Detective Worksheets For Kids

About this resource

What's inside this resource

Five hands-on detective activities give leaders a ready-to-run meeting for earning a detective-themed badge. Activity 1 pairs students up for an observation-and-composite-sketch exercise and a 30-second memory challenge. Activity 2 is a Morse code bracelet craft, where each girl encodes a secret message in colored beads using a provided alphabet key. Activity 3 has girls ink and classify their own fingerprints as arch, loop, or whirl, then turn a thumbprint into a small drawing. Activity 4 introduces forensic science through a handwriting-analysis exercise (comparing writing samples from adults at the meeting against a mystery note) and an ink-chromatography experiment that identifies which pen wrote it. Activity 5 is a team relay game: girls pop color-coded balloons stuffed with puzzle pieces and race to assemble the pieces into a note revealing a hidden prize or snack location. A closing section lists bonus ideas — a no-ink-pad fingerprinting method and a video-based observation quiz — plus a note that a badge and an optional printable certificate are meant to follow completion.

Product description

From the author

In this booklet learn about what a detective does every day as part of their job. These activities include practicing using observation, doing detective science, decoding communication, and learning more about fingerprints.

Are you a girl scout leader?

This activity booklet was designed to fulfill the requirements for the Junior Detective badge or can be used by frontier girl leaders to earn similar badges. Great for teachers and home schooled kids as well.

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

Practice observation and eyewitness-description skills through a partner sketch exercise and a timed memory challenge.
Encode a secret message using the Morse code alphabet as part of a bracelet-making craft.
Classify a set of fingerprints by pattern type (arch, loop, or whirl).
Apply basic forensic-science methods — handwriting analysis and ink chromatography — to identify the writer of a note and the pen used.
Collaborate in a team to solve a physical puzzle-assembly relay game.

Teaching tips

Cut out the observation-activity images from each girl's packet before the meeting, as Activity 1's instructions specify, so partners can't see each other's picture in advance.
For Activity 4, have a leader who will stay the whole meeting secretly write the mystery note in advance, then gather writing samples from every adult present so girls have real candidates to compare against.
For the ink-chromatography step in Activity 4, use at least three different pens (including the one that wrote the mystery note) so the comparison is meaningful — cut coffee filter or paper towel strips about 1 inch wide and dip only the tip in water.
For Activity 5, prep two different-colored sets of balloons ahead of time so each team can be given a clear color to pop and race to reassemble.

Skills covered

Observation and descriptive recall — a paired composite-sketch activity and a timed memory challenge build eyewitness-style observation skills.
Encoding and decoding — the Morse code bracelet craft has students translate a message into a physical code.
Pattern classification — students sort their own fingerprints into arch, loop, and whirl categories.
Forensic reasoning — handwriting analysis and ink chromatography let students apply real investigative methods to identify a note's author and pen.
Teamwork under a physical challenge — the balloon relay game requires coordinated team strategy to win.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

How does the fingerprinting activity have girls classify their own prints?

After inking and stamping each finger into provided boxes, girls determine whether each print is an arch, a loop, or a whirl and label it accordingly.

What method does Activity 4 use to figure out which pen wrote the mystery note?

An ink-chromatography experiment: strips of coffee filter or paper towel are dipped in water below dots from each candidate pen (including the note itself), and the resulting ink patterns are compared to identify a match.