For our combined activity this month, the YW were in charge so we did a murder mystery dinner (here). It was so much fun and a huge success so I thought I'd pass the idea on.
The murder mystery is actually a story from the Book of Mormon but the kids have no idea. The game is played in three rounds with food served at the beginning of each round. We did chips and salsa, taco soup, and dessert for our rounds.
This activity works well with a small group or large group because each table of eight works by themselves. The game starts with a leader setting the scene and reading the character descriptions. I made packets for the kids with this info, a nametag, and a sheet of paper to take notes on. This was set on each table before the kids came in.
The scene reads:
The scene is the home of Judge Jones, a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. On this Thursday evening, Judge Jones was found murdered. He had multiple stab wounds and was found lying in a pool of blood. There are six suspects, all with a motive for the murder.
We had a leader at each table who was in charge of handing out the clues at the beginning of each round and keeping the discussion going.
The kids really got into trying to solve the murder. They dissected all the clues while they ate, took notes on what different characters said, and had very strong opinions about who they thought did it. Even our kids who sometimes struggle were very into this activity. At the end we asked each table who they thought did it and why.
The best part though was the ending. After each table explained who they believed was the murderer, we revealed it was a story from the Book of Mormon. We used the revised script found here for the reveal. We had a member of the bishopric summarize the scripture story while two YM leaders read directly from the scriptures when he asked them too. (It's all in the revised script). I was initially hesitant about the # of scriptures it included because of the glazed eye effect you get with teenagers quite often while scriptures are being read - but it was absolutely perfect. Because the kids had gotten so invested in trying to solve the mystery, they were making connections right and left while the scriptures were being read. They were literally sitting on the edge of their seats and I heard lots of "OH!" and "NO WAY!" and other various exclamations. It was neat to have them understand the scriptures so much better because they had literally been in the middle of the story themselves trying to figure out what happened. (It is the story in Helaman of the Chief Judge's murder). They could see the confusion that ensued from that particular event and why different people acted the way they did.
We ended with the same member of bishopric talking about how we are told to "liken the scriptures unto ourselves" and then he bore testimony of following the prophet.
We had VERY simple decorations. I had the worst head cold and Lance was out of town right up to a minute before the activity (he showed up in a cab and hopped in the car to come up to the church). We knew we only needed four tables so we were able to do it in the primary room. Our mutual just switched to Thursdays and our numbers have significantly dropped due to sports etc. - so sad!
As a side note, when we did this activity in Seattle I went all out with decorations. That was the night I unfortunately learned we were not allowed to have lit candles in the church building. Fortunately, I didn't learn that until after the activity so we were able to have cool decor. I HATE the candle rule but I understand the need for it.
I made the body outline out of a vinyl tablecloth from the YW closet. I was cutting so fast, significant mistakes were made.
One last thing - Something that I think worked really well was how we had the youth enter the room. We were kind of tricky. While the youth did opening exercises in the chapel, I explained the game to the four leaders I had sitting at the tables and had them at each table ready to go. The other YW leaders sent the kids down in groups of four (we tried to send four friends or chatty kids together). When they came into the room I would give those four kids all the same character so they would each be at a different table from each other. I think this helped keep the kids more focused on the game.
