I SPY BOTTLE

As the grandkids bound through the door last night, they could hardly contain their excitement. They were headed to Tennessee to spend a week with their ‘other’ grandparents, Nena and Poppa.

“Do you have are bags ready?”

“Sure do,” I said. “They are right there with your names on them.”

Whenever the grandkids take a road trip South, I prepare them bags filled with food snacks, games, and coloring sheets. Their mommy limits the amount of time they can spend on electronic devices; so the goodie bags come in handy and keep them occupied then they travel.

As I helped my daughter load up her Jeep, she picked up a 2-gallon container filled with cereal, rice, and uncooked pasta shapes.
“What the heck is this?”

“Oh, that’s an I Spy bottle; I showed the kids how to play it last night.”

“Mother, where do you come up with these ideas? Please tell me they don’t unscrew the cap.”

“No, the cap is glued on and can’t be removed.” My daughter breathed out a sigh of relief as she carefully surveyed the container.

I Spy in a Bottle uses picture cards that show various small objects hidden inside the container. The rice, dried pasta, cereal and assorted beans prevent the player from seeing them without shifting and moving the contents around to reveal the hidden items. The game starts over when all the pictured items have been revealed to the player.

Gather the items that you want to hide in the bottle. They should be small enough to fit through the opening of a plastic juice container. I added about 50 items to my I Spy bottle.

Group 5-7 items together and snap a photo. Print the photo and trim off excess edges. It's best to keep all the photos the same. I found 4 x 6" worked well.

I mixed all of the filling contents and the hidden items in a large bowl and then filled the container. It allowed the hidden objects to fully incorporate into the contents I used for the filling.

You can use any type of filling you want. It might be all rice, colored rice, all dried cereal; you decide. Or, mix a combination of ingredients as I did.

Use your imagination when collection the objects to hidden. The assortment should be colorful.

Half the fun for the kids is helping to collect the objects.

Suggested objects:

• Buttons
• Paper clips
• Beads
• Pom-poms
• Balloons
• Wiggle eyes
• Birthday candles
• Coins
• Pop can or bottle cap tops
• Rubber bands
• Feathers
• Foam shapes
• Tops of writing pens
• Eraser tops
• Sugar cube
• Water bottle top
• Hair ties
• Small Keychain
• Key