Siblings detective fun at half term

Our bereaved and supported siblings joined us for an exciting half-term day of detecting and deducing at Shooting Star House in Hampton. Our budding sleuths, including Detectives Dunnit, Knewit, Sawit and Foundit, to name just a few, sharpened their investigative skills through a series of fun challenges before taking on the mystery of the missing oranges.

The day began with fingerprinting and a keen-eyed “spot the difference” task to test their powers of observation. Armed with metal detectors, they ventured into the garden to hunt for hidden coins, keys and other treasures. Working in teams as the Eyes, Snoops and Sleuths, they also put their creativity to the test by designing their own ‘ideal detective’.

Soon, new clues arrived from Reception: photographs of a certain bear spotted leaving the building, along with a note claiming he was “only trying to help”. With all the oranges missing and a cryptic message instructing them to collect stones from the garden, the mystery deepened.

Our detectives sprang into action, building an evidence board and carefully arranging the gathered pebbles to uncover the truth:

“Paddington Bear took all the juicy oranges this morning to make marmalade for everyone and hid them in the garden so no one else would take them.”

By the time the case was solved, Paddington had already set off to begin his marmalade-making , but he hadn’t forgotten his fellow detectives, leaving each child with a well-earned reward.

Hilary Pearce, Events Assistant at Shooting Star, comments: “We were extremely impressed with our detectives, especially those for whom this was their first siblings’ event. Everyone left happy, with a bag full of goodies and their very own magnifying glass and metal detector, to carry on sleuthing!”