The traditional definition of forensic science is “using science to solve crimes”. While we may not initially think of this as transferrable to early childhood education, the essence of forensic science — analysing and following clues to solve mysteries — provides rich inspiration for inquiry-based STEM learning in the early learning service and classroom.

Read on for an (almost infinite) number of early STEM learning ideas and concepts to explore forensic science in an age-appropriate way. These have been adapted from our 2024 Online Workshop: Forensic Science in Early Learning, which explores this topic in depth over 2-hours in an engaging and interactive format. We encourage you to purchase a recording if you’re interested.

You can also join Little Scientists’ Facebook group “Early STEM Educators Network” to exchange forensic science and early STEM education ideas with other educators.

Content on this page:

Why explore forensic science?

A forensic science exploration can start with a child coming to you with an observation or question. For example, they may have noticed their parents using their fingerprint to unlock a smart phone. Alternatively, you can make the intentional decision to introduce children to forensic science in response to their interest in scavenger hunts or codes.

The introduction of forensic science is not about directing children’s learning, but rather opening up opportunities for exploration and discovery, which is key to an inquiry-based approach. The aim is to spark children’s curiosity, allow them to follow their natural inclinations and questions, and participate in decision-making. In this way, learning remains collaborative and child-driven. 

When we engage children in forensic science experiences, they learn to:

👀 Sharpen their observation skills by noticing small details around them. 
🤔 Ask specific questions about evidence or situations to investigate things in greater depth. 
🧦 Categorise information by classifying and sorting objects based on their characteristics. 
👣 Make predictions using incomplete evidence and forming hypotheses. 
🧩 Put the pieces together to work out how clues connect, while making sense of information. 
👋 Develop their social skills by sharing ideas, listening, and working with others to solve problems.
🧠 Build learning dispositions as they’re challenged to think critically, evaluate information, and come up with solutions.

Books that explore forensic science

📕 “The First Scientists” by Corey Tutt OAM (author), Blak Douglas (illustrator)

Ages: 7+ years

This is one of our favourite resources exploring First Nations science knowledge. There’s a section specifically about the impact of First Nations peoples on the development of forensic science, notably in regard to their close observation of the environment and use of maps and bush tracking methods.

The picture books below provide an engaging and relatable context in which to investigate abstract STEM concepts like forensic investigation for children from birth all the way to upper-primary. Many of the characters in the following books are animal detectives and the mysteries they solve will likely be familiar to children, such as vegetables stolen from the garden, a mysterious smell, missing cake, and muddy footprints in the house.

📕 “Who, What, Where” by Olivier Tallec

Ages: 3-5 years

This book encourages children to analyse the line-up of characters and hunt for clues that help to answer questions such as ‘Who didn’t have a good sleep?’ or ‘Who has been playing with a mean cat?’

📕 “Help Find Frank” by Anne Bollman

Ages: 3-7 years

Playing the role of the detective, the reader interviews suspects, follows maps, and searches for clues related to where Frank the French Bulldog has gone. Not only does this book introduce the concept of a detective, but it also exposes children to clues beyond just the visual.

📕 “Deductive Detective” by Brian Rock (author), Sherry Rogers (illustrator)

Ages: 5-8 years

In this story, Duck uses his deductive reasoning skills to find out who stole a cake and rules out each of the 12 suspects one-by-one. For example, the thief left behind hairs so he can’t be a bird, which only has feathers.

📕 “Penelope Snoop, Ace Detective“ by Pamela Butchart (author), Christine Roussey (illustrator)

Ages: 0-5 years

This story is a celebration of the power of children’s imagination. Penelope makes up her own whacky adventure to find her stolen Sidney Smelly Sock Snake. It encourages children to create and enact their own mysteries.

📕 “The Story Of The Little Mole Who Knew It Was None Of His Business” by Werner Holzwarth & Wolf Erlbruch

Ages: 0-5 years

Another clue that animals leave behind is scat (or poo). This book follows a mole who wakes up to poo on his head. He sets out to track down the culprit.

Role play

Role play is another fantastic way to introduce forensic science to young children. A corner of the room can be set up with magnifying glasses, notepads, and other props to enable children to engage in scenarios such as pretending to be detectives or investigating a mystery (see the police station dramatic play setup below on the left). Children can also be engaged in making their own props, such as badges, hats, and magnifying glasses.  

Trace evidence: Foot tracks

Forensic science is based on the idea that every time someone interacts with their environment, there’s an exchange of information. For example, when young children eat ice-cream and then place their dirty hands on a clean surface, information is left behind in the form of the child’s fingerprints. Or when a white, long-haired cat sits on the lap of a person wearing dark-coloured pants, information is left behind in the form of the cat’s fur. This information (or traces) can be collected, observed, and analysed by detectives to solve mysteries. One type of trace evidence is footprints.

Analysing animal tracks

To introduce children to forensic science, you may choose to start with animal tracks rather than human footprints. Many young children encounter animal tracks in their backyards or during nature walks, so starting with animal footprints introduces the basic forensic concept of using evidence to identify suspects. Different animals leave distinct footprints based on their features, such as hooves, claws and paws, and unique movement patterns. These make it easier for children to learn how to match tracks to animals. Once they grasp the idea, they can move on to human footprints, which might involve more subtle differences such as toes, arches, and shoe tread.

While exploring animal feet, ask questions such as: How many toes are there? What does the bottom of the foot look like? What shapes do you see? When the animal walks, what parks of its feet touch the ground? Does the foot have nails? Hooves? Claws? Does the animal’s tail drag along the ground? Then, get the children thinking about the relationship between an animal’s feet and its footprints. Here are some ideas:

Animal track activities

🐾 Print a picture of animal tracks and cut it into pieces. Children can put the puzzle back together.

🐾 Place a piece of paper over the foot of a toy animal and rub it with a crayon to reveal the track. 

🐾 Press the feet of animal figures into paint, playdough, sand, or mud to make tracks. Invite children to predict which animal made the print.

🐾 Match printed pictures of animals to their tracks.  

🐾 Hide printed pictures of tracks around the classroom or outdoor area. Give children a picture of an animal that they need to ‘track down’. 

Extension: Once children understand the relationship between footprints and animal tracks, look around your service or nearby parks and beaches to see if they can find any animal tracks. Prompt discussions by asking more in-depth questions such as: What can you tell about the animal by its tracks? Two- or four-legged? Tail? Big or small? Flying or walking? How many toes? Does it climb trees? Is it a carnivore or a herbivore?

Linking to First Nations’ knowledge

We can also make a link to First Nations’ ways of knowing and being by looking at how animal tracks are represented as symbols. 

In this painting “Travels of the Mala” by Timmy Jugadai Tjungurrayi, the circular symbols represent spinifex bushes and the other symbols represent the footprints made by an animal. This painting can prompt discussion, such as:

❓What does this animal might look like?
❓How many legs does it have?
❓Does it have a tail?
❓Are there any clues about how fast is it moving?

Answer: This painting is about a wallaby (a mala) from the Dreaming. The wallaby is shown moving quickly (on two feet), while at other times slowly (with its tail dragging on the ground). 

Extension: Lay out a series of tracks on the ground showing different animals walking, running, and hopping. Ask children to follow the trail and guess what the animal was doing and whether it changed direction or speed.

Human footprint activities

Human footprints are another type of trace evidence. This activity below involves children making and analysing their footprints in different materials. You can adapt the materials you use based on what you have available, e.g. sand, paint, clay, playdough, etc.

Instructions:

1. Start by discussing the similarities and differences between animal and human tracks. For example, humans have toes, arches, and heel pads, whereas animals may have claws or pads. 

2. Have children make their own footprints using materials available to you. Encourage them to closely examine their feet and notice how they relate to the footprints they make. This is especially useful for younger children as it allows for sensory experiences.

3. Invite the children to compare their footprints to those of their friends. This step personalises the experience by showing children that their footprints are unique.  

4. Discuss how footprints can give us clues about what shoes people were wearing, how fast they were moving, or where they were going. Show different types of human footprints – barefoot, sneakers, boots – and ask the children to work out which shoes made which print.

Extension ideas:

• Read the book “Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes” by Eric Litwin & James Dean to explore footprints further.
• Encourage children to make prints of all of their shoes and then match them to the corresponding children.
• Get children to create footprints while moving at different speeds across the sandpit. What tracks are left behind as they walk? Or run? Do the shapes of the footprints look different? If the child runs, is the heel more or less prominent? What about the ball of the foot?

This presents a golden opportunity to take the children to the beach and prompt discussions such as:

🏖️ What stories can footprints on the beach tell us?
🏖️ Were the footprints left by a person or an animal? Or a machine, such as a bike or car?   
🏖️ How many people were at the beach that day? Was it busy or quiet?
🏖️ What was the person doing when they made a footprint? Were they running or walking? Were they going for a swim, pushing a pram, or walking a dog?  
🏖️ What were they wearing? Was it a man or a woman? Was the person tall or short?

Educators can also set up real-world footprint trails inspired by the story “Whose Footprints Are These?”.

This story is told purely in footprints. Children are prompted to engage in critical thinking and reasoning to work out what the characters are doing (just like a detective would at a crime scene).

Instructions:

1. Set up a trail of different tracks (human or by using animal figurines) leading to different locations.
2. Ask the children to follow the trail and create a story about what the animal was doing. Were they running, walking, or stopping to eat? Why did they go a certain direction?
3. Children can have a go at making their own footprint stories using animal figurines.

Trace evidence: Fingerprints

Children will likely already have a level of familiarity with fingerprints, for example: fingerprints on windows or mirrors, or during arts and crafts. While fingerprints are fascinating and offer many learning opportunities, they require more detailed observation and involve more abstract concepts (such as the unique loops, whorls, and arches). It is best to leave these until after you’ve covered footprints. 

You can engage younger children with fingerprints simply by creating prints using paint or ink pads. This can be tied to self-awareness as they recognise that the prints belong to them. Each child’s fingerprints are different, reinforcing the idea that we are all unique individuals and supporting children’s skills in pattern recognition. By comparing their fingerprints with others, children can appreciate differences in a positive way, which also supports social-emotional development.

Instructions:

1. Gather an inkpad/paint, paper, and magnifying glasses.
2. Children press a finger into ink/paint/.
3. Press their finger onto a piece of paper. 
4. Encourage the children to see if all of their fingers have the same patterns. 

No magnifying glass? Blow up a balloon (to stretch it out) and then deflate it. Press a finger into the inkpad and carefully press it onto the balloon (making sure the balloon is flat). Watch this video to learn how you can make giant fingerprints using a balloon.

Fingerprint database activities

You can also explore ideas related to recording the fingerprint data. As you can see below, fingerprints have three types of patterns: loops, whorls, and arches.

Instructions:

1. Create a fingerprint database by collecting educators’ and children’s prints.
2. Set up a classification station where children can see different examples of fingerprint patterns (loops, whorls, and arches). You can use pre-made images or educators can classify their own prints as examples.
3. Support the children to classify fingerprints based on these patterns.
4. Play games in which children try to match whole or parts of fingerprints to photographs. For example: Print zoomed-in images of fingerprints, cut them into pieces, and see if children can follow the patterns to put them back together. 

Painted handshake activity

Materials:
🤝 Paint
🤝 Paintbrush
🤝 Optional: Piece of paper
🤝 Optional: Camera

Instructions:

1. Paint the hand of the first child with a bright colour.
2. This child shakes the hand of a second child, who shakes the hand of a third child, and so on.
3. Prompt children to observe how the paint is transferred from one hand to another. How many classmates are required to shake hands until there is no more paint to pass on?
4. Record how the coloured paint decreases with each handshake, for example: photographs, video, or record each child’s painted handprints on paper.
5. Try using different mediums like glitter to demonstrate how germs can be spread from one person to another.

Other trace evidence activities

There are many other forms of trace evidence, which you can incorporate into your forensic science explorations with the children, such as:

💇 Human hair: What colour or length is the hair? Who could it belong to?
🐕 Animal covering: What animal does the fur/hair belong to?
👗 Fabric fibre: What colours, textures, and materials is the fibre made of?
🫗 Residue: What can food or paint residue in the room tell us?

For younger children: Create a simple game where a toy has gone missing. They need to follow the trail of fabric, crumbs, or smells to find the toy. They might end up at the kitchen where cookies have been baked!

For preschool-aged children:

Instructions:

1. Cut pieces off old shirts with craft scissors with different cutting patterns.  
2. Invite the children to look at the edges of fabric with magnifying glasses. What pattern is the cut? Let the children investigate which scissors might have been used to cut the fabric. 
3. Show the children where the shirts are hung up.
4. Compare the cut piece of fabric with each shirt. Look for similar patterns to match the piece of fabric with the shirt. 
5. The children can also create their own mystery jigsaws with fabric or paper. 

Written clues

Here are fun ways to write and reveal secret messages with children in your service or classroom:

White crayon

1. Write a message on white paper using a white wax crayon. ​
2. Reveal the message by painting over the top with watercolours. ​

Heat activation

1. Write a message on white paper with a heat-activated substance.​ Some substances include lemon juice, milk, and bicarb soda mixed with water.
2. Reveal the message by heating it up.​ This can be done with a hairdryer, iron, oven or by holding the paper up to a hot light globe. ​

Glow in the dark

1. Write messages using a substance that glows under a blacklight, e.g. Vaseline, highlighter, tonic water, whitening laundry detergent, lemon juice, or olive oil. ​

2. Place messages around a dark room. ​

3. Reveal the messages using a blacklight. ​Watch this video on how to make a UV blacklight for this activity.

Crayon layers

1. Place three sheets of paper on top of one other.
2. Write a note on the top sheet of paper, making sure to press hard with a pencil or pen.
3. Discard the top sheet of paper. ​
4. Rub crayon over the bottom sheet of paper to reveal the message.​

Analysing handwriting

This activity is more appropriate for older children. It involves comparing the differences and similarities between samples of handwriting.

Materials:

✍️ Four pieces of paper
✍️ Pens and/or pencils

Instructions:

1. Have at least three educators write a handwritten letter on different pieces of paper using the same sentence, for example: “Not too big. Not too small. This one is just right!”
2. Have one of the educators write another version of their letter on a separate piece of paper — this is the “suspect” letter. In total, you should now have four paper letters.
3. Invite the children to compare the suspect letter to the other handwritten letters. Think about the size of the writing, if it’s cursive or printed lettering, and if there’s a slant to the writing.

Chromatography

Chromatography is a process used to separate mixtures.​ Black ink is made up of many different colours, which can be separated and revealed when combined with water. Each colour is a different substance: Some stick strongly to the paper, while others dissolve more easily in water and move further up the paper due to capillary action. ​How can we find out which pen was used to write a message? ​

Materials:

🖊️ Four different black markers/textas
🖊️ Paper
🖊️ Small tray of water

Instructions:

1. Draw four circles at the bottom of a piece of paper. Use a different texta for each circle.
2. Hold the paper above a tray of water so that only the bottom edge are touching the water. Watch as the ink travels up the paper!
3. After a few minutes, ask the children to describe the different colours that have emerged and compare the ink patterns.

Sight & sound

Here are some ways children can use their sight to identify people:

👀 Show a quick flash of a person’s face. Then show photos of people with similar features. The children can try pick the right person based on only that glimpse. ​

👀 Show children a photo of person (another child or educator) wearing a disguise or with only one feature visible, such as their eyes. Can the children work out who they are?​

👀 Give a description of what a person is wearing. The children must match this description to photos of people in similar outfits.​

Another sense children can use to identify someone is audio or sound. Here’s an example:

1. Record a child saying a sentence (for example: “Can you guess my name?”) using an iPad or audio recording device.
2. The other children listen and try to match the voice recording to the corresponding child.
3. If they have trouble guessing, select three children to say the sentence out loud (including the recorded child).

For younger children: Play animal sounds and have the children match the audio to the animal. You can do the same activity using musical instruments instead of animal sounds too.

Staging a mystery

Staging a mystery for your children to solve is an effective and practical context in which to engage with forensic science and develop children’s critical thinking and problem solving skills.

When selecting a mystery for young children, keep it simple! Here are some ideas:

🧸 Where is the missing toy/equipment?
🧸 Who left the muddy footprints?
🧸 What made these holes in the leaf?
🧸 Who made all this mess on the floor?

These scenarios are playful and relate directly to the children’s immediate environment, keeping them non-intimidating while also reinforcing that everyday mysteries can be solved by paying attention to details. Because these are familiar and low-stakes, children feel comfortable engaging, helping them practice observational skills and teamwork in a way that is appropriate for their developmental stage.

Below are three different approaches to engaging children in a mystery.

Approach 1: Full reveal (older children)

The educator selects a mystery or crime to be solved and then stages a scene with clues. A full reveal involves presenting a mystery/crime scene with all the clues available at once and is therefore more appropriate for older children, as young children’s working memory is more limited compared to older children and adults.

Approach 2: Gradual reveal (younger children)

A gradual reveal more accurately reflects real-world forensic science as clues and evidence typically emerge over time (not all at once). A gradual reveal is better for younger children because the educator will introduce one new clue or piece of evidence at a time (e.g. one per week). This gives children time and space to observe the details, reflect on each clue, and make connections.

Here’s an example of a gradual reveal mystery:

The educator will start by establishing a simple idea for a mystery that the children have to solve. In this example, the mystery will be “What left footprints on the preschool room floor?”. The educator should also decide upon an endpoint for the mystery. In this case, as the culprit is a bear, the investigation will finish with a teddy bear picnic.

Clue #1. Children find footprints

The educator lays out a series of life-sized bear footprints for the children to find. The children investigate this clue over the week by exploring questions like how many creatures made these footprints? What are the measurements? Where did they come from?

Clue #2. Children spot fibres on the educator

The educator attaches faux fur to their clothes and leaves them there until a child notices. Can the children find any more fur in the room? Have the children collect the fur in labelled evidence bags. Prompt the children to think: Whose fur is this? How did it get into the room? Find and show the children photographs of different types of hair (such as cat, dog, or human).

Clue #3. Children find a sticky paw print

The educator plants paw prints made of honey (or another liquid) in the classroom. Invite the children to use the senses of touch, smell, and sight to identify what the substance is. If appropriate, use taste to confirm their predictions. What do children know about honey and what creatures likes to eat it? Ask the children to compare the paw prints to the their handprints.

Next step: Children draw from the evidence

Go through all the evidence that has been collected. Who left these clues? Why are they in the room? What conclusion can be made based on the evidence? Ask the children to draw a picture of the culprit and explain why they think this fits all the evidence. For example, the children might have explanations like:

• Pooh bear because he eats honey.
• The bear left the honey footprints. The bear took the hair off his skin and threw it on your coats.
• A monster. He was sneaking in and slopped honey on his foot and his hands.
• He took the hair off him and put it everywhere. 

Final step: Children and educators find the culprit

The educator encourages the children to explore the outside area. They discover more evidence planted by the educator, such as fur, honey handprints, and footprints, and arrive at a makeshift bear cave with the note from the bear explaining that she had been in their classroom. To finish the experience, the children organise a teddy bear picnic!

Approach 3: Conceptual PlayWorld

What is the difference between a PlayWorld and re-enacting a story? In a PlayWorld, the educator uses the story as a starting point but introduces new problems or mysteries for children to solve. The educator plays an active role in scaffolding the children’s learning, helping them connect the play to real-world concepts. Unlike re-enactment, which focuses on performing the story, a PlayWorld is open-ended and allows for creativity, co-construction of knowledge, and a deeper understanding of forensic concepts. You can learn more about Conceptual PlayWorlds here.

Key advantages of Conceptual PlayWorlds: 

🎭 Involves the whole group. Children can take on roles that suit their interests and personalities.  
🎭 Promotes engagement in STEM through dramatic play, which girls are often interested in.  
🎭 Allows you to change up the story as you follow the children’s interests.  

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