As I mentioned in this post, our daughter has been all about mysteries lately. As a kid I used to love reading mystery books. I read Agatha Christie novels when I was probably far younger than I’d want my kids to do so. I enjoyed any and all mysteries. But in recent years, I just can’t do the murder mysteries. At all. Perhaps it’s being older and having heard real-life tragic stories. I just can’t bear to read or watch a story about anything scary or gruesome. But that doesn’t mean I have to write off mysteries completely. I love that my daughter has helped me re-connect with this genre. I’ve been searching for detective activities and kid-friendly mysteries, and here’s my collection so far:
–This is a great collection of Observation Ideas. I thought our 8-year old would be really into the activity of observing a scene and noting the changes, but it was actually our 3-year old who took this activity and ran with it.
–I am pretty particular about what our kids are allowed to watch, but The Inbestigators on Netflix has my Stamp of Approval. Four cute/sweet kids solving mysteries around their town and school (Well, mostly just one of them solving) and culprits who show remorse. Interesting cases and the whole family can enjoy.
—The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Our daughter first read this two summers ago, and we’ve re-read this together too many times to count. It’s been a favorite of mine for many years, so I was super excited to see how much she loves it. (There are at least four other books in the series!)
—Mysteries According to Humphrey by Betty Birney
(Oddly, of all the other mystery references we’ve seen, this was the one that triggered our daughter’s fascination with mysteries. Gotta love Humphrey.) I haven’t read this one, but the kids seem to love it.
—Stories to Solve – Folktales from Around the World
These are some of my FAVORITE kinds of puzzles/mysteries/brainteasers. They’re short and clever and timeless. (I do censor some of these or tweak them, depending on the story.). We also checked out Still More Stories to Solve from our library, so I’m assuming there are at least three of these.
–The Mystery of King Karfu by Doug Cushman
Detective Seymour Sleuth and his assistant, Muggs, must make their way to Egypt to solve the case of the missing Stone Chicken!
This light-hearted mystery has lots of interesting and funny details in the illustrations and story. I love that it involves the reader in looking at clues and decoding puzzles to help crack the case. (Check your library or local used bookstore first, but here’s a YouTube reading someone did)
—Sophie Mouse:The Great Big Paw Print by Poppy Green
Our kids love the Sophie Mouse books, and I do too! In this one, Sophie and her friends work together to find out the cause of some curious mysteries around Pine Needle Grove.
(CHECK BACK–STILL ADDING FROM OUR CURRENT STACK OF MYSTERY BOOKS)
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