The Mysterious Puddle is a mini-mystery activity you can play with your children ages eight and up. It’s a great way to get your kids thinking creatively and critically. In “The Mysterious Puddle,” Tom, Fred, and Spot come inside from the snow. Tom excused himself to the bathroom, and Fred was gone when he returned. In Fred’s place was a puddle with two pieces of coal and a hat left floating on top. Your job is to find out who left the puddle using the evidence from the story’s clues.
This printable is in black and white so that it doubles as a quick and easy coloring page.
Puzzled by Puzzles
I struggled writing these initially because it is challenging to come up with a complex enough mystery that would require logical deduction, yet a child can still solve it. I firmly believe that you can spin a reader around in circles, but in the end, they must feel victorious. The sense of victory drives them to return to face similar problems in the future and leaves them with a sense of accomplishment, which is especially important for children.
Besides that, it is also just difficult to develop puzzles in general. They need to make sense, and the clues must be meaningful and abundant without being too obvious. It is a delicate balance that you must maintain to keep your puzzle engaging and interesting for your readers.
If you enjoyed this mystery there is another activity like this one in my Printable Christmas Activity Book, which is available in my shop.
You may also like:
- The Ultimate Christmas Activity Book
- Free Downloadable: A Response Letter from Santa
- The Best Christmas Riddles for Kids
This post was proofread by Grammarly