Looking for a fun vocabulary builder for young learners? Try these I SPY picture mats!
On a recent trip to the field museum, my three-year-old looked through the glass at a rhinoceros.
“Is that a unicorn?” he asked.
Later, when looking at a display of pumpkin seeds, a zucchini, and pumpkin pie, my husband asked him what was behind the glass.
“Peanuts, a cucumber, and pizza!”
My husband looked at me and noted, “I think we need to work on his vocabulary.”
The truth is that my older kids had stronger vocabulary at this age.
I read to them more, played with them more, and generally paid them more attention.
I love my little boy to pieces, but these days there’s less of me to go around.
The trip to the museum was a bit of wake up call. I need to be more proactive with my youngest.
Watch the video below to see what I created. Zip to the end of the blog post to download the freebie!
Grow vocabulary with I SPY picture mats
I created a set of six picture mats:
- Vegetables 1
- Vegetables 2
- Fruit 1
- Fruit 2
- Farm Animals
- Pets
To play, I simply name the objects on the page (or give a clue to help my preschooler find them), and my little guy covers the objects with poker chips.
He actually asks for these … and his vocabulary is already growing!
You can use the I SPY mats however you’d like. I list four levels of play at the bottom of each mat. Each level gets progressively harder.
For example, on the I Spy Vegetables mat, the levels look like this:
Level 1 – Have your learner cover vegetables by their color.
Level 2 – Have your learner cover vegetables as you name them.
Level 3 – Give clues that relate to how we eat the vegetables. (Example: I spy a vegetable that we can make into a pie.)
Level 4 – Give clues that relate to the plants themselves. (Example: Which vegetable is the seed of a plant?)
Another way to play
My Three’s favorite way to play is to simply take turns naming the objects and covering them. It sounds like this:
My Three: “I spy corn.”
Me: “I spy a potato.”
My Three: “I spy celery.”
etc.
Use these mats with …
- Toddlers and preschoolers
- English language learners
- children and adults in speech therapy
P.S. You might also like my bundle of 500 vocabulary picture cards. The possibilities are endless!
© 2019, Anna G. All rights reserved.
Leslie @ A Family of Readers says
Vocabulary is such an important part of success in Language Arts overall…reading, writing, speaking and listening. As a special education teacher to less advantaged kids, I’ve been dismayed at times by the impact poor vocabulary has on their ability to keep up in the regular classroom. I love this idea for building vocabulary during their pull-out time with me. I think I might write the names of the objects below the pictures so I can include some work with initial sound and counting syllables. Thank you!
Anna G says
I’m glad you can find a way to use them, Leslie!
Kennesha Bell says
That video gave me life this morning. He was adamant about a “cow gives us milk” he couldn’t get over that. Iol!! This will be awesome for my ESL students. Finding your blog and all these amazing freebies is a God’s sent. I taught K, 1st and 5th grades in America for 4 years after being a Director at an early learning center for 4 years and then taught Junior college (prospective early years teachers trying to get a degree) for 1 year and coached teachers for grades K-3 for 1 year. Just when I thought I knew everything I moved overseas to teach in Qatar. I’ve been here for 3 years now teaching grade 1 and let me tell you, there is nothing like teaching English as a second language. It is extremely frustrating some days. I have definitely learned to be more patient. But your products have helped me become better. I said I wasn’t buying anything else this year for teaching, so I will try the freebie out first to help build vocabulary but something tells me, I’ll be breaking down again and purchasing these soon. These kids could really use some vocab building.
Next year, I will be leaving the classroom again to be the only reading specialist here and I know I will be on your blog nonstop. I say all of this to say: Thank you, you are reaching teachers far away and helping. The fact that so much stuff is free is fantastic. Please keep it up.
Anna G says
Thank you so much for your kind words, Kennesha, and I’m so glad you could use this freebie! I can’t imagine teaching overseas – I know it takes a very special and strong person. Blessings on your work!
Catherine Morrison says
Brilliant! Thank you Anna. I’ll be using these with my ESL learners, too. They need so much vocabulary that most of my time with them, initially at least, is spent building basic vocabulary knowledge. All your photo packs and language activities are SO useful. Can’t thank you enough! I can only echo the sentiments expressed by Kennesha above.
Anna G says
You’re very welcome, Catherine!
Margaret Symonette says
Thank you for the I Spy cards. I am using them working with our two year old.
Anna G says
You’re very welcome, Margaret!
Sarah Fenner says
I just LOVED that video!! So helpful to hear how you dealt with wrong answers from your son! He’s super cute! Thanks so much for sharing all of these awesome things with us!!
Anna G says
You’re very welcome, Sarah!
Debbie Sanders says
Once again you are sharing some great materials with us! I will be using these I Spy cards with my PreK ELL students. You have made them a snap to use by providing questions with different levels of difficulty. We don’t even have to create them. Thank you for using photographs so the pictures are the best examples of the animals and foods.
Anna G says
I’m glad you can use these, Debbie!
Clare says
THanks Anna, these I Spy mats are a great idea. Also makes me think of other topics I can do the same activity with, e.g. dinosaurs.
Anna G says
You’re welcome, Clare!
Jane says
Thank you so much for creating this activity. The pictures are crisp and easy on eyes. Our students in the special day class thoroughly enjoyed this activity.
Anna G says
You’re very welcome, Jane!
Sara says
Great activity. Would you be able to create similar I SPY mats for the following categories – Transportation, food items, locations, clothing, items used in daily living, and classroom items? This will be really helpful for early language learners. Thank you.
Anna G says
I’ll see what I can do – thanks for the suggestion!