Learn about Investigating with the Community Helper for P

Our first Community Helper for P is Policeman!  The girls knew a little about what Policemen do, but for the most part they just thought they were there to help people. So we talked a little about how the police are also there to make sure everyone follows the laws (or rules) in the community.  We also talked about how they have to look for clues and solve mysteries to find out who may have committed a crime.

In order to be (pretend) Policemen we first needed some badges.  I cut some badge shapes out of fun foam (they chose the colors), and then they decorated them with foam star stickers. Once they were happy with them we pinned them on and went to work.

We talked about our fingerprints a little and how they were all unique and therefore used as clues to solve mysteries. We stamped our fingerprints and looked at them with our magnifying glasses.

They didn't know that I had set up a little mystery for them to solve. I kept it very, very simple for them. I told them there was something making a lot of noise, and they needed to figure out what. I placed some word clues along with a bag of evidence (all with fingerprints on them) around our yard.

Once they collected all the clues they had to put them all together to figure out what noise maker I was talking about.  Their clues were "pop", "snap", "bang", "drop it", and a Baggie of sawdust. They all pointed to some little boxes of poppers that we had left over from July 4th.

They were so excited once they put it all together and got to play with some poppers of their own!

I was surprised at how much they enjoyed the little mystery! They kept asking to do it again even though they already knew the answer! I guess I need to start putting together some more for them!

We fully intended on taking our local Policemen some cookies, but we haven't had a chance to get them baked! It will happen once things settle down though!