It’s also a great opportunity to cultivate some knee-high super sleuths.