Your child needs to exercise their mind, as well as their body, and brain-teasers are a great way to get those little grey cells moving.
Basically, brain-teasers are problems or puzzles that people solve for fun, and they’re a big hit with school-aged kids. Your child will get a buzz out of asking and answering brain-teasers, and there’s every good reason to encourage them.
Brain-teasers have been shown to improve the attention span of six-year-olds, and your child’s problem-solving and critical-thinking skills are put to work when they ponder a tricky question or statement.
Instead of taking things literally, your child needs to think laterally, which means looking at the problem from a creative angle.
Some brain-teasers require your child to think fast and remember well, and there’s a social element when kids work together to crack a puzzle, or delight in the fact that they know something a grown-up doesn’t!
Classic river-crossing problems (with a hungry wolf, goat and cabbage) and spot-the-difference puzzles are two examples of brain-teasers, but the most common ones doing the rounds are riddles. See how your family goes with these.
18 brain-teasers to share
- What breaks, but never falls? And what falls, but never breaks?
Morning and night. - A person drives up to a hotel in their car and instantly says, “I’m bankrupt!” What’s happening?
They’re playing Monopoly. - What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Short. - What has 40 legs, but can’t walk?
Twenty pairs of pants. - Five kids are able to stay dry while standing under one umbrella. How is this possible?
It isn’t raining! - If Sienna had four piles of sand, and Jack had five piles of sand, and they put them all together, how many piles of sand are there?
One (because they put them together). - What gets more wet while it dries?
A towel. - Noah fell off a 10 metre high ladder, but wasn’t hurt at all. Why?
He fell off the bottom rung. - What word is pronounced the same way if you take away four of its letters?
Queue (Q). - I’m tall when I’m young and short when I’m old. What am I?
A candle. - Two mums and two daughters are in a car, yet there are only three people in the car. How is this possible?
They are a grandmother, mother and daughter. - If you have three oranges and take away two, how many oranges do you have?
Two (the ones in your hand). - I have branches, but no trunk or leaves. What am I?
A bank. - What four-letter word can be written forwards, backwards or upside down, and can still be read from left to right?
NOON. - How many bricks does it take to complete a wall that’s 18 metres long and 11 metres high?
One (the last brick that’s laid). - What can you hold in your right hand, but not in your left?
Your left elbow. - I am an odd number. When you take away a letter, I become even. What number am I?
Seven. - If you have three of me, you have three. If you have two, you have two, but if you have one, you have none. What am I?
Choices.
Teachers use brain-teasers for game-based learning, and they’re a fun addition to the activities on offer at after school care.
If you’re looking for quality after school care, contact the Toddle team and we’ll help you find a solution to your child care puzzle.
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