Spy School: Set-Up and First Day

There are so many cool things and ideas on Pinterest to make Spy School an immersive experience. I tried to keep it easy, cheap, and reasonable and ended up making a Security Panel, outfighting Spy Kits with thrift store satchels, and a few odds and ends.

The Security Panel is actually a dollar store calculator hot glued to cardboard, covered in foil or foil wrapping paper, and held on the wall with small Command Hooks. It was a cheap, quick, and fairly easy thing to make the experience a bit more immersive. I gave each boy a passcode and they have to practice keeping it a secret from the other. Their passcode is their birthday in numerals, though they pointed out that I forgot to uncover the 0 key. Luckily they both were born in a 200X year, so I have them put just that last number in. If you're going to do this with birthdays to get them to practice their birthday in numerals, don't forget to cut out a space for the 0!

I knew I wanted briefcases or something cool like that for the boys' gear. With each new theme they will be acquiring new things, like disguising hats and sunglasses or a fingerprinting kit. There are plans on Pinterest to make a cardboard briefcase out of cereal boxes, but I needed something bigger and more durable. I lucked out at the local thrift store. Nice looking satchels in each of the boys' favorite colors, and one of them was half off! Together they cost around $10 for both of them. They're the perfect size for all the things I plan to equip them with, and they'll last a good long time after Spy School is done. In their bags are new composition books, compact journal with leather clasp and pen attached, a magnifying lenses, and a laser pointer, all found at the dollar store! Most of the school work done for Spy School will be done in their composition books. The other little book is for codes and taking notes on people they "spy" on.

A few other little touches I included were name tags on card clips and an In/Out box. There are a lot of different, free to print options on Pinterest. I chose ones I thought looked cute. I printed them out along with a picture of each boy, cut and glued, and then laminated. Then I cut a slit for the card holder attacher. I got the card holders in the office/school section of the dollar store. On the In/Out box I labeled the top "Mission Reports" and the bottom "New Missions." Every morning they will get a "new mission" from the "Chief" that's a schedule for the day and at the end of the day's school they will write a "mission report" detailing what they did (and sneaking in some extra writing practice!) Those papers are put in a manila envelope with [TOP SECRET] and "Agent's Eyes Only!" written on them. 

All together I spent around $20 and one evening making and prepping. (Not including shopping time.)

On the first day of Spy School before we began any actual learning I introduced them to the security panel (they have to input the code every morning before beginning,) explained the system of the In/Out box, and had them read their first mission. Their first mission included being issued their kits and choosing their Secret Agent Code Names and making their badges. Builder Boy chose the code name Brainstorm. Early Bird chose Matchstick. I think we're going to have a lot of fun with this.

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