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Use the I Spy Dig In to encourage your little one to discover, explore, learn and grow through play!
Every game has it’s set of directions to follow, but there are always ways to adapt games to increase learning and language opportunities for your little one! I Spy is a classic game, loved by many households and classrooms around the country. Children and families bond together in an interactive game that not only is fun, but promotes so much language and learning as well! Below is a list of some ways Valued Voices loves to use this game to stimulate language and learning while still having fun! Give them a try the next time you play:
1. Describing Objects:
Children are learning how to talk about objects, instead of just labeling them. This helps with learning object attributes (like size, shape, color, etc.), as well as object functions, categories, and even begins to address “wh”-questions.
Example: Bike
- Object Function: It is something you ride
- Category: It is a vehicle/transportation
- Object Attributes: It is green and blue, it has pedals, it goes fast
- WH-Concepts: you can find it outside, in a garage, or in a store”
2. Learning Colors
3. Increasing vocabulary for objects, adjectives, and concepts
4. Answering WH-Questions:
Parents can ask a wide variety of WH-questions during this game to help their children understand various concepts, such as person, place, thing, time, function, etc. WH-Questions are a pre-cursor to literacy skills and narratives.
Example: Bottle
- WHO: Who uses it?
- WHERE: Where do you find it?
- WHEN: When do you use it?
- WHAT: What do you do with it?
- WHY: Why does a baby need it?
5. Social Skills & Higher-Level Language:
- Turn taking
- Perspective taking
- Making inferences and Reasoning
There are so many ways to keep this game fun, while creating opportunities for language development and self-expression!
