“I spy” game Stage one presentation
I am sure most of us have heard about or played the game ‘I spy’. This is a wonderful Montessori activity in which the child learns how to identify different objects and pictures by listening to the first sound of the word.
In the first stage of this activity, the directress only uses one object from the ‘I spy’ object box, for example, a cat. The directress first introduces the object to the child and asks him to say ‘cat’. She then tells the child that they are going to play a game. She begins by saying: “I spy with my little eye something beginning with a c” (using the phonetic sounds), the child then points at the cat.
The directress reinforces the activity by telling the child that they learnt that ‘c’ is for cat, she only does this if the child has grasped the concept fully.
"I spy" game
What does the child learn by playing the “I spy” game?
This activity prepares the child for reading and writing, it makes him more aware of sounds in his everyday life, as well as this activity helps the child to analyse the sounds in words.
Each stage gets a little more difficult by either adding more objects, pictures, and eventually objects inside the classroom. There are nine different stages. Stage seven focuses on the last letter of the word and stage eight focuses on the middle letter of the word. Essentially it’s the same concept each time, just using different materials.
Looking for more Montessori activities?
Here is a list of all the Montessori Language activities. These include Early Language, Pink Language Materials, Green Language Materials, Later Language, and Grammar. Just click on the page you want to learn about to go there.