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Publish your own I Spy book

by Whitney Moss on January 16, 2012

in Crafty,Free/Cheap,Geeky,Indoors,Photo,Preschooler



We are big fans of the I Spy books, starting with the board book versions I bought when Julian was a baby. We play “I Spy” with regular books, too, and now we’ve graduated into Where’s Waldo? territory.

When Julian was four, he and I did a little photo shoot with big plans — still unfulfilled as of this writing — to make our own I Spy book. We ended up with unbound printed photos. (You can do it, that way, too.)


DIY I Spy Book

  1. Set up a solid colored background on the floor. We used a foam play mat.
  2. Gather a laundry basket full of {insert nice word for “junk”}. Include favorite objects and personal items.
  3. Spread your items on the background as you like. Since there’s no wrong way to do this, let your preschooler help.
  4. Try to talk your preschooler out of being in the picture himself. I failed. See above.
  5. Photograph the scene.
  6. Arrange new items and repeat.
  7. Upload set of photos to your choice of photobook makers and order yourself a book.
  8. Alternatively, cheap out and simply print the results on your own printer. Paper clip the photos together to make a set of I Spy cards for use in the car or on the plane.

Another fun version of this activity is to dump your purse and photograph the results.

This is part of our year-long series Makin’ It with The Rookie Moms. To contribute your own idea, click over here.

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

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