Spot a forgery
Create original and forged drawings or signatures, then use magnifying glass, light, and comparison techniques to learn how to spot forgeries safely.
Step-by-step guide to spot a forgery
Can You Spot a Fake Document Before It's Too Late?
Step 1
Clear a flat table and put all your materials where you can reach them easily.
Step 2
Draw a simple original signature or tiny picture on a clean sheet using your pencil.
Step 3
Place tracing paper over your original and trace it carefully to make a traced copy.
Step 4
On a new sheet, copy the original freehand while looking at it to make a freehand copy.
Step 5
On another sheet, make a forged variation by changing the slant size or spacing on purpose.
Step 6
Turn on your flashlight or desk lamp so you have bright light for inspecting papers.
Step 7
Angle the light so it skims across the paper surface to help reveal indentations and pressure marks.
Step 8
Hold the magnifying glass over the original and look closely at where strokes start and stop for smoothness.
Step 9
Hold the magnifying glass over the traced copy and look closely at the same stroke areas to compare line quality.
Step 10
Hold the magnifying glass over the freehand copy and look closely at the same stroke areas to compare shakiness and flow.
Step 11
Hold the magnifying glass over the forged variation and look closely for changes in pressure slant or unexpected pen lifts.
Step 12
Place the original and each copy side by side under the angled light and look for differences in slant spacing line smoothness and indentations.
Step 13
Share your original and the copies plus what you discovered about the differences on DIY.org.
Final steps
You're almost there! Complete all the steps, bring your creation to life, post it, and conquer the challenge!
Help!?
What can we use if tracing paper, a magnifying glass, or a flashlight are hard to find?
If you don't have tracing paper use thin baking or parchment paper to trace, if you lack a magnifying glass use your phone camera's zoom or reading glasses to examine strokes, and if you don't have a flashlight use strong daylight at an angle or a desk lamp for raking light.
What should we do if the traced copy slips, indentations aren't visible, or the freehand copy is too shaky?
Tape the tracing paper to the original so it doesn't move, press a bit harder when making the original or darken the room and angle the flashlight sharply to make indentations show, and practice drawing the original several times to steady your freehand copy before comparing with the magnifying glass.
How can we adapt this activity for younger kids and older kids?
For younger children make the original much larger and use crayons or markers so they can easily trace and spot slant or size differences by eye, while older kids can use fine-tip pens, create subtler forged variations (small slant or spacing changes), and rely on the magnifying glass and angled light to analyze strokes and indentations.
How can we extend or personalize the activity beyond the basic comparison and sharing on DIY.org?
Turn it into a detective challenge by collecting originals from different family members, assigning points for correctly identifying the traced, freehand, and forged variations using the magnifying glass and angled lamp, photographing each side-by-side comparison to document indentations and stroke differences, and posting your findings and photos on DIY.org.
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Facts about forensic science for kids
✍️ Handwriting shows subtle cues like slant, pressure, and spacing — little clues that make many people's writing unique.
🔍 Magnifying glasses can reveal tiny pen strokes, overlaps, and paper fibers that are invisible to the naked eye.
🖼️ Some famous forgeries have fooled museums and collectors for years, proving even experts can be tricked.
🧪 Special lights (like UV) and safe lab tests can make erased or altered writing show up again without harming the paper.
🕵️♀️ Forensic document examiners compare handwriting, inks, and paper to spot fakes and help solve mysteries.
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