When a super-sleuth 11-year-old received a strange postcard addressed to her, her interests were immediately piqued. Once her adult had explained she wasn’t being stalked by a strange person with great artistic talent and they had, in fact, signed her up to New Perspectives’ Fair Play postcard series, she set to work on cracking the mysterious code and taking part in some of the activities presented.
Billed as “a six-part funfair mystery posted through letterboxes for children and families to enjoy”, the series promises codes to crack, creative challenges and mysterious scenarios to promote thinking and problem-solving.
A detective notebook was set up to log each weekly clue as it landed and theories of what the starts of the secret code could be ensued. While all of the postcards were well received and engaged with, the latter few failed to keep this 11-year-old’s interest with the problem solving becoming quite repetitive for such a busy brain. The artwork continued to charm, however, and the revelation of the mystery writer towards the end did prompt a nice family discussion and some extra research.
Fair Play is a charming idea and mostly hits the spot although is perhaps a little too simple for the older range of the 5-11 target audience. For a slightly younger audience, the Easter run of the postcards are well worth signing up for and the activities provided will certainly keep creative minds busy for a few hours over the upcoming holidays. Have colouring supplies ready, and prepare for some silly fun!
Booking until 20 March, Mailed from 2nd April: www.newperspectives.co.uk
