I Spy Gelatin Treat

Growing up, I always loved anything I Spy. Looking through busy pictures, in tubes, or around the room for different items on a list. It almost felt as though I was a detective investigating a case–the case of the missing objects.

As my son gets older, he is starting to love some of the same activities. While books and jars and tubes are fun, I really wanted to make an edible I Spy Gelatin Treat!

These are fun to make, but you will need to play with the mix-ins. Some items disintegrate in the gelatin if you let them sit too long (I had this issue with some sprinkles), but other items (like fruits) work very well. Play around with it and find items you can easily hide and mix in.

What You Need

• Gelatin (I used a blue color, but you can use any you want–clear varieties would work very well)
• Little plastic cups
• Mix-ins (fruits, types of sprinkles, marshmallows, gummy candies, etc.)
• A spoon to dig

Directions

1. You will make the gelatin according to the packaging instructions for adding fruits or vegetables. Mine said to make the gelatin then refrigerate about 1-1/2 hours.

2. Scoop out one serving of the gelatin into a small bowl (about 1/2 cup) then add your mix-ins. What I added: 1 mandarin orange, 1 gummy worm, 1 pineapple chunk, 3 blueberries, 3 gummy bears, 1 raspberry, 2 grapes, 4 marshmallows, 2 heart-shaped candies, 1 gummy shark, 1 gummy fish, 2 candy eyes, 10 flower sprinkles (the sprinkles did not hold up after sitting overnight, but should be OK if used immediately.)

3. Gently fold the little snacks into the gelatin, taking care not to break anything.

4. Dump the gelatin mixture into the small plastic cup. At this point, you can serve immediately (this will allow less time for the sprinkles to disintegrate as well as make it easier for your child to dig) or refrigerate another 4 hours to solidify the rest of the way (this is great if you are using solid mix-ins like fruits or vegetables.

5. Hand your child a list of all the items to search for (i.e. 1 mandarin orange, 4 marshmallows, 2 bears) and check each off as it is found. If you have a large number of items to find, use two sheets of paper.

Make a box to check, write the number of items and the word then pictures of each item in the given amount (as the picture below.) If you are not great at drawing, you can use printed or cut out pictures. They will help to make this more visual and give your child something to cross off as each individual piece is found.

This activity will not only make for a fun treat (and potentially a nutritious one if you add in lots of fruits and use dye-free gelatin), but it also helps with problem solving, counting, object and shape identification, using lists, sight word identification, and motor skills.

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-Did you ever play I Spy games? What will you add to your I Spy Gelatin Treat?