Traveling with the littles (pt.2)

Eye Spy! with my little eye... We've all played it before. A classic game of eye spy in the backseat of our family vehicle, fighting with our big sister (or little brother) over who guessed it first! Well today, I bring a new type of eye spy to the table, and this one will bring those fights to an end! Unless of course you only make one, be prepared for war!

I first seen these floating around Pinterest about a year ago, I loved the idea, and I loved that we could use familiar objects that my kids loved to create it! The only downfall, is that I made only one. I figured two of the same book would be a big waste of money, and since I could only think of a few pages to add, I definitely didn't have enough Eye Spy pages for two separate books. This could be an awesome way to teach them to take turns and the importance of sharing, or it could go horribly wrong and cause said, war.

This book cost me just under $5 (Canadian), and these are supplies I needed;
- Camera
- Toys, grouped into 7-10 piles
- White piece of paper or blanket
- Little 4x6 photo album (found mine from dollar giant for $1.25)

First, I sorted their toys into groups. This was a little time consuming, but I had them help, which they really enjoyed! AND it gave me a chance to go through their toys and sort them! (Or dispose of them if they were broken/missing parts) So it was a win win :)

Then I got out my camera, arranged all the toys from one group onto the paper, and took a couple of shots. I then picked out 3-5 toys from that group, and took another picture of them, this time with a big blank spot to the left or right, to fill with words later in photoshop! pixlr.com/ works great too ;)
(NOTE: After I did this, I realized that wal-mart cropped some of the toys out of the image around the edges, so it is best to pick toys that are in the middle of the group so your child can actually find them!)
I did this with each group. Two photos.
Then I opened up the photos with the blank spots and filled it with text like, "Can you find these Thomas Characters?" I also created one for the front of their book that has their names on it.
Once I finished editing the photos, I sent them into Wal-mart online, and picked them up later! (ONLY reason I used Wal-Mart was because they had a sale on their 4x6 prints for 15¢, usually they are 25¢! I NEVER pay full price :)



This is the easiest part, once you grab your prints, you throw them into your little photo album and Ta-Da! You are done. Sit back and let your kids have fun! This was definitely a hit for the two of them, and hopefully something that will keep them busy in the backseat on our long journey this summer!
I would love to see your Eye Spy books, if you get a chance to make one, let me know so we can link up! Have a happy weekend :) OH, and I almost forgot, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! To all your wonderful super moms out there ;)

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Traveling with the littles ( pt.1! )

In just over a month, we will be taking a road trip. A very long road trip. It takes approximately 17+ hours from our house, to Salem Oregon where my husbands family all lives. But, and this is a really big but, that was before kids! Or, before wonderfully long hour sleeping babies who would let us drive mostly non stop, turned into toddlers. So in order to save my sanity, I have once again bit of plenty more than I can chew, and put together a list (no thanks to Pinterest) of car, bordem busters! This is the first of many...

Okay, so a few months back, or maybe many months back, I created a super easy, inexpensive dry erase book that can be used with play dough OR dry erase markers/crayons. This week, I created a few more pages to add to that book that are more car friendly! (and toddler friendly!) I found a few online that I liked, but all cost a bit to be able to print them or seemed too advanced for my almost 4 year olds, so I created my own. Cost me nothing but black ink from my printer, and I slipped them into the plastic pages I bought for my original dry erase book { here. }

I created 9 sheets, 1 - 9, that are simply numbers. For example, on number one they can trace the word one, and then find and circle of the 1's inside of the giant 1. Then I created a scavenger hunt page with images rather than words as my two are clearly not reading yet! When we pass by a cow, they cross it off. If they find someone talking on their phone, the cross it off. You get the idea :)



I showed them to the boys, and they were a hit! I told them what to do, and they caught on real quick. Now I just have to order some dry erase crayons from Amazon, and one of my many travelling pins are done! Hehe. Have you ever tried making a dry erase book for your little's while traveling, or have any advice for me?

You can find the original post and other free printables for your own DIY dry erase books over { here }. The books cost me $2 each from Dollarama, but I have also found plastic sleeves for $1 that can be snapped into a binder! I have linked to all of the pages below if you would like to print them off and use them in your own dry erase books. Happy traveling!

Numbers 1
Numbers 2
Numbers 3
Numbers 4
Numbers 5
Numbers 6
Numbers 7
Numbers 8
Numbers 9
AND
Pre-K Car Scavenger Hunt

I'm off on another project to beautify my backyard this weekend and hopefully get it summer ready!!! Hope everyone enjoys their weekend and you take a minute or two to stop and smell the roses! (or play with your kids; That'll work too!)