It was Ms Really Should Know Better, at her desk!

I finally found an ink pad (in the stationery department of the big Coop in the local shopping centre, they must be out of fashion) had a little forensics party all by myself with the John Adams New Scotland Yard Forensics Kit.

The fingerprinting was fun, and I know now that I am a Loop (which is nothing to get excited about, it's the most common type) and that I should refrain from committing any crimes involving my left ring finger as the scar makes a very distinct print (long story involving my brother and a gate, long long ago). I was a bit worried by the staying power of the ink, but by the time I'd washed my hands repeatedly as I went through the rest of the kit the blue stain was mostly gone.

Apart from the lack of any ink pad in the kit - which looks like a factory issue, as the box that should have contained it was sealed - there was also no pipette for measuring water to test the "mystery substance" (clearly labelled with a health and safety warning stating what it was and how it was toxic). So it was all a bit haphazard, but I suppose people think that's all right for children. Still, they could have made an effort. A child would get a shock watching CSI after using this kit.

(I was overcome with a desire to watch CSI, and nearly bought the first season streaming on Amazon.com before realising that their T&Cs state the service is only available in the US, so although they would sell it to me they probably wouldn't then let me watch it.)

I appreciated the clear health and safety warnings and advice on how to handle the powders, but it would have been nice to know that both plastic jars were sealed with foil, so you had to totally remove the child-proof caps to get the seal off. Lots of potential for throwing activated carbon and calcium carbonate all over the place.

I got the fingerprint identification wrong, and had to decide what "lab result" the chromatography matched based on who I thought had done it as it looked nothing like any of the possibilities. But overall it was fun and definitely checked the box for the optional "take fingerprints" activity for the OU Elements of Forensic Science module.

Things I have learned:

• Forensics is messy
• It involves a lot of washing of hands (or disposing of gloves, I suppose)
• It involves a certain amount of waiting around (chromatography, I'm looking at you)
• Activated carbon gets everywhere. An object lesson in "every contact leaves a trace".
• No, really. I kept finding it rooms I didn't even remember going into while playing with the kit. And black powder on a black glass desk is a nightmare.

It was fun and doing some of the activities may help me understand the content of the forensics course a little better, but I'd be wary of buying the kit again as it was missing items (pipette and ink pad). It's also far cheaper online (about £21) than in Hamleys (about £33), although it would have been easier to bring it back to a physical shop and complain. There were also reports of missing dusting powder in the Science Museum fingerprinting kits, which is annoying. Even children expect a certain level of quality. 

I'm going to keep a few of the items out, as they might be useful and/or fun - plastic tweezers, UV light and UV pen with "NEW SCOTLAND YARD" on it. 

Biggest gripe? "Forensics' kit" wasn't a just a flare of something on the outer box. It was everywhere. Along with the amusingly ambiguous "Advice for supervising adults" and the awful "Hair and how is it examined?".