I SPY In Common

I SPY in Common

I SPY is a line of Scholastic books and games that target visual perceptual skills with a heavy focus on figure ground. 

The instructions for I SPY in Common offers two levels of play: 1) For ages 5-7, 2) For ages 7 and up. The object of the game is to fill your game board using tiles that have something in common. The columns on the boards are marked A-D, the rows are marked 1-4, and diagonally they are marked X and Y. Try to find something in common for every tile in the A column, every tile in the B column, every tile in row 1, every tile in row 2, and so forth. The more ways you find things in common, the more points you get. Matches can be anything you want. For instance things that are round, things that beep, things that have stripes, things with wheels, squishy things, animals, edible things. Encourage creativity.

Included is a 3 minute timer. While I don't typically use timers, it might be prudent in this case since this game does not have any preset stopping point and could go on and on.  

For kids age 5-7, the object of the game is is to create a domino chain of commonalities using the tiles only. I went to the Scholastic website to try and find a better picture of this and found that they have a lot of I SPY resources including printables and online games.

Check out more fun figure ground games at I SPY Games.

Try this:

• Use a single tile and name as many categories as you can before the timer runs out.
• Use a single tile and name a set of two, then a set of three, then four. How high can you go? Can you find a commonality in all 8 items?
• Spread several cards on the table. Name a category. As soon as you see a match, grab that tile. Who can get the most tiles?  Take turns naming categories until the tiles have all be collected.
• Work on visual discrimination, manual dexterity, visual closure, figure ground, visual form constancy, executive functioning skills, process skills, socialization skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: 4 game boards, 32 double sided tiles, score pad, pencils, three minute timer
Ages 5+, 2-4 players

If you are interested in purchasing this game or just want more information, click on the image below.