DIY I Spy... Travel Containers

As a part of the Chick-Fil-A Mom’s Panel they periodically send us gift cards for yummy food. Recently they sent us a few gift cards for Chicken Tortilla Soup with a challenge to re-use our container in some way and share our upcycle. Here’s what I came up with:

I am always on the look out for ways to keep my sons entertained and since they both love I spy, Seek & Finds, and picture puzzles I decided that a spin on the I spy game would be a good choice.

So after we ate our delicious Chicken Tortilla Soup I washed and dried the containers. Then I gathered up some small toys and objects from around the house. If you’re making one I’m sure you have plenty of little things on hand. Just spend a few minutes going room to room thinking about what small things would fit into your container. I made 2 different containers and here’s what I used to give you an idea:

As you can see I laid all the items out and snapped a photo of them. I then added on labels and printed them out so that my sons would have a checklist of what to look for in the containers. If you want to keep it simple you can just write the items down on a note card or scrap of paper. I wanted to have a visual list for my younger son who is not yet reading.

To make each container put in the items that you want to use. Then add about 3/4 to 1 cup of rice. The amount of rice you need will depend on the size of the items that you use. You want it to be pretty full so that some of the items are hidden but not so full that the items cannot move when your child shakes it around a little to look for more items.

Once you have figured out how much rice you need snap the lid on. If you are worried that your kid might take the lid off and spill rice everywhere then you could hot glue the lid on and then when you no longer want to use it you can use scissors to cut the container open to get your items out. I had both my boys play with this and had no concerns about them opening the containers.

Give your kiddo a container and the item list and let him or her go to town finding the treasures hidden in the rice.