Homemade I Spy Tube

Jennifer Neill's fantastic Homemade I Spy Tube tutorial will teach you how to make hidden object games for kids. This DIY version of the Find It plastic cylinder game is great for waiting rooms and long car trips!

You can find this project and more kids' crafts in our free eBook, Family Fun Crafts: 16 Craft Ideas for Kids!

Materials:

• Tiny, random toys
• Rice or Acini de Pepe pasta
• Jar
• Rubbing alcohol
• Three colors of food coloring
• Paper towels
• Plastic tube or baggie
• Cards, cut out from computer

Instructions:

1. We began by having a scavenger hunt for lots of tiny, random toys.
    
2. Next, we dyed rice three colors for the filler. (If I could give any advice, it would be to make this from Acini de Pepe pasta rather than rice as the little balls would be more like the actual game. I didn't think of this until after the game was constructed and the dying process for pasta is exactly the same.)
    
3. Simply place white rice or pasta into a jar and cover with ordinary rubbing alcohol. Add food coloring and shake. Leave overnight or to desired tint. Strain the rice and lay out to dry on a paper towel.
   
   
    
4. Mix dried rice and little toys in a bowl.
   
   
    
5. Add the whole mixture to some kind of clear tube. We used an empty ornament container, but a tennis ball tube would work as well. (And, I'm pretty sure someone linked up an idea like this on Tutorial Tuesday on time using a ziploc baggie.)
   
   
    
6. To make it more like a game, keep track of all the objects in the tube and type up and cut out cards on the computer. They can draw a card and look for that object!