This Easter holiday gave several families in Rotherham the chance to take part in an exciting crime based workshop. The CSI style activity gave families the opportunity to act as detectives to solve the mystery of the missing dog. The Family Learning Team partnered with Inspire Rotherham to run the mystery workshops.
At the start of the day the scene was set…There had been a ‘dognapping,’ a champion crufts dog had been stolen whilst at the grooming parlour! And the owner of the shop had been murdered. But who would go to these lengths to steal the dog and why? The families at the event were presented with the various suspects and their possible motives. They also made a gruesome discovery…the victims bones; giving them their very own crime scene to explore. After taping it off the families worked in groups and used their detective toolkit to hunt for vital clues to help them piece the case together. Using magnifying glasses and tweezers the families were able to discover pieces of cotton, hair, blood and notes. After collecting the evidence the groups then inspected the real human bones to discover the age and gender of the victim.
After a thorough search of the crime scene the groups took their evidence back to analyse. Throughout the day the families were presented with further clues to examine. They had to test real human blood to match it to the suspects and also footprints found near the victim. Evidence gathered from the day was put into a detective scrapbook made by the children. They also made Sherlock Bone finger puppets and skeletons.
After piecing together the clues, each group had to reveal who they believe had stolen the dog and murdered the owner of the grooming parlour and why. The groups came up with some very interesting theories and eventually the crime was solved!
The ‘whodunit’ crime workshop gave the families the chance to work in groups using teamwork and communication skills to solve the mystery. Working with human bones over 300 years old and blood also gave them the chance to learn about the body in new and exciting ways.
- Keep checking the site for photos from the event