Detective games

Last week we had a lesson full of mystery games in a Year 3 group. Their topic for the term is "We are the detectives", so I planned the following activities:

 

 

There were 5 missions in 5 envelopes full of props. I will describe them in the order they appear in the photo, but it is up to you how you want to play them.

 

1, Un buen detective tiene que estar en forma. /A good detective has to be fit.

 

Exercise time with "Corners"! The teacher puts signs up for the four points of the compass in the 4 corners of the classroom. The pupils walk/dance to "Los puntos cardinales" by Los Pimpollos. They can point to the right corner when they hear the words in the song and sing Po po po pon chiqui pon chiqui pon pon pon :-) When the music stops, they have to choose a corner, and a volunteer picks a compass point word from the bag. Those who are staying in that corner leave the game. At this point I tell the children to sit well and sing, and the best singer can become the next one to pick a corner word from the bag. The video has an image of Machu Picchu, and Los Pimpollos are from Peru, so we tick the Intercultural Understanding box while dancing to this catchy tune. Beware! Once you click on "Play", the song will be in your head for a good few days!

 

 

2, Un buen detective tiene que reconocer la voz misteriosa. / A good detective has to recognise the mystery voice.

 

We play "the mystery voice" all the time! I am sure you all know this game, I have a Spain football scarf to blindfold the volunteer and somebody else says the word in a mystery voice. Our words were "norte", "sur", "este" and "oeste"; the mystery person had to hold a compass while saying the word and the blindfolded person had to wear a detective moustache on a skewer. 

 

3. Un buen detective tiene que encontrar el objeto perdido. / A good detective has to find the lost object.

 

The classic hot/cold game: a volunteer hides something (in this case, a compass) while  another pupil is out, when this comes back, the rest of the class whispers the word/sentence and gets louder as the pupil gets closer to the object. Our words were "norte", "sur", "este" and "oeste".

 

4. Un buen detective tiene que encontrar la señal secreta./A good detective has to find the secret signal.

 

Another favourite game we play all the time! It works really well with lists (days, months) and numbers. Two detective pupils (wearing moustaches) leave the room, the class agrees on who gives the signal (pulling an ear, winking, scratching the head etc.), and when the detectives are back, they have to guess who gives the secret signal, they have 2 chances each. The class can only say the next word if they see the secret signal.

 

5, Un buen detective tiene que reconocer las caras sospechosas. /A good detective has to recognise the suspicious faces.

 

This is a popular hiding game, two detectives wearing sunglasses go out, and the teacher gives out different objects to 5-6 kids. They all put their hands under the desks. The detectives come back and can ask 3 questions each (in any topic: ¿Cuántos años tienes, ¿Qué deportes practicas?...).The chosen children answer and put their hands up. If they have something under the desks, they have to give the object to the detectives. At the end everybody puts their hands up and we count how many objects the detectives have found.

 

 

6. Un buen detective tiene que hacer muchas preguntas. / A good detective has to ask many questions.

 

The pupils have to change identities and put a finger puppet on (good for the shy ones), then they have 3 minutes to ask questions to as many pupils as they can (and wait for the answer, of course!).

 

 

More ideas:

 

Poundland foam shape stickers could be used for giving and drawing a description about somebody who committed a crime (hair+eye colours, clothes).

 For only description of hair/eye colours, you could use foam faces from Poundland.  The blank jigsaw puzzle (Wilkinson's) would be good to play language detectives (write a sentence, mix the pieces and your partner needs to puts them together). The moustaches are from Poundland, too. I didn't want the children to stick them on, and glued them on skewers. I haven't decided what to do with the emotion face stickers yet.

 

For detectives and mentalists only: this is how my mind works when planning a lesson!