Materials
Felt or burlap
Scissors
Needle and thread or glue
Dowel rods
Paintbrush
Brown, yellow, red, and black paint
Shallow pans
Permanent marker or fabric paint pen
String
Instructions
11. If available, show the children an I Spy book.
12. Invite the children to bring in an assortment of small items from home so
that they can make a classroom "We Spy" book. (It is helpful to provide parents
with a list of suggested items.)
13. Encourage the children to sort all of the contributed items. Help them decide
which categories to use for different pages of their "We Spy" book, such as
vehicles, ocean creatures, animals, and so on.
14. Encourage the children to arrange or display items in any fashion. Blocks or
shelves make great displays for the items, and various types of fabrics, quilts,
or blankets make great backdrops, but these are not essential. To eliminate
crowding and confusion, you may want to assign two or three children for
each page.
15. When children have finished organizing items for a specific page, photograph
their display.
16. Allow children to create displays for as many pages as time, film, or funds
allow! Keep in mind that arranging and photographing items takes much
longer than you may anticipate. You may want to allow an entire week to
complete this project.
17. Get the film developed. If funds allow, make enlarged color copies for your
book.
18. Ask children to examine the pages and tell you a few things that they spy.
Keep a list of the items they spy and their page numbers. Make sure you
have one or two entries for each child.
19. Print the text for each page.
10. For the cover, you may want to select some illustrations from the children, or
make some type of group creation.
More to do
Parents may wish to purchase their own copy of the "We Spy" book. If so, invite
them to a "book signing" in your classroom.
