For staff: the Monday drop, two minutes to set up.

Before the children arrive. Dust a little flour on the wall or door frame near last week's empty spot. Pin three time cards around the room: "3:30 bell rang", "3:40 bread in, 20-minute timer", "3:55 hook empty". Hide the third one somewhere higher, for the tallest finders.

The sealed printable. Print the timeline strip: a line from 3:30 to 4:00 with five-minute marks, and three blank boxes.

The episode. Read the story aloud, or play the recording. About five minutes.

Jobs by age. The youngest find the three time cards. The middle group puts them in order and counts the five-minute marks. The oldest run the case board and decide what goes in ink and what stays in pencil.

The answer. Between 3:40 and 3:55. Fifteen minutes. A wrong answer costs nothing; put the cards in order again.

No printer? Draw the timeline on a whiteboard with a ruler.

The Elders' Clue (for home). Write this on the back of the printable: Think of something you once had mended by someone who knew how. How long did you wait to get it back? Only a grown-up can answer it. Next Monday, pin their answers to the case board in pencil, under "what grown-ups remember". Nothing has to come back; the room carries on either way.

For the ride home. Ask: why didn't Danya write the cook's first answer in ink?