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Volunteering at Scouts is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing at Scouts. Read more

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Clues for you

Use your detective skills to search for hidden clues and solve a mystery.

Back to Activities

You’ll need

  • Magnifying glass
  • Coins
Detective equipment
PDF – 296.4KB
Mystery clues
PDF – 488.2KB

Before you begin

  • Print off enough copies of the ‘Detective equipment’ and ‘Mystery clues’ sheets.
  • Cut out the ‘Mystery clues’ and hide them around the room. The final clue leads to a coin in the shoe of the person leading the activity.
  • Bring a coin to the session and hide it in the left shoe of the person leading the activity.  

Story time

  1. Everyone should sit in a circle.
  2. Someone should read Sakura the Detective by Jess Connett. 
  3. After reading the story, everyone should take some time to reflect on it as a group. We’ve included some questions to help you reflect in the pink box below.

Sakura went into the kitchen to look for a snack. She stood on a stool to reach the top cupboard, where the cookies were kept in a big glass jar.

She gasped ­– the jar was gone! Stolen! The kitchen was now the scene of a crime, and Sakura the detective was going to investigate.

She ran to her bedroom to get her magnifying glass. All good detectives have a magnifying glass, to look for clues.

When she looked through the magnifying glass, Sakura saw some crumbs on the shelf. Somebody had been eating cookies. She also found a short dark hair. Maybe the thief had left it behind!

Next, Sakura began to search the house. With a jar that big and heavy, the thief couldn’t have got very far.

She looked behind the TV and under the sofa. All she found was an old toy the cat used to play with.

She ran upstairs and opened the door of her brother’s room. She was so hasty she knocked over some of his toy soldiers.

“Sakura! You ruined my battle!” said Mieko.

“A crime has been committed and I am investigating it!” said Sakura, looking under his bed.

There was nothing down there but an old sock. But Sakura did think as she was closing the door that Mieko had short dark hair.

The only place left to look was outside. Sakura zipped up her coat and went out. Dad was raking the leaves on the lawn. His hair was a sandy colour. It couldn’t have been him.

Sakura heard a car come up the driveway and ran to see.

Mum was opening the car boot, getting something out. Her short dark hair was blowing in the cold wind.

“Okaa-san, where have you been?” asked Sakura.

Her mother turned around. In her hands was the cookie jar!

“I went to buy more cookies,” said Mum.

“But the jar wasn’t empty,” said Sakura.

“I got hungry yesterday, after you were in bed,” said Mum. “There were only a few left, and I knew you’d want some today, so I went to get the whole jar refilled. Now you know where you get your love of cookies from, Sakura!”

“I thought there was a thief,” said Sakura. “I’ve been investigating the crime.”

“Investigating crimes is hungry work,” said Mum. “Let’s go inside and have a cookie.”

By Jess Connett


Skills of deduction

  1. Everyone should sit in small groups. The person leading the activity should give everyone the ‘Detective equipment’ sheet.
  2. Everyone should look at their ‘Detective equipment’ sheet. They should think about the skills a detective would need to use each item on the sheet.
  3. Everyone should take it in turns to share their ideas.

Mystery clues

  1. The person leading the activity should explain that someone has lost a coin. Can everyone try to help solve this coin mystery?
  2. Everyone should get into small groups or pairs. Each small group should search for clues around the room.
  3. Everyone should use the clues to find out where the coin might be.
  4. Five minutes before the end of the session, the person leading the activity should ask each small group to make a final guess about where they think the coin might be.
  5. Everyone should sit in a circle and share their guesses. 
  6. The person leading the activity should reveal the coin. 

Reflection

This activity introduced everyone to different types of problem solving – they had to use their communication and teamwork skills to investigate information in hidden locations.

Everyone also learned about detectives and the equipment and skills they use to solve mysteries. They had to work together and keep trying their best to solve the clues and find the missing coin.

You can chat about these optional reflection points throughout the session or at the end. 

Sakura the Detective

  • What equipment did Sakura use to help her find the cookie jar?
  • If Sakura had a friend over, how could they work together to find the cookie jar?

Skills of deduction

  • What skills does each person have that would make them a good detective?
  • If everyone were detectives who could only carry around three items, which items would they choose and why?

Mystery clues

  • What did people like most about the activity?
  • How did it feel to make a guess and try to solve the mystery?

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Active games

The game area should be free of hazards. Explain the rules of the game clearly and have a clear way to communicate that the game must stop when needed. Take a look at our guidance on running active games safely.

There are two sets of clues – it’s up to you whether you use the easy or hard version. The easy set of clues includes words and pictures that can be found in any order; people will need to use a magnifying glass to read the harder set of clues.

Hide the clues in places that are accessible for everyone. 

Encourage people to work together and support each other, for example, if someone struggles with reading, make sure that someone else in their group is more confident.

People could work on their own (rather than in groups) if this would work better for them. 

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Everyone could create a name and backstory for their detective character; they could draw pictures or record audio files of them talking about their adventures.

Everyone should take responsibility for helping each other with the clues in order to solve the mystery.