Stop right there! Hmm, I see you brought a bucket and spade. Sorry, that’s not allowed. Out you go! Just kidding, you’re always welcome! I’m just trying to be a good detective.

“At the beach?” Ok, maybe this is not the place you will most expect a detective to come snooping around, but you don’t know what secrets this place holds. A bit like in 2017, Germany, when colourful plastic eggs with toys inside them were washed up on the beach. This is a job for a professional detective! So next time you go to the beach, stop trying to get a tan and follow me on the biggest adventure of your lives. 

I’m sure many of you have heard of treasure maps and how ‘X’ always marks the spot. However, first, we have to think like detectives. Here is my advice:

1. You MUST know Sherlock Holmes. If you do, all I want you to do is think about him. Enola Holmes is also allowed, since, personally, I do prefer her. But NO Mycroft is allowed; only if you really must. Anyway, think about what he or she does to solve the mysteries, what skills do they use; and what questions do they ask?

2. You need to understand, because otherwise everything you will do is a failure. Well, let's look at it carefully: if you don't understand what your mystery or puzzle is, how are you going to solve it? Study. Research. Now that we have the internet, let's use it. Consider all the available information by asking yourself, “Who? What? When? Where? Why? And How?”

3. Remember to think! You're not actually solving it properly if you're not thinking, am I right? Once you have learnt or figured something out, don't move on to a different subject. THINK! Are you sure this is right? Talk to more people and ask them questions to expand your perspective on a question that you keep asking yourself. 

4. EXPLORE. Start by gathering every possible solution, even if it seems the most unlikely. For example, somebody stole your father's Rolex. Even put down your cousin's best friend, who was at your house at the time but already has so many expensive watches, doesn't even like watches, and who you 'think' has no idea that your father has a Rolex. Yes, it seems very unlikely, but everything is possible! Then you start asking the questions. This is when you can start narrowing down your suspects. However, you have to be completely sure that they are not the right person. 

5. CONSIDER. Think about the outcomes (what will happen next) as a result of each decision option you have discovered. How would each option affect the other people involved with the situation?

6. PLAN. Now, this is one of the most important steps. Without a plan, things can go wrong very easily. So, when your parents say, "Please be more organised," they're saying this for a reason. Identify the best possible solution and make an action plan that breaks the goal into small steps. Make sure you assign the steps to someone (even if that’s you) and understand what resources and time are needed to accomplish each step.

With these six steps, you may even give Sherlock Holmes some friendly competition. NO, NOT FRIENDLY! To be a detective, you can't always be the caring and soft grandma; only if you're going undercover, I'll accept it. 

We're back at the beach. Let's listen to those steps to find out why those plastic eggs with toys in them have washed up on the shore.

1. (We'll ignore the Sherlock Holmes step for now.)

2. Time to understand the situation: Eggs were washed up on the shore (not much to understand). The questions we ask ourselves are:

Who? We have no evidence. What? The eggs have toys inside them. When? January 9th, 2017. Where? The German Wadden Sea island of Langeoog. Why? I'm trying to find out. How? We do know there was a heavy storm. After doing some research, we know that there was a Danish container ship.

3. We can ask people what they know about it or if they've seen these sorts of eggs anywhere else.

4. Now we can gather all the information we already have and try to find out which suggestions may be more obvious. Or... we know there was the ship...

5. So now we think about what the outcome was, if it was these people or this person. 

6. Well, overall, this is our plan. The steps.

Now you can try to solve this mystery, but in more detail!! You may just be the next Sherlock or Enola Holmes. 

I hope everybody has a good summer!!