Do you love Summer Vacation but dread long road trips with your family? Help the time pass by making a unique I Spy game ornament for your kids that you can hang on your Christmas tree. Your family will love having this keepsake that keeps your summer memories alive!

I Spy has always been a great game for long trips because it keeps kids busy, at least for a short period of time! Our summer vacation I spy ornament is unique in that it celebrates your family’s favorite summertime activities. Use items in your I spy ornament that have meaning, such as a bumble bee for your child’s first sting, an ice cream sundae to remind you of visits to your favorite ice cream parlor or a slice of watermelon to bring back memories of a family reunion picnic.

How To Make A Summer Vacation I Spy Ornament

It’s fun and easy to make a summer vacation I spy ornament. You may even want your kids to join in the fun and help collect objects to put inside!

Supplies

• Shatterproof clear ornament from a craft store
• Sand – colored from a craft store or regular off a beach from your summer vacation
• Piece of paper
• I Spy objects – dollhouse pieces, beads, craft pieces, charms (anything that fits in the hole!)
• Glue
• Ribbon – optional
• List of items – optional
• Paint pen – optional

Step 1: Any objects that fit in the hole can be used for an I spy summer vacation ornament. We chose the following: lantern for a camping trip, sparkler for 4 of July parade, baseball bat, glove and ball for an outing to the ballpark, seahorse, seashell and starfish for a day spent at the beach, cactus for a trip to Arizona, hammer for a home improvement project, ladybug for a picnic, glass of lemonade for a neighborhood lemonade stand, horseshoe for a horseback riding adventure, electric guitar for a summer concert, flowers for planting a garden and book for a great summer novel read. These just give you ideas, but choose your own selections for your summer vacation ornament filled with I spy items!

Step 2: Carefully remove the top from the ornament. Using the piece of paper, make a funnel and pour the sand in about 1/4 of the way up.

Note: It is important to use a shatterproof ornament if you want your children to use it as a toy.

Step 3: Insert all of the I Spy objects that represent your summer vacation. You may have to turn some of the objects to wiggle them through the hole!

Step 4: Fill the ornament with the rest of the sand until the ornament is about half way full. Make sure you don’t go all the way to the top or the objects won’t have room to move around!

Note: We used two different colors of blue sand. Get creative with colors if you want!

Step 5: Glue the inside of the ornament cap and replace it. Firmly press the sides and put a dab of glue on the two holes at the top that hold the hook in place, just to make sure no sand will escape when it is turned upside down. Let it dry.

Step 6: Once the cap is secured and dried, shake the contents around to mix up the colors of sand and objects.

Step 7 (optional): You can tie a ribbon on top to make it look pretty and attach a list of the I spy objects that are inside. To make this ornament a lasting keepsake from your summer vacation, personalize the outside with your family name, summer vacation, year or anything else that makes it a personal treasure for your family.

That’s it! Now you have a neat family entertainment tool for your summer vacation road trip. Maybe it will reduce the incessant “Are we there yet?” questions from the back seat!

Let children find the objects and ask them what it reminds them of. It will make the I spy game last longer and it will help jog their memories. This ornament is fun for the whole family and a great reminder of what your family did on summer vacation. When you hang it on your Christmas tree, you can reminisce together. Make an I spy ornament for your summer vacation every year to build your Christmas tree with fun-filled memories!

Share this fun summer vacation idea with your family and friends who love to play I Spy games with their children!

Want to build more memories for your Christmas tree? We have travel suitcase and flag ornaments for your worldwide summer vacation destinations or summer vacation family ornaments that you will love personalized with your names to commemorate a day at the beach or tropical paradise. Beachtastic