It's easy to make a CSI kit that will allow your child hours of fun. Instead of purchasing an expensive kit, with normal household items and a bit of imagination you can create your own!
What You Need:
- A plastic container to hold all of the items
- Tweezers
- Cotton swabs
- Rubber Gloves
- Ruler
- Small paint brush
- Small baggie of cocoa or hot chocolate to use as fingerprint powder
- Evidence markers made of numbered square pieces of paper
- Magnifying glass
What You Do:
- Use a plastic container with a lid as the crime scene case to hold everything.
- Have your child label her kit using a black marker. Be sure to use her police badge number!
- Collect the various crime scene tools as listed above and put them into the case. As your child goes around investigating make sure she remembers to restock her supplies when she's done! That way she's always prepared.
- Have your child put on the rubber gloves and begin an investigation! Use the magnifying glass and tweezers to find tiny fibers in the carpet. Place a small amount of juice in the kitchen sink so she can “swab” the juice using the q-tips. Try a bit of cocoa on the paintbrush and try to dust for fingerprints on a clear drinking glass. The possibilities are endless.
As an extension, throw a small notepad and pencil into your detective's kit and she can jot down her findings and thoughts. It's a great way to add practicing scientific analysis to play time.
For more forensics fun activities look here.
By Jake Friesen
Detective Constable Jake Friesen is a member of the Forensic Identification Unit with the Peterborough Lakefield Community Police Service in Ontario, Canada. Jake is highly trained in many disciplines of forensic science and is a fingerprint expert in Canada.
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