Mystery Factory Kids Party Games
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A Kids Mystery Party In a PDF
An Audio Action Mystery!
Our Fossil Furor Kids Mystery Party will have your youngsters digging up dirt on who stole the Famous Finnegan Fossil.
They have to act fast, before Billy Finnegan’s family’s Amusement Park gets turned into a toxic waste dump.
Your Gumshoes will listen to the robbery as it happens, chase down the evidence to find the culprit, and then follow the cluetrail to save the day.
Scroll down to listen to the Audio Action Clue!
It’s an adventure party in a PDF, with all the instructions and printable clues you’ll need and plenty of ways to dress it up.
The Story
Billy Finnegan’s Story
Ten-year-old Billy Finnegan was feeling as grey and gloomy as the rain falling on the Dinosaur Badlands, kicking rocks as he walked along the Mudstone River. His family home, the Mudstone Museum and Amusement Park, was in big trouble. Just this morning he’d watched as a grinning Sly Locke parked his bulldozer and wrecking ball right next to the rollercoaster.
Billy’s dad had borrowed money from Sly Locke. Now Sly wanted it all back, or he was going to turn the Mudstone Museum and Amusement Park into a toxic waste dump. Billy was in the dumps, too.
He kicked a big rock and stopped in astonishment. He’d just uncovered the most amazing fossil ever seen – human and dinosaur footprints walking together! This would bring fame and fortune to the Mudstone Museum! Grabbing the petrified piece of mud to his chest, Billy dashed home.
With a few phone calls it was all set. In the morning, in a big ceremony with the Mudstone Mayor, the news people, and all of Billy’s friends, the fossil will be revealed and the Dinosaur Institute will give Billy a huge reward. He will pay off Sly Locke and save the Museum.
But this morning Billy went to the Museum – and the door was open! A trail of blood led straight to the Fossil Room, where the glass case was smashed and Billy’s rare fossil was gone!
He can hear Sly revving up his bulldozer outside. There is no time to waste. Was the fossil stolen by Terry Dactyl the Curator? Digby Rockstone the Archaeologist? Benny Bones, the Museum janitor? Or was it Rosy Cash the Museum’s shop clerk? Help Billy chase down the thief, then find the fossil and save the Mudstone Museum.
The museum’s security system caught the crime on audio.
LISTEN HERE!
Download the Fossil Furor Audio Clue HERE!
Audio Clue MP3
Clue Hunt Mystery
Fossil Furor is two fun Gumshoe Detective Agency party games in one:
- a Whodunnit, where your Gumshoes examine the Crime Scene for evidence and record it in their Casebooks. The evidence could be fingerprints, or candy wrappers, or anything else that does not belong at the scene of the crime. The thief is the only person who has left all four clues at the Crime Scene.
- a Clue Hunt to find where the missing plunder has been hidden. Your Gumshoes get to chase down a series of puzzles to find the treasure.
Read your Gumshoes the Scenario, play them the Audio Clue, give them their Detective Handbooks, and stand back! Once it is set up the game runs itself. Don’t be surprised if things get quiet – that’s the sound of active, engaged minds at work.
Print And Play – A Party In A PDF
Your instant download gives you all the tools and evidence you’ll need, plus detailed instructions on how it all goes together. Add some easily-found items and the party is ready.
Like any good party, it takes a bit of preparation. Give yourself a day to set it all up. Follow our Dress It Up suggestions to add even more to the decor. Or build your Gumshoes a Dinosaur Park! There’s no limit to the fun you can have.
- Turn Fossil Furor into a costume party. Tell your guests to come wearing hoodies. Cut triangle shaped dinosaur scales out of felt. Glue two of the felt pieces together with a piece of cardboard in the middle for stiffness. Leave an inch of unglued felt hanging from each side, beneath the cardboard that you can use as a border to safety pin or staple the scales to the hoodies. Colour coordinate the scales to the hoodies if possible.
- Have some facepaint on hand and give the kids a dinosaur face using their own teeth.
- Or turn Fossil Furor guests into amateur paleontologists by hiding tiny toy dinosaurs around the home and/or yard for the sleuths to discover after they have found the stolen fossil. You could also hide heat resistant items baked in a mix of flour, salt, water and coffee grounds (for the colour and texture) so that the kids can bust them open and discover their own fossil inside.
Questions? All our parties come with free email support.
Check out the Gumshoe Detective Agency FAQ for more information.
Instant Download – Party On!
Your secure Paypal payment will bring you right to your Download page where the Fossil Furor PDF and the Audio Clue MP3 will be waiting for you. We’ll send you an email with the download link, too.
Tell Us – Tell A Friend
If you and your kids had fun, drop us a comment. Help other party planners out and tell your network!
I’d like to do this with a group of 8 gifted third and fourth graders as an introduction to our mystery unit. Would this be something that I could do in a classroom setting? They are 9 and 10-year-olds. Would they be too old for this? I just want to make sure it’s something that won’t be too easy for them before I invest- as a teacher I spend a lot of my own money, so I try to make sure I can get as much bang for my buck as possible! =) Thank you!
Hi Taylor – it is probably a little young for them. Might be more fun to buy Crime Scene Buster and have them come up with their own clues and mystery. I’ll email you.
Hi. What age is the targeted for? How many kids can play? How long does it typically take to play? Thanks
This mystery is roughly targeted to ages 7 – 9 but of course it also depends on the group of kids involved – could go a year younger of older in some cases. As many kids can play as you like – you just have to run off detective casebooks for each one or each pair or team, depending on how you divide your group up. The casebooks are used to keep track of the clues found at the crime scene and the suspects they are associated with. It usually takes about an hour to play but that depends, in part, on how well you hide the clues. If you think your group might be super fast and you only have a small space to hide the clues in, you can extend the party by having some ‘Spy School’ warm up games at the start of the party. There are a bunch of suggestions listed on the FREE Kids Party Games page.
I missed my time limit on the download. I thought I could save it until I was at my printer.
Hi Eileen – There is no time limit on the download and you can definitely save them until you get to your printer. Our records show that you downloaded the pdf three times – the maximum. Can you tell us more about your experience so we can find out where the issue is. And don’t worry – we will made sure that you get the pdf to print. Start by having another look through your system. The files should be there somewhere. And let us know what your experience was. You can email me directly at jrv(at)mysteryfactory.com
I wanted to add that it was really neat to see the kids concentrating and working together to solve the mysteries. I enjoyed the challenge of making up the clues for the clue hunt (I had to do it twice, as I encoded some of the clues and then forgot what the clues said). It truly was a unique experience and I’m so happy I was able to give my son the detective experience he has been wishing for. Even our dog was excited about the (dog biscuit) clues — so much so that she had to be locked up in the bathroom lest she eat the evidence…
Thanks again for a great time!
We built my son’s 8th birthday around Fossil Furor and everyone had a terrific time! The audio clue was a very nice touch. We did the Whodunnit part inside with a combination of paper and physical clues (bandaids, dog biscuits) and then I hid the fossil outside. I divided the kids into 2 teams for the Whodunnit and then they all worked together to solve the clue hunt. The kids were really into it and enjoyed themselves immensely, especially the birthday boy, and I had a great time as well!
I was hoping to use it late October.
Thanks!
I will make a point to have it ready by then. Thanks for your enquiry!
When will this be available? Want to use it for my scout troop.
Thanks.
When do you need it? I’ve been busy working on the Hobo Heist which is almost done. How soon will your scout troop be wanting the mystery?