Winter I Spy Worksheet (Free Printable)
If you love finding new ways to engage your students, then check out this Winter I Spy worksheet set! This free, editable worksheet set is available in Canva and is more than just a fun winter activity. It's a fun way to target all your students’ goals (e.g., sentence structure, describing, and more…).
If you want to grab the worksheets now, then check out the links at the bottom of the post.
Winter I Spy Worksheet Links
- Winter I Spy
- I Spy Arctic Animals
- I Spy on the Slopes
- Christmas I Spy
- Valentine’s Day I Spy
- St. Patrick’s Day I Spy
Why Should I Use a Winter I Spy Worksheet in Speech Therapy?
First off, I made these winter I spy sheets especially for speech pathologists!
Moreover, these I spy worksheets are like a fun and educational game that helps younger children explore, identify, and describe winter-related words.
Each worksheet includes different winter-themed words, plus there's a sentence prompt to help your students practice describing those words even better.
Who can use these winter I spy printable worksheets?
- Speech pathologists
- General education teachers
- English language learners (use Canva's “Magic Switch” to translate into another language.)
- Special education teachers
- Parents can get in on the fun, too!
What language goals are targeted with this winter I spy game template?
- Describing skills (learn more!)
- Sentence structure
- Categories
- Functions
- Vocabulary
This winter game worksheet can be sent home as homework or used at school. They could also be a fun activity during a snow day!
You can even hand out the worksheet before winter break. In that way, kids of all ages can practice their speech and language skills outside of the speech room and have a great time doing it!
As you can see, these worksheets are the perfect activity for students in grades prek – 4th grade (and you don’t even need an answer key!).
Are these I spy worksheets free?
YES! And the best part is that they are editable in Canva! If you have a free Canva for Education account, then you can access all the worksheets below without spending a dime.
If you want to know how to use Canva for Education, then check out my blog post below!
Additionally, these worksheets are customizable which makes them relevant for your caseload! With just a little editing, you can make sure your students are challenged.
How to Use the Winter I Spy Printable
Here are the instructions for each winter printable worksheet:
“What are some of the things you see in the winter? Walk around your neighborhood or look around your school. Mark off each item when you find it and describe it to another person using the sentence below.”
Below the directions, there is a Winter I Spy sentence prompt.
A [winter item] is a type of [category] that [function].
For example, a student can use the following sentence to describe a shovel:
A shovel is a type of tool that digs through snow.
This prompt helps young students understand the category of the item (“tool”) and its function (“digs through snow”).
If you would rather use a classic prompt, then change the sentence to “I spy with my little eye…”
Winter I Spy Game Speech and Language Goals
These winter worksheets are so versatile that you can use them for all your student’s language goals. Check out my blog post here to get more winter worksheets!. Learn more about which goals you can target with the fun printables below:
Describing Language Goals
Describing objects and concepts is an important skill that kids need to learn! You can target your students’ describing skills by using the descriptive sentence prompt on each I Spy free winter printable.
Descriptive skills are important for kids to be able to express themselves, especially if they aren’t sure of the word they want to use.
How many times have you heard your students use non-specific words (i.e., this, that, there) in their spontaneous speech?
Learning to describe helps students retain and recall vocabulary words. When they can describe vocabulary by using attribute types, they can improve their word recall (e.g., hot cocoa is a drink that is warm, tasty and made of chocolate.)
This worksheet will help you student identify the words' category and function.
For example, when describing a ‘snowman', they can learn to describe it as “A snowman is a type of winter sculpture that is fun to build.”
This exercise helps little kids understand not just what objects are, but also their categories and functions.
If you want to expand the lesson, then use the Expanding Expression Tool (EET) along with the I Spy winter worksheet. The EET is a fantastic tool to help your students with their describing skills. More about the EET here: Expanding Expression Tool.
Building Expressive Language
By using the sentence prompts, kids are also learning to express their thoughts in sentences.
For example, your student might describe a mitten as “a type of winter clothing that keeps your hands warm.”
This sentence helps kids practice using nouns, verbs, and adjectives in context, which is important in expressive language development.
By using the included sentence prompt, you can help kids practice using relative clauses, too!
Feel free to make the sentence prompt more or less complex. For example, if you want to use this I spy worksheet with young children or older kids, then you could change the prompt to:
Make the sentences more complex so you can develop higher-level language skills!
Understanding categories
Understanding that words fit into categories will help students make associations between words!
By teaching categories, students learn to organize words into mental “folders”. Each folder (or category) contains words that are related in some way or have similar attributes. This improves word retrieval!
You can even use these I spy worksheets to help students understand similarities and differences between words.
Teaching categories helps develop vocabulary, memory, and word retrieval!
Teaching functions
When students use the included sentence prompt, they determine the function of each winter word. Learning about functions has so many benefits for our students!
Vocabulary development: Not only does it expand their vocabularies, but it also helps them understand the relationships between objects and people.
Make Inferences: When a student understands that the function of a mitten is to keep their hands warm, then they can make inferences about objects that are similar.
For example, if a mitten keeps our hands warm, then maybe a scarf keeps our necks warm….?
Learning functions even help students with categorization! When words have similar functions, they can be categorized together.
Specifically, the Winter I Spy worksheets are a great way to develop describing skills, expressive language, and sentence structure in kids.
Winter I Spy Printable PDF (Free Download)
Each worksheet is centered around a specific winter holiday or theme. Therefore, it includes words and images of winter holiday season vocabulary. Your students will love these fun worksheets.
Below you will find all the links you need to access these worksheets (click on the text link and you’ll be taken to a download link in a new window).
Winter I Spy Worksheet:
The Winter I Spy worksheet contains a variety of common winter words and ideas.
It includes words like ‘blanket', ‘boots', ‘coat', ‘winter hats’, ‘cough', and ‘mittens’, which are familiar to most kids.
More specific words like ‘evergreen tree', ‘reindeer', ‘snow blower', ‘ice skates’, ‘shovel’, and ‘thermometer' introduce students to more specific winter vocabulary.
The included words help students understand a variety of winter activities, clothes, and animals.
You can get even more winter speech therapy ideas in my blog post: Free Themed Winter Speech Therapy Activities for Canva
I Spy Arctic Animals
This colorful worksheet is the perfect way to teach students about the various animals that live in the Arctic.
The worksheet features an illustrated image of the Arctic and students need to “spy” all the Arctic animals in the image.
On this worksheet, you'll find Arctic animals, such as seals, walruses, and polar bears.
However, it also includes animals and words that students may not be familiar with, such as fisherman, iceberg, arctic fox, and bald eagle.
This winter I spy worksheet helps to expand students' knowledge of the Arctic and the animals that live there.
I Spy Christmasactiv
This Christmas I Spy worksheet is all about the Christmas spirit! It could even be a great activity to do at a holiday party. Send this worksheet home during the winter break or use it on the last day of school before break (this would be a great alternative to screen time!).
Here are the words you can find included in this I Spy Christmas Worksheet:
- bells
- candy cane
- card
- cookies
- elf
- gingerbread
- lights
- mittens
- poinsettia
- present
- ornament
- reindeer
- Santa
- Santa's hat
- sleigh
- snow globe
- ugly sweater
- wreath
If you want more Christmas Speech Therapy Fun Activities, then check out this blog post with tons Christmas Speech therapy activities.
Valentine’s Day I Spy:
The Valentine's Day worksheet includes words that are related to Valentine’s Day, such as “balloons,” “heart,” and “teddy bear.”
In addition, the winter eye spy worksheet includes words that are related to the holiday's traditions of giving gifts and eating sweets, like “bouquet,” “box of chocolates,” “candy heart,” and “cupcake.”
Children are asked to explore their surroundings, whether it is their neighborhood or school. Then, they have to find items that are related to the Valentine’s day holiday theme.
Once they find an item, they check it off on their I Spy worksheet and then describe it to another person using the sentence prompt. This not only helps them to learn new words, but also improves their descriptive skills.
This Valentine’s Day I Spy worksheet is an interactive and fun way to target expressive language skills.
Head over to my Valentine's Day Speech Therapy blog post for lots of ideas and therapy tips: 5 Ways Canva Can Help With Your Valentine's Day Speech Therapy:
St Patrick's Day I Spy:
St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17th and honors the patron saint of Ireland and Irish heritage. To make this special day even more fun, use this St. Patrick’s Day Winter I spy game.
This I Spy worksheet is all about St. Patrick's Day and includes words like “bagpipes”, “shamrock”, “gold coin”, and “leprechaun”.
It also introduces kids to symbols like “emerald”, “four-leaf clover”, and “horseshoe” which are associated with Irish culture and the holiday's traditions.
Check out this St. Patrick's Day I Spy worksheet – it offers an enriching and entertaining way for kids to immerse themselves in the festive traditions and symbols of Ireland.
You can find so many more resources and tips that will help your St. Patrick's day speech therapy sessions in this blog post:
Adapting the Winter I Spy Printable
All these winter I Spy worksheets can be found in Canva. All you need is a free Canva for Education account to edit and customize these worksheets for speech therapy. Here are different ways you can personalize the worksheets.
Preschool and kindergarten age kids:
When working with young learners, use basic words and sentences with simple prompts to help them develop vocabulary and sentence structure.
1st and 2nd Grade:
Introduce more complex winter words and descriptive sentences to expand their language skills.
3rd and 4th Graders:
Conversely, you can challenge their language skills with advanced vocabulary and sentence structures. Encourage critical thinking by asking about the use and characteristics of winter items.
Visual Processing Difficulties
For students with visual processing difficulties, high-contrast colors can help to make text and images easier to see. Try to use dark text on a light background, or vice versa. You can also use color coding to help students organize information and identify patterns.
Sensory needs
You can make worksheets more visually calming in Canva for students who have sensory challenges.
Break large paragraphs into small chunks. You can even use bullet points and numbers to make it easier for students to process and understand the information.
Visual learners
If you have students who are visual learners, then use Canva to adapt your worksheets. Here are a few ideas for using Canva to create resources for visual learners:
- Support the text by adding images or diagrams. When you do this, you break up the text and helps students understand the information better.
- Use infographics to explain complex concepts. Infographics are a great way to visually represent information, making it easier for students to understand. Canva has so many of them!
- Create interactive presentations. Plus, you can keep students engaged by using the interactive and fun presentations in Canva.
How to Edit the Winter I Spy Worksheets in Canva
Canva makes it so easy to edit these I spy winter worksheets, especially now that Canva has introduced the Canva Magic Studio.
There are so many new tools that you can use to make your editing a breeze! Here are some of the newest features:
- Magic Media – If your students are trying to find an image that isn’t available in the Canva library, then they can create it with a few lines of text.
- Magic Design– Can’t find the presentation you need? With Magic Design, you can easily create presentations with 10 slides to get you started.
- Magic Switch – Quickly translate a complete document for your students. You could also use Magic Switch to resize your template (i.e., change a worksheet into an infographic!)
These are some of the great features available in Canva with the Magic Studio Editor. If you want to know more about these features in detail, then check out my blog post:
How to print the Winter I Spy Sheets:
Download your I spy worksheet with just a few clicks! Here are the instructions to download your worksheets as a printable PDF file.
Click on the “Share” button, then click on “Download.” A new menu will appear. Just change the file type to “PDF Print” then click “download” again.
Just make sure to check your printer settings so that the page prints in full size.
If you want to save paper when printing these activity pages, you can print out 5 copies. Then, put the winter worksheets in dry erase pockets or page protectors. That way, you can use the worksheets with all of your students. All you need are dry erase markers!
If you would rather print out the b&w worksheets, then use dot markers to make this no prep activity more fun.
Winter I Spy Lesson Plans
Keep reading so you can learn about more great activities to put in your lesson plans!
Winter word bingo
Convert worksheet vocabulary into a Bingo printable game. Children find and mark corresponding items on their cards as descriptions are called out. It's a fun way to reinforce learned vocabulary while bringing a smile on those cold winter days.
Winter Flashcards Printable
Extend the learning by incorporating all the winter related printable flashcards that I have included in this blog post. You can get more ideas and activities by clicking on the blog post below!
Winter Writing Worksheet ❄️️ Printable Activities
If you want to target writing skills, then you should head to this blog post: Free Printable Winter Writing Activities. You'll get some Canva worksheets you can use to target your students' procedural and persuasive writing.
Create your own I spy worksheet
Encourage children to create their I Spy worksheet using vocabulary words.
Firstly, they draw or cut out pictures and then write descriptive sentences about each picture. It allows for writing practice, sentence construction, and personalized book creation.
Students can apply and reinforce their language skills by extending these Winter I Spy Worksheets to different levels of difficulty. These activities cater to different learning styles, making education inclusive and fun. Integrating interactive and lots of fun themes keeps children engaged and excited about learning.
Canva for SLPs
If you want more free worksheets, fun games, presentations, and more, then click here to access to my freebie library for SLPs and Canva Educators.
Once in the free library, you can download tons of free printables.
By signing up for the freebie library for SLPs, you can get updates about all the new resources.
Do I need a Canva Pro Account?
Nope! Many of the templates can be accessed with a Canva free account.
Other resources require you to sign up for a free Canva for Education account here. This is sort of like having Canva Pro because you'll have all the same features (for personal use only!).
Canva for Education is amazing because you can get low prep but also customizable worksheets, games, and more (with no extra cost!).
To access these Winter I Spy worksheets, you’ll have to get a free Canva for Education account.
What can I do in Canva?
When you use Canva for your speech therapy sessions, you can
- Edit, download, share, and print pre-made worksheets, posters, infographics, and more!
- Find free resources and themed therapy materials
- Work on group activities with students.
- Get students involved in customizing activities in Canva.
- Edit photos and videos.
- Use AI to create images, videos, presentations, and copy.
Canva for Education can help speech-language pathologists get free and low-prep materials for their speech rooms. Make sure you sign up for your free account today!
Just please note that all the Canva templates are for personal use or classroom use only. They are not to be shared or resold. Refer to Canva’s terms of use for more information.
Grab Your Winter I Spy Worksheet Sets
After you have signed up for my free library, make sure you download this free Winter I Spy Worksheet Set. These winter I spy worksheets can help your students with a variety of goals, including describing, sentence structure, and vocabulary.
Plus, Canva's main benefit is that all the resources are editable. If you need to change the font, images or layout, it's so easy to do with the drag and drop editing.
So, make sure you get access now! –> Canva Freebie Library
More I Spy Worksheets
If you want to get even more I Spy worksheets, then check out my other post with lots of Summer I Spy Speech Therapy Worksheets: