All of the credit for our Spy Day theme goes to my cousin Silvia, who has been helping out at the daycare this summer. Since it's very evident how much the kids love these theme days, we sat around one Friday afternoon during nap times and brainstormed new ideas with the big kids. Spy Day took some planning and a solid couple of hours to set everything up, but the kids had A TON of fun with our spy activities!
Silvia and I spent a couple of hours the night before setting up the "Laser" Maze and getting the goop pool ready in the backyard.
My favorite part of this picture is all of the empty boxes of corn starch in the background. We used A LOT of corn starch for the goop pool!
The kids had "spy glass" donuts for breakfast! We took popsicle sticks (the ones we use for crafts) and stuck it through the donut. The kids pretended to spy on each other during breakfast. I did have to go over NOT holding the donut too close to their eyes so we didn't have any sugar/frosting in the eye issues. Again, the things I never thought I'd have to say.
The laser maze! I've seen this idea on Pinterest using string, but I had a feeling that the kids would easily tear down the string. Instead we used painters tape against the wall and a shelf. It worked perfectly because the kids instantly felt the tape against their leg and stopped. I was actually surprised the tape held up for several rounds of crawling before the kids pulled it down.....and then played with the large ball of tape.
Our Spy Obstacle Course in the backyard! They had to run through the goop pool (I called it the Goop Pool Sink because their feet instantly sank in the goop and then they had to pull them out), run through the ball pit (which was hard to do after their feet were covered with goop), jump over or crawl under the pole, down the shaving cream slide where their mission was to find a "magical" coin, and then into the bubble pool to wash their coin (and themselves) off.
Once every child had a turn on the obstacle course, we let them play in the obstacle course however they wanted. The goop pool was one of their favorites and they didn't just run through it! They sat, rolled, put it on each other's heads, and one child even tasted it (it's corn starch, water, and food coloring, so no harm done). The other hit was the shaving cream pool (we did this pool during our Field Day 2015 and the kids LOVED it). The kids spent a good amount of time in the shaving cream pool finding the rest of the "magical" coins and cleaning them in the water. By the end of the morning and two hours of playing time, the bubble pool was pink and filled with goop and shaving cream. All of the kids rinsed off in the shower after these messy activities!
We ordered "Spy Snacks" (actually called Scooby Snacks from Northern Lights PIzza), had a picnic on the living room floor, and watched the Spy Kids movies on Netflix.
In the afternoon, the kids went through a large garbage bag full of recyclable materials to make their own spy weapon! Several spy guns and spy glasses were made, but a few of the kids got really creative and made things such as a "Peanut Butter Bomb" and an "Egg Carton Explosion."
The kids younger than three didn't really enjoy this day, but we still had things for them to do. The three and older crowd definitely loved everything about Spy Day. We will definitely be adding this to our must do again list for next summer!