As you all know Monkey and I recently flew to Spain for a week without Daddy P. I was anxious for Monkey to have lots to keep him entertained whilst we travelled and I found the perfect thing. I can thoroughly recommend entertaining children with i-SPY books, they are just brilliant.
I can remember the original i-SPY books from my own childhood, and Collins have recently relaunched the range. These books are as much fun to complete in the 21st century as I remember them being 40 odd years ago! There are 57 different titles in the series, and we picked 2 to keep Monkey entertained. The i-SPY At the Airport was an obvious choice for our recent trip. Loving all things nature I knew the i-SPY In the Countryside would also work well for us.
If you haven’t heard of i-SPY books before, they offer a great opportunity for children to really look around them and are great for working on observation skills. In each book there are categories, and in each category there are things to spot. Each object is worth a different number of points. The idea is to collect as many points as you can, once you’ve collected 1000 points you are entitled to a free i-SPY Super Spotter Certificate and Badge.
So two weeks ago I set Monkey a challenge to see just how many points he could secure on both legs of our Birmingham/Malaga trip.
I wasn’t 100% sure how he’d react to it, but I needn’t have worried, he grasped the idea straight away and was off. Mummy I need a pen.
Right from our arrival at the Airport, through Check-in, Boarding and Arrivals there were photo challenges waiting for him. To say that he loved his i-SPY book would be a big understatement. These books cost £2.99 each and they are worth every penny. He was totally absorbed in the At the Airport book, he got so excited every time he spotted something new.
We had so many discussions over the course of the departures and arrivals at both airports as a result of the i-SPY book. We discussed things that Monkey was unsure of such as what a concourse is, where a first class lounge might be and so on.
There might have been a little bit of cheating almost going on, when Monkey tried to convince me he’d seen an Air Seychelles and a Royal Brunei Airlines flight at Birmingham Airport. Nice try!
Entertaining children with i-SPY books provides them with so much fun. On our return flight we still hadn’t spotted an Easyjet plane, normally a dead cert. There was near hysteria as Monkey spotted one as our Monarch plane approached the stand. Mummy look, that’s another 5 points!!
If we’d been flying from Heathrow I think he’d have completed the whole book, as it is we’ve still got more points to get. That’s ok Mummy, I’ll keep my book for the future.
When we returned home we’d been looking forward to getting out and about to try out the i-SPY In the Countryside book too. With categories which include the seasons, this isn’t a book challenge you can complete instantly. Monkey’s already provided that this doesn’t bother him. I like the idea that we can use it at more than one time of year too.
The books are perfectly sized to fit in a handbag, or rucksack and the i-SPY In the Countryside book will be coming with us all the time in the months ahead.
I’ve already been instructed to buy a range of other titles for our forthcoming trips to London and Cornwall. Clearly these books have made a big impression on my 6 year old. They get a big thumbs up from both of us.
disclosure: we were sent the items mentioned in exchange for an honest review. I’ve included my Amazon Affiliate links for a few of our favourite titles.
I’ve teamed up with the team at Collins to offer 4 lucky readers a set of 3 books – i-SPY On a Road Trip, At the Seaside and Creepy Crawlies! Just complete the Gleam form below for your chance to win – good luck!
Terms and conditions:
(Please note that all entries will be checked against comments for validation).
Only the first step of this form is mandatory, all other steps are optional. Only one entry per person is allowed.
This giveaway is for UK residents only.
Once a winner is randomly picked, I will check if the winner has done what was requested and I will contact them, if they do not reply within one week, the prize will be allocated to another person.
The giveaway will close on 15th August 2016 at midnight.
Set of 3 i-SPY books – On a Road Trip, At the Seaside and Creepy Crawlies
Don’t forget to visit my Giveaways page for more great prizes on offer!
That’s a really difficult question because they already seem to have an eye-spy book for everything I can think of! But I see they’ve got one for London, but maybe not for other cities, so I would add some for other cities that they haven’t already covered.
I spy restaurants as nice to see something familiar when going away
I spy at school
I’d like I spy restaurants 🙂 xx
I Spy colours for my little one who is just learning these
i-Spy Uniforms & Work Clothes e.g. chef’s hat, policeman, nurse…..
These are great I agree with the above comments of restaurants/eating out perfect to keep little ones enterained while waiting for food we will often play the traditional way anyway but this would perhaps be more fun for them
Such a hard question – I-Spy Trees and bushes – we go on walks in the woods and I don’t know what they are most of the time, so would help me as well as my sons!!!!
I spy woodland, with all the creatures and plants, its just something different x
I spy Sports events
I Spy in the city
I loved these books as a kid and favourites were I spy butterflies, and I think a good one might be a I spy motorway book.
I spy slugs snails and garden creatures
Always fascinated by different creepie crawlers in the garden -always coming across something new
I-Spy in the woods
I spy cars
If you were to add a book to the i-SPY range what would the subject be and why? . . . . . . History because it’s a fascinating topic and it’s all around us
I spy TV STATION
Castles would be exciting x
What lovely books, I would to see an I spy in the park book as would be perfect for taking to the park.
I spy in the car! X
I Spy at The Dentist, would perhaps help nervous little ones whilst waiting
Perhaps I Spy in the Hospital to keep children occupied and distract them when they’re poorly.
I spy zoo, or sealife centre
i-SPY Inside the Human Body. Educational. Could cover some Anatomy, Physiology and Health. Could maybe make use of showing and explaining X-Rays, Scans etc and how it allows Doctors etc to see what is inside the Human Body.
I spy airplanes
I spy ‘in the fields and hedgerows’
I spy in the forest
I spy History (types of building , date plaques on houses, (old village features that kind of thin)
Birds! would be good especially for car journeys
i spy birds, if there isnt already one!
Countryside- as I think we’d get hours of outside adventuring as a family trying to find things. Nothing beats getting out in the fresh air roaming about 🙂
Although… I quite like the idea of the roadtrip one, as I struggle to keep my son amused on long car journeys…
I spy in the Park (if that hasnt already been done)- it’s easily accessible and as we get dragged to various parks, there’d be lots to point out!
Or I Spy in Town/ at the supermarket- anything to keep then amused whilst I have to do the shopping
I-Spy in the park. It’s a fun place to go but this would add another dimension.
zoo or animal park
I-Spy at the River
In the forest.
I would get eye spy at the beach because we love long walks on the beach exploring.
I Spy Books & Libraries would encourage exploring different types of books which would normally be ignored
I spy in the city, it would be great fun to play this with my son on our trips to the city.
I-Spy at the beach could be interesting.
I Spy at the library – perfect for encouraging us to use them more and instill a love of books in our children
I spy people would be interesting
Musical insruments or something about going to a concert or a play or something
I spy dogs would be great
I spy funny things daddy does!
things in a supermarket – to keep them busy on a shopping trip!
I SPY in the woods would be cool!
i-Spy at the Zoo would be good fun and very educational. x
I spy at the sky -catchy!
I Spy in the countryside
As our daughter gets fed up walking after a while and this would help entertain her
I spy book of bicycles
I-Spy at the Zoo
I-Spy Food. You could take it to the supermarket to keep the kids occupied.
I would probably go for Town Birds to keep the children occupied when I have to take them shopping for family things.
Wildlife
Different breeds of dogs
My children love I – spy books, my son is currently obsessed with road signs so we would love one with them to spot.
i spy at the zoo would be great
forgot to say, it would be really interesting as there are so many animals.
i spy top-of-the-hill!
I spy at the supermarket – so hopefully they would be entertained enough so I could get the weekly shop done!
I would say Sports. Look out for people playing sport and what can be found there. It could encourage young people to try different sports.
socks!! i spy socks cos we are forever losing them!
I spy in the supermarket
I spy dogs would be good, when we’re all walking the dog we could spot all of the different breeds
I’d like I spy in the car.
I think my lads would like I-Spy Mobile Phones
farm animals maybe, or landmarks
I spy road signs
I spy school to familiarise young children with the new environment. It would be fun for them to complete on visits before starting school with parents or for teachers as a fun way to show the children around on their first days.
I spy in the woods
I spy castles
Trees and plants because my son always wants to find out what type they are & I don’t know!!
I Spy Cruise ships
I spy dogs would be a good one that I would of loved as a child.
I think i-spy uniforms would be a really good one. It’s one you could do out and about.
I spy on a mountain
iSpy food! 🙂
It would be combines and tractors my kids are obsessed with both!
In the woods because my daughter loves exploring them and there is so much to see and find.
I would be i-spy “in the supermarket” – would keep them quiet whilst I shopped!
i spy for the fairys
I spy restaurants
ispy at the beach! because I think there would be some interesting things to find 🙂
I spy toys, because children would love these fun, entertaining books!
I-spy at the zoo 😀
I-Spy in the Supermarket. That would give the kids something to do while we’re shopping.
Something to do with rocks and fossils I think 🙂
I spy in the home