Encourage Independent Quiet Play With This Free Printable back to school I Spy game for kids. Easy To Download And Totally Free This back to school I Spy Printable Worksheet Is A Great Boredom Buster For Kids As Young As 3.
Related: 6 Cute Free Printable Back To School Coloring Pages For Kids
Free Printable Back To School I Spy Activity For Kids
We love I Spy activities for kids and this I Spy 4th of July activity is no exception. I Spy games are a great screen free activity that encourage quiet time independent play while building on number sense and problem solving skills for children as young as 3.
I Spy games for kids are a spin off of the traditional “I Spy game” that kids love playing and that most of us remember from our childhood.
Related: For even more fun FREE I Spy Count and Color games click here.
In these free printable paper versions, children search for their I spy items in a grid, color them and then group them together by counting how many similar items they can find.
I Spy games for kids are one of our favorite screen free activities for kids. As a result, we’ve created dozens of I Spy games in a variety of themes for you to download totally free.
We have created a free I Spy worksheet for nearly every holiday and theme and continue to create them on a regular basis! Click here to be taken to the category page for every I Spy activity we’ve created.
The best part? All of our I Spy games, worksheets and activities are FREE. You do not need to jump through hoops to get your free back to school I Spy download. Instead all of our I Spy activities are free, easy to download and do not require that you sign up or become a member for access.
I Spy activities are perfect for rainy days and last minute situations where you need to engage a child in quiet independent play.
What will you find in this post? First we give you a ton of reasons why I Spy worksheets are an amazing learning tool for young learners. From there, we’ll give you some suggestions about when you might want to use an I Spy worksheet with your kids or in your classroom. Finally, we walk you through downloading your totally free no strings attached copy.
Ready? Continue reading to get more information about this back to school I Spy game and free printable for kids.
Are you in a rush? Click here to save this back to school I Spy activity to your favorite printables board on Pinterest. This way, you can easily come back to this free worksheet anytime you want!
About This Back to School I Spy Worksheet
This totally back to school I Spy printable was designed with even the youngest learners in mind. With two versions to pick from you can easily customize the difficulty of this activity based on the unique needs of your learner.
The easy version of this back to school I Spy worksheet is color coded. As a result, the easy version of the back to school I Spy game is handy for non readers while the difficult version is suited for older children and emergent readers.
This back to school I Spy printable game is also useful in the classroom. If you’re in a classroom with children with a varied range of learning styles and needs you can print both versions and distribute a scaled version of this activity based on each student’s unique needs. Having a variety of these I Spy printables tucked away in your desk is always a great idea for days when you need to switch up activities or need to fill a couple of extra minutes before the bell rings.
This back to school I Spy game is perfect for kids who are learning about and celebrating the start of a new school year!
Our I Spy games and worksheets are also a great option for homeschoolers, daycare provides, babysitters, summer camp councilors, tutors, after school clubs or anyone else who is looking for a fun activity kids will enjoy.
Are you in a rush? Click here to save this back to school I Spy activity to your favorite printables board on Pinterest. This way, you can easily come back to this free worksheet anytime you want!
Please note that these I Spy printables are free for personal use only. That means that our I Spy worksheets, activities and printables cannot be sold or modified in any way.
What This Back To School I Spy Activity Works On
I Spy activities for kids are an excellent learning tool for children. This back to school I Spy worksheet challenges young learners to search for patriotic items in the activity grid.
The learning objectives of this back to school I Spy activity include:
- Encouraging autonomous play and concentration since kids learn better when they are having fun
- Strengthening problem solving skills because kids have to find a strategy to group their items
- Encouraging and strengthen visual tracking skills
- Encouraging observational and deduction skills
- Strengthening numeracy skills and number sense including counting and sorting
- Building on pattern recognition skills including identifying similar objects
- Coloring skills including hand strength, pencil control and fine motor skills
- Identifying colors and coloring objects appropriately based on a legend
- Improving reading skills by requiring children to decode colors in the more difficult stencil
Are you in a rush? Click here to save this back to school I Spy activity to your favorite printables board on Pinterest. This way, you can easily come back to this free worksheet anytime you want!
When To Use This Back To School I Spy Game For Kids
This Back To School I Spy worksheet for kids is suited for times when you want to encourage quiet time autonomous play. Here are a few examples of when this I Spy game would come in handy.
I Spy games for children are versatile and are perfect for use at home and in the classroom. I spy activities encourage learning, literacy and mathematics making them a great choice for teachers because they can be scaled for difficulty and based on any topic of theme.
- Long distance car rides and road trips
- While travelling long distances on planes, trains and buses
- When you’re out for dinner, at party , BBQ or other gathering
- In the waiting room at the doctor or dentist
- As a birthday party activity
- As a boredom buster when kids complain they have nothing to do
- Indoor or outdoor
- At grandma’s house
- When the weather sucks and you’re looking for a last minute rainy day activity that will not break the bank
- Before bed to enjoy a relaxing screen free activity that helps kids unwind and relax
- At home when you’re working and need quiet time to get through a meeting
- At home during afternoon relaxation and quiet time
- At home when you need to get chores done and it would be helpful to keep your child entertained
- At home when the baby is napping and your preschooler or older toddler is not
- In the classroom when a student completes their work early
- In the classroom when you’re substituting a class and need a fun engaging activity for students
- In the classroom when you’re encouraging social time with structured play
Save this post. Click here to save this back to school I Spy activity to your favorite printables board on Pinterest. This way, you can easily come back to this free worksheet anytime you want!
Recommended Supplies
I Spy worksheets and games for kids are a great quick and easy choice for times when you want to engage kids in quiet autonomous play. I Spy games for kids need very little in the way of supplies which makes them the perfect quick and easy activity choice.
Here are some of our favorite recommendations for making your child’s I Spy experience a really fun and engaging one:
- Good quality printing paper since kids press hard when they color and you want to prevent the paper from ripping. We recommend this heavy weight cardstock printing paper available via Amazon because it is thick and resistant to coloring.
- A color printer to print the I Spy worksheet in vivid color. We recommend this Brother Multifunction color printer because it’s a great value at under $200 for a wireless color printer.
- Markers, coloring pencils or wax crayons for coloring and grouping the I Spy elements
- A laminator for laminating these worksheets so they can be used over and over again with dry erase markers
- A timer to add an element of competition and make it a challenge
Save this post for later. Click here to save this back to school I Spy activity to your favorite printables board on Pinterest. This way, you can easily come back to this free worksheet anytime you want!
Tips For Getting The Most Out Of I Spy Activities:
I Spy games can be used in a variety of creative ways that encourage children to have fun while playing and learning autonomously.
Here are a couple of tips for getting the most out of I Spy activities for kids and making them a go-to in the car, at home and in the classroom.
Create An I Spy Busy Book
Print a variety of different I Spy games in different themes and create a busy book that you can pull out on the fly when you need fun activities that encourages quiet independent play.
Creating your very own I Spy busy book is really quite easy. Print a variety of I Spy games (click here to see our entire database of free I Spy games), hole punch them using a 3 hole puncher and place them in a 3 ring binder or duotang folder so they are all neatly stored in one place.
Laminate Your I Spy Games
Laminating your I Spy Games is a great way to cut down on paper and make your I Spy games for kids 100% reusable.
We love the idea of reusing I Spy games for kids by laminating each individual worksheet and using dry erase markers in a variety of colors to complete the activity.
Laminate a variety of I Spy games to have a good selection to rotate and reuse.
Save this post for later. Click here to save this back to school I Spy activity to your favorite printables board on Pinterest. This way, you can easily come back to this free worksheet anytime you want!
Add A Timer
If your child likes an added challenge you can make traditional pen and paper I spy games even more fun by using a timer.
Using a timer turns this solo activity into a challenge that can motivate kids to work more quickly and more efficiently. Challenge them to find items in a set number of minutes and then slowly reduce the allotted time to make it even more difficult.
Adding a timer is especially fun when I Spy games are being used in group settings like birthday parties and in classroom settings. Group kids in pairs and have them compete to solve an I spy challenge.
Gotta go? Click here to save this back to school I Spy activity to your favorite printables board on Pinterest. This way, you can easily come back to this free worksheet anytime you want!
Carry Extras
Kids have this way of ripping, soiling or otherwise destroying paper. As a result, we highly suggest you print multiple copies (click here to check out our entire collection of free I spy games for kids) to have extras on hand should you need them.
Carrying extras also makes sharing easy! After all, sharing is caring!
Save this post for later. Click here to save this back to school I Spy activity to your favorite printables board on Pinterest. This way, you can easily come back to this free worksheet anytime you want!
More Neat Back To School I Spy Themed Activities For Kids We Love
If you child loves loves playing bingo or completing a word search you can provide them with even more learning opportunities about back to school with these clever back to school themed crafts and projects we love.
From back to school bingo to free back to school crafts these neat school themed crafts and activities are the perfect extension to our free printable back to school I Spy activity.
Are you in a rush? Click here to save this back to school I Spy activity to your favorite printables board on Pinterest
Print & Download Instructions
Printing these I Spy worksheets is easy. There’s no jumping through hoops required since our printables are always free. There’s no need to sign up to become a member. In fact, these free I Spy printables cost you absolutely nothing and are literally one click away.
To start, click on the link that corresponds to the back to school I Spy version you want to download. Remember how we created an easier and more difficult version? Well, you can download one or download both: that’s totally up to you!
A new window with a printable pdf will appear and you can proceed to print your free back to school I Spy . We highly suggest you save the document somewhere on your hard drive where it is easy to find so you can print it again and again.
Do you prefer not to download this back to school I Spy worksheet as a pdf? No problem! You can save each of the images below to your hard drive and print each image file separately after opening it in an image editor.
Click here to download the EASY version of this Back To School I Spy Count & Color activity.
Click here to download the DIFFICULT version of this Back To School I Spy Count & Color activity.
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Even More Screen Free Activities We Know You’ll Love:
- Get outside and get creative with these 50 popular summer sidewalk chalk ideas.
- Make mastering the alphabet fun with these Letter Recognition Worksheets (26 page free printable PDF bundle)
- 101 Best Free Printable Boredom Busting Would You Rather Questions For Kids You Need To Download
- Looking for neat rainy day activities for kids? Here are 75+ ridiculously fun ways to keep kids busy when you’re stuck inside.
- Do the kids love scavenger hunts? Here’s a totally free printable scavenger hunt you can do on your next family walk.
- Looking for even more clever screen free play ideas? Here are 10 of our favorite ways to get kids to play without a tablet.
Please note that these I Spy printables are free for personal use only. That means that our I Spy worksheets, activities and printables cannot be sold or modified in any way.