Throw a Paw-Some Mystery Program with Dog Man

If your library is anything like mine, you struggle to keep Dog Man books on the shelf. With the arrival of the Dog Man movie in theaters next month, Dog Man’s success will only continue to grow.

There are so many ways your library can celebrate Dog Man. You can recommend these books that are perfect for Dog Man fans. You can have a stations-based Dog Man party where patrons go through an obstacle course. The possibilities are endless! At my library, we decided to host Dog Man’s Paw-Some Adventure, where patrons worked together to solve a mystery.

Dog Man’s Paw-Some Adventure had six different puzzles. Each puzzle ended with a clue that pointed patrons towards the next puzzle. What’s great about running a mystery-solving program is that you can tailor your puzzles and theme to whatever your patrons like best!

Puzzle 1: Character Hunt

At my library, patrons love searching for hidden objects and signs. So, the first puzzle was a character hunt. I created half sheets of paper. Each sheet had a different Dog Man character, a number, and a letter. These papers were hidden all over our program room. First, patrons found all the characters. When they put the sheets in numerical order, it revealed the secret message “Read the newspaper today!!!”. Since my program would have up to 12 kids, I wanted the message to be exactly 24 characters so everyone would have a chance to find letters. The message could be easily adapted to fit the needs of any size program.

Puzzle 2: The Chewed-Up Newsletter

I used Canva to create a newspaper. The newspaper explained that Dr. Scum created robots which were attacking the city. Throughout the newspaper, some letters were written in different colors. I then cut the newspaper up in to pieces. Again, the difficulty level of this puzzle can be easily increased or decreased. Since I was expecting some younger patrons, I left them pretty large. You could also make them smaller or more intricate to make the puzzle trickier.

During the event, all the pieces were on a table. Once patrons assembled the newsletter together, they were able to see all of the different colored letters. The letters revealed another secret message: “Use your sniffer”.

Puzzle 3: Super Sniffing

I first got the idea to do a sniffing puzzle from this great Dog Man party at the Bartow County Public Library System (GA). I had five cups on a separate table. Each cup had a different food inside. On each cup, I wrote a different word. Then, there was a mat that had pictures of each food. When patrons sniffed each cup and put the cups in the correct spot, it revealed the message “Find 80-HD for some help.”

Puzzle 4: Building 80-HD

I created a giant version of 80-HD. I also added some numbers in bright green. I then cut out 80-HD into pieces which were hidden around the room. The patrons went on another hunt and found all of the pieces. On a table was a roll of tape and instructions to look for a clue when they finish building 80-HD. After they taped all of the pieces together, they revealed the number 341.

Puzzle 5: Prison Break

This puzzle was the trickiest part of the program to create. Using extra boxes, I created three 3D versions of Dog Man buildings: Petey’s Secret Lab, Cat Jail, and Dog Man’s house. I created the designs for the building in Canva, and then printed them out and taped them onto the boxes. I also added an address to each building. One was 341 Pilkey Way. When patrons lifted up that building, they found Dr. Scum admitting his evil crimes. He also claimed that the Supa Buddies couldn’t break his super secret code.

Puzzle 6: Breaking the Code

Since I was expecting some younger patrons, I used a simple alphanumeric code. The patrons found an envelope that had the code on one sheet of paper and a series of numbers on the other. You could easily make this puzzle trickier by using a more complex code or creating a longer message. After the patrons filled out all of the code, the day was saved, and the mystery was solved. Each patron got a cup of slime and a thank you newsletter from Dog Man.

If you’re looking for more mystery fun, try this great list of mystery titles.  You can also take your mystery to the next level by creating an escape room program. What mystery solving programs has your library done?

Ann Baillie (she/her/hers) is the Youth Services Assistant Manager at the Alsip-Merrionette Park Public Library in Alsip, Illinois. She is a past-manager of the Illinois Library Association’s Youth Services Forum. Her main interests are the connection between Readers’ Advisory and technology, and how libraries can use technology to better reach patrons.

This post addresses ALSC Core Competencies III. Programming Skills

The post Throw a Paw-Some Mystery Program with Dog Man appeared first on ALSC Blog.

If your library is anything like mine, you struggle to keep Dog Man books on the shelf. With the arrival of the Dog Man movie in theaters next month, Dog Man’s success will only continue to grow. There are so many ways your library can celebrate Dog Man. You can recommend these books that are perfect for Dog Man fans. You can have a stations-based Dog Man party where patrons go through an obstacle course. The possibilities are endless! At my library, we decided to host Dog Man’s Paw-Some Adventure, where patrons worked together to solve a mystery. Dog Man’s Paw-Some Adventure had six different puzzles. Each puzzle ended with a clue that pointed patrons towards the next puzzle. What’s great about running a mystery-solving program is that you can tailor your puzzles and theme to whatever your patrons like best! Puzzle 1: Character Hunt At my library, patrons love…
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