I Spy with my Little Eye (Bottles)

I've been checking out the blog 'Counting Coconuts' recently. It's a blog of 'learning activities and ideas for toddlers and preschoolers inspired mostly by the Montessori method.' While browsing I came across a wonderful idea that I'm probably the last person in blogland to find out about: making I spy bottles. Instructions are here though we used the small plastic coke bottles rather than glass jars.

First I collected up a selection of small objects, the kind of things that sit in jars and pots on shelves around our house and have no real purpose but for some reason I can't throw away. Then I photographed them. (I could have simply listed them, but it's difficult to give some of the thingimagigs a descriptive name)

Then I gathered leftover (or mostly unopened and inedible) health foods from my kitchen cupboard, rice, barley, weird bird-food-looking stuff. Some we dyed with food colouring and left a while to dry.

Then we filled the (dry) bottles up with the seedy stuff, a layer of seedy stuff then a few of the items, then a layer of seedy stuff...

Then we glue-gunned the lids on to prevent frustrated people emptying out the contents.

I cut and pasted the photo of the objects into a word file, printed it out and laminated it.

I gave the laminated I spy sheet to the kids with a wipe-off pen in the hope it would keep them busy for a while.

'Are you sure you've put all these objects in?' they said, still looking for the coin and the nut.

They passed the bottles to the adults.

'Are you sure you've put all these objects in?' the adults said, still looking for the coin and the nut.

Yes yes I did put ALL the objects in. Even the coin AND the nut.

I think.