Today's featured review is Toy Chest Trauma, hosted by Jan Tuttle Music Studio. Every fall she picks a fun theme for the studio recital. This year, she decided to try a mystery themed recital that the audience would have to solve during the performance!

After searching the internet for the perfect package, she found Playing With Murder. Jan says,

They offer fun, shorter in length, kid's versions of a mystery party for a reasonable price. I chose Toy Chest Trauma, think Toy Story and you have it about right. Students range in age from 6-17 and I wanted it appropriate while still appealing to my older students.

Eight older students were chosen to play the parts of the toy characters. Character information sheets were sent home several weeks in advance so they could prepare a costume and act out their part...in their own words! Other students and their families were in attendance and were all given the role of investigator.

Jan made large name tags that the characters could hang around their necks so that the audience would know who each character was as the mystery went on.

As everyone started arriving, mystery music themes were playing to set the mood. This included themes from James Bond, Inspector Gadget, Mission Impossible, and Get Smart, to name a few. Decorations were question marks and crime scene tape. There was even an old chest filled with toys and cut out footprints leading to the basement where the studio is located.

Our hostess went all out for her investigators (the audience).

As everyone arrived they were all given a program order so everyone knew how the evening would proceed. On the other side of the program order was the Investigator Notes sheet where all the characters were listed, with plenty of room for the audience to take notes on the clues they were given, and to guess who they thought the guilty party was at the end of the evening. Here is how that looked (with the names of my performers taken out): Mystery Recital Investigator Notes and Program. I made sure to have enough pencils for everyone!

Toy Chest Trauma is designed with an introduction where the host, Jan, introduces the plot of the story, and gives instructions for the evening.

There were then three rounds when the toy characters came up to give their account of the crime and their rebuttals to what other characters said about them. I, as the host, also read two different clues that gave more information the investigators needed to know to solve the mystery.

To conserve time, the audience/investigators were allowed up to three questions at the end of a round in order to get clarification from any character.

At the end of the final round everyone in the audience had to try and guess who they thought the culprit was. Everyone who guessed the right answer won an Investigator Award and a magnifying glass. Our musical performances were sandwiched between each round, each clue, and before the final solution was read.

After Toy Chest Trauma, there were refreshments. Jan baked cupcakes, and since the decorations were black and white with questions marks, she arranged white frosted cupcakes on a black table cloth in the shape of question marks.

Simple, and delicious!

We would like to thank Jan, of Jan Tuttle Music Studio for an incredible adaptation of Toy Chest Trauma and for sharing her personal blog and photos with us to, in turn, share with our fellow mystery aficionados.