Top tips: Mystery Bag activities
Encourage your children to use their sense of touch, hearing and smell to work out what's contained in these mystery bags! A tried and tested favourite with teachers, spark curiosity and debate with a selection of everyday objects.
Totally Organic - Start a conversation about natural products in a whole new way is an example of a Mystery Bag activity.
How to run Mystery Bag activities
There's a little prep involved in putting together a Mystery Bag activity. You'll need an opaque bag (a pillowcase works perfectly!) and a selection of objects. We only suggest activities that use things you'll easily be able to lay your hands on around school or at home.
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Tell your class that several parcels of mystery items have been delivered to them. Ask them to suggest ways they can tell what’s inside without looking and make a list. Some methods they could use are:
- feeling
- observing
- listening
- smelling
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Working as a class or in groups, pass the bags around and ask them to explore the items using the methods you discussed amongst themselves (no peeking).
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After they've had a few moments to explore, ask them what they've been doing to work out the bag's contents. Which method has helped the most? Why? What do they think is inside and why? Do they need to try anything else?
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Tell the class that all the objects have something in common. Ask if this has changed what they think is in the bag and if so, why? Let them explore the bags again. If the class have a good idea of what they think is in the bag you could reveal the items and ask the class what links them.
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Encourage everyone to share final ideas for what the objects are as a class. Does everyone agree? Why or why not? Emphasise that it does not matter whether they have guessed correctly. The importance is in using their problem-solving skills. Continue your discussion about the items, what questions do the children have?
Image credit: Duncan Hull via Flickr CC BY 2.0