One of our favorite car games is “I Spy.”  The traditional game uses colors (at least the one I always played)…

• Player 1 chooses a color of an object in sight of all players and says “I spy with my little eye something (insert color of object here).”
• Other players take turns guessing objects that are the given color.
• Some people allow players to ask yes/no questions  such as “Is it inside the car?  Is it smaller than my hand?  Is on the left side of the car?”
• A player wins when she guesses the object correctly.  Then it is her turn to say “I spy….”

I Spy is a fun way to pass the time on a long car ride or in the waiting room of the doctor’s office.  As a bonus, kids are also learning!  What concepts could you work on using the game I Spy?

1. colors- “I spy with my little eye something blue.”
2. shapes– “I spy with my little eye something square.”
3. numbers– “I spy with my little eye three of something.”  This would work best if you are in a room where the kids could walk around and easily count objects.
4. letters- “I spy with my little eye the letter B.”  You could spy letters on billboards while you are driving, or letters on a page while you are reading.”
5. words- “I spy with my little eye the word go.”  Again, this could work on billboards on the road or in books in a waiting room.
6. spelling- “I spy with my little eye something that begins with the letter C.”  You could just give the first letter, spell out a whole word, or maybe even letter patterns inside the word like “ee.”
7. phonics- “I spy with my little eye something that begins with the sound /s/.”  Same playing with letters, but this time use letter sounds.
8. rhymes- “I spy with my little eye something that rhymes with bee.”
9. adjectives- “I spy with my little eye something smooth.”  This is another game that would be best played in a room where kids could feel the different textures.
10. measurement– “I spy with my little eye something about one inch tall.”  Be sure to review unit measurements before you play.  If you play this at your house, they could walk around and measure things with a ruler.