MURDER MYSTERY

Murder Mystery This one's complicated, but it can be really fun for an advanced group. I don't do this with my elementary students, but when I get a chance to play it with the folks in the performing troupe to which I belong, I just love it.   It's a little like a cross between the board game "Clue," the kids' game "Whisper Down the Lane," and the parlor game "Charades."  Central to the game is the idea that there has been a murder, and the task is to discover Who was murdered, Where they were murdered, and How they were killed.  (Think, "A noun is a person, place, or thing.")  The order is important, as you will see.
The group divides into two teams.  Team A leaves the room, and Team B brainstorms a person, place and thing.  (For example, Shirley Temple, in Burger King, with a butter churn.)
The first person from Team A enters, and Team B tells her the three things.
The second person from Team A enters.
The first person must communicate all three items without speaking.  The twist is that the second person can't speak either, so there is no way for the first person to be sure she has communicated successfully.  The second person may indicate through sounds, humming or gestures that he does or does not understand--he may even try to "restate" an item in a different way to be sure he has it, but no language of any kind is permitted.
When the second person thinks he has all three items, the next person enters, and the message is passed on in the same way.
When the last person in Group A thinks she has figured out the three items, she announces her conclusion--which is almost never identical to the original information.
The teams switch roles and the process is repeated.
Pointers It is a good idea to establish at least a little bit of "Charades Code" to start with.  For example, holding up one, two, or three fingers can indicate which of the items--person, place or thing--is being performed at a given time.  Usually the three items are enacted one at a time.  It is not necessary to act out the actual crime.  (In the example, you might hum "The Good Ship Lollipop" and mime curly hair for Shirley Temple, eat a pretend hamburger after indicating a crown for Burger King, and then mime churning butter.  It is not necessary to mime clubbing poor Shirley with the churn--and in fact it will probably confuse the issue by making the "churn" look less like a churn.)
Music (hummed but not, of course, sung) can be extremely useful here.  I once saw a person act "Tinkerbell" by  three bars of the opening music from The Wonderful World of Disney and tapping an imaginary wand.  The person receiving understood instantly.  Commercial themes, television show themes, pop music--all are easily recognized and convey much.
If a group is good at the game, they will start deliberately choosing combinations of items that will be hard to guess, but at first a leader might want to veto items that are too obscure.  (Of course, half the fun of the game is that people get off on the wrong track, and since half of the group is always "audience" they are able to watch as the train comes derailed.)
It is very difficult for players familiar with charades to understand that not only the "giver" but the "receiver" as well must not speak.  Be sure to stress this.  You cannot, as in charades, verbalize your guesses so as to help the actor know how he's doing.