Crime-Scene Stations for the Next Event
🔎 Suspect Book → 🎓 Take-home sheet →
Whole group: set the mystery, the scene, and the tools.
📖 The Briefing (5 min)
Kids come in and sit on the floor. "We have a mystery and we need your help. Who took the cookies?" Show the crime scene: the empty cookie jar, a water puddle, and the top half of a ripped note that reads "I have taken your cookies..." Introduce the suspects and talk through what we notice in the suspect pictures.
Committed🚨 Establish the Crime Scene (5 min)
Hang the tape, set out the numbered evidence markers at each station, and split the kids into groups, one to start at each location.
Committed📋 Issue Evidence Sheets (5 min)
Hand out the Detective Evidence Sheets and clipboards. Explain that they rotate through every station, record what they find, and we compare all the evidence together at the end.
CommittedThe muddy trail by the cookie table.
👣 Footprint Analysis
Open the calipers (or use a ruler) to the length of the crime-scene footprint, then hold that size against the Suspect Chart.
Needs suppliesDiscovery: The print is too big for the cartoon characters or the kids. It matches a Big Adult Shoe.
The fiber snagged on the table edge.
🔬 Hair & Fur
Inspect a clear baggie labeled "Crime Scene Evidence" under a magnifying glass.
Needs suppliesDiscovery: It is a human hair - that eliminates every furry monster and animal suspect.
The snack-break bite in the apple.
🦷 Bite Marks
Use calipers to measure the width of the bite pressed into a styrofoam plate or playdough mold.
Needs suppliesDiscovery: The width and shape show a normal small human mouth, not a wide monster mouth or sharp animal teeth.
The sticky smudge on the jar handle.
🖐 Fingerprint Lift
Compare a giant close-up of the print found on the jar to the pattern chart (loops, whorls, paws, gloves).
Needs suppliesDiscovery: The smudge matches a human fingerprint - not a paw or a cartoon glove.
The dropped pen that bled on the note.
🌈 Color Chromatography
The black ink on the wet note has bled into bright streaks. Test the suspect pens on coffee-filter strips in water to see which one separates the same way.
Needs suppliesDiscovery: Most markers stay dull, but the culprit's gray washable marker separates into peach and blue streaks - matching the note. (Run-day: split into 5A Ink Race + 5B color-flower craft; see station-guides.html.)
The blank, wrinkly second note.
🧪 Invisible Magic Ink
The teacher goes to confront the principal but she is gone, leaving a second, blank, suspiciously wrinkly note with her name on it. Brush the indicator solution across it to reveal the hidden message.
Needs suppliesThe reveal: the hidden message gives the location of the cookies - the principal left it for the teacher in case she didn't get back in time. Each detective develops their own certified Evidence Copy (HQ printed one per detective) so every kid gets the big reveal.
Whole group: compare the clues and name the culprit.
🧮️ The Reveal & Verdict (5 min)
Back on the carpet, work the clues in order so it isn't solved too early: HAIR (brown - and we KNOW it's human hair) crosses off Barbie and every non-brown critter; BITE (normal human bite) crosses off every animal, monster, and cartoon left; FINGERPRINT family (whorl) crosses off the Teacher (arch) and the loops; MARKER (Gray Mondo - found at the ink race by its peach + blue split) narrows it to the last few; and the Principal and the Cleaning Lady wear the SAME Asics - the FOOTPRINT tread (waves + 2 tabs vs the Principal's arches + 1 tab) is the decider. Full reveal script: see station-guides.html.
CommittedWhodunnit: the Cleaning Lady. Then the teacher reveals the blank note with the magic-ink demo: she didn't steal the cookies - she moved them to the FRONT OFFICE because they weren't allergen-safe, so every detective could have a treat. Send them to collect the cookies.
Auto-synced from scripts/build-csi-roster.js (the same data as the live Guess-Who / Suspect Filter boards). Do NOT hand-edit the rows - rerun the build script instead.
| Suspect | Footprint | Hair / Fur | Bite | Fingerprint | Pen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluey | Paw print | Blue fur | Sharp teeth | Paw print | - |
| Cookie Monster | Big monster foot | Blue fur | Giant mouth | Claw marks | - |
| Elmo | Clawed foot | Red fur | No teeth | Claw marks | - |
| Sonic | Red sneakers | Blue fur | Buck teeth | Glove print (no lines) | - |
| The Grinch | Clawed foot | Green fur | No teeth | No prints | - |
| Mickey Mouse | Big round shoe | Black fur | Buck teeth | Glove print (no lines) | - |
| Barbie | Asics (waves, 2 tabs) | Blonde, straight | Normal human bite | Whorl | Black felt-tip |
| The Teacher | Sandals | Brown, wavy | Normal human bite | Arch | Black Crayola |
| The Principal | Asics (arches, 1 tab) | Brown, curly | Normal human bite | Whorl | Gray Mondo → peach+blue |
| The Cleaning Lady | Asics (waves, 2 tabs) | Brown, curly | Normal human bite | Whorl | Gray Mondo → peach+blue |