Fun Summer Activities: Family I Spy Game Night

As the weather warms up, I find myself wanting to spend less and less time in the kitchen and more time doing fun summer activities.  I also like to look for ways to spend time with the family and build our love of reading and writing through literacy activities!

So when KFC contacted me about their new Game Night I Spy offer,  I knew I wanted to check it out.  Cross off making dinner for the night, spend more time with my family and have some literacy fun, yes please!

This post is sponsored by KFC who asked me to write about their Game Night I Spy offer.  Opinions and text are all mine!

Fun Summer Activities:  KFC I Spy Game Night

Playing games together as a family is a wonderful bonding experience as well as a great way to build oral language skills.

The Meal

Now through June 30, 2014 KFC is offering a free I Spy game and poster when you purchase a KFC 12 piece tender meal or larger with 2 large sides, 4 biscuits and 4 sauces.

My husband stopped at KFC on his way home from work and picked up his favorite Extra Crispy Tenders.  I requested my favorite side, coleslaw, because no matter how hard I try I can never replicate that yummy taste at home!  My boys of course wanted potato wedges as the other side.  And, we had to get extra biscuits because my little ones and Daddy like to spread strawberry jelly on them for dessert.

The Table

While the boys were napping, I prepped our game night dinner table.  I love that it took me less than 10 minutes to pull together.

• Covered the table with white drawing paper.
• Set out the plates, glasses and silverware.
• Drew an “I Spy” magnifying glass next to each place setting with a magic marker.  On each magnifying glass I wrote the alphabet and placed a crayon next to each setting.
• I then created an “I Spy” jar by taking a large mason jar and filling it with small objects (pine cone, ball, paper clip, letter magnets, candle, etc.).  This became our centerpiece.

Dinner Games

When Daddy arrived home, we were ready to eat and play.  We placed the KFC bucket  between two of us at the table.  The adult read the clue cards and one of the little ones searched for the object in the picture on the side of the bucket.   The clue cards are great because there is a set of easier picture clues on one side and all text on the other side.  It’s perfect for multi-aged players.  We added in identifying the first sound of the word too.  Then they had to find the letter that represented that sound on their magnifying glass and cross it out.

We used our centerpiece jar to play the game again the next night and the next night!

During dessert, we used the poster that came with the meal.  Again, one side was easier for the younger children so that is the one we used.  The kids had fun finding more objects while eating their strawberry biscuits which they insisted have candles stuck in each one.  They called them “birthday strawberries”.

After Dinner Games and Activities

“I Spy” Walk

After dinner, we headed outside for a family walk.  We continued our “I Spy” fun by looking for letters in our neighborhood.  Older kids could find objects that begin with each letter of the alphabet.

This was a fun way to play with language and get some much needed exercise into the day.

“I Spy” Online Game

KFC has a fun “I Spy” online game to play too.  Each family member can take turns to see who can find the items the quickest.  There is a little timer included for easy tracking.

“I Spy” Reading

Before bed we read some of our favorite I Spy books by Jean Marzollo and Walter Wick.  There are so many fun titles to choose from.  Here are some of our top picks:  I Spy Animals,  I Spy Letters and I Spy Numbers.

We also pulled out our  holiday hidden picture book we made last year.  It was fun to revisit that creation.  My boys are inspired to make a new version of the book now!

I love weekly family dinner nights!  In addition to our Family Dinner Book Clubs and Table Topic Conversations, KFC has now added to our list-Game Night as a fun way to spend time together over food.  I wonder which game we’ll play for Game Night next week?

What fun summer activities and games do you have planned this season?

I received compensation from KFC in exchange for writing this review.  Although this post is sponsored, all opinions are my own.