Know any good puzzles for kids?

[Talitha]

First of all, sorry if this is not the right forum to post this. I thought I might get the best response here.

I am running an extra-curricular group at school for one afternoon a week. We will be looking at Puzzles. There will be a wide range of abilities and ages but I will try and provide puzzles that are at each child's level.

It will only last for 5 weeks, but I want to expose the kids to several different kinds of puzzles over the 5 weeks. Who knows, it might spark a life-long interest for some of them.

I am wondering if anyone has any favourite puzzles, original puzzles, classic puzzles or just good puzzles that might be suitable for kids aged anywhere between 5 to 12. I'd be interested in any and all kinds of puzzles. If so could you please post them here or PM me.

Thank you

[Zag]

The first assignment in MNOWAX's puzzle making competition was to create a puzzle for a second-grader. That might be a good place to start.

http://www.greylabyrinth.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?t=12679

[MatthewV]

Most of the original GL puzzles are wonderful also. They are chestnut to adults but exciting for children.

[MNOWAX]

i was jsut goign to mention Top gler.

i think DF actually printed out the puzzles for his kids
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[Loki]

What was the deal with groza's "I have one question about this house" puzzle?

[MNOWAX]

lol

look at everything in the picture. does it remind you of a common nursery rhyme?
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[grz*]

Yeah... that was not my best work, which is why I didn't suggest the game to start with

[Loki]

Oh, the House That Jack Built. I didn't realize any second graders learned that rhyme since 1873. I was stuck trying to figure out why Jean-Luc Picard was there.

[Quailman]

This has always been my favorite whenever I have kids in that age group around.

[Scurra]

[Zag]

Depending on how much work you want to do in advance, you could make masks and do some of the easier river-crossing puzzles, having kids act out the different parts (fox, chicken, grain, farmer, for instance ... or missionaries and cannibals, perhaps renamed). Or you could have a craft session where they make the masks, and then a puzzle session where they use the masks.

[Talitha]

Wow, some great puzzles and great ideas. Thanks so much.

The first session is later today but I haven't received the list of kids yet so unsure how bright they'll be. To get a feel for the group I am going to do an intro brain storm -- get their ideas about the reasons for doing puzzles, kinds of puzzles, puzzles in our everyday life, etc.

[Chuck]

How about the four fours puzzle? You have to make the integers using mathemical expressions using exactly four fours along with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Such as:

[Talitha]

Ah - that's neat. Could be a good challenge for a couple of the older kids.

I would like to use just about all of these ideas over the next 5 weeks.

Just saw the list and I've got the whole range from the newest pupil aged 5 years and 2 days, to a couple of the brighter older kids.

I'm going to have a very simple mafia game today (3 werewolves and 12 villagers). Sticking with my comfort zone today because I'm sick and sleep-deprived.

Then I've got Cordelia's Scary Mary puzzle for the little ones and I'll grab a couple of old GL puzzles for the olders ones.

I like the idea of acting out river crossing puzzles too. Would like to include a non paper and pen activity each week.

[Talitha]

Quail - what's that puizzle about?

[ralphmerridew]

Chinese handcuffs.

Put the kid's fingers into them, then challenge him to remove them.

[extro...*]

If there'sa computer in the room, I actually think this one is good: http://www.cyberglass.biz/flshstuff/mindreader.php

Just have them figure out how it works, on their own, without help, until they have that Aha! experience. At first they'll be amazed, but it will be a feeling of accomplishment for those who figure it out. I think anyone, if left long enough with it, will figure it out.

[Chuck]

There's also the puzzle of covering an 8 by 8 grid that has two opposite corner squares removed with 31 dominoes, each of which covers two adjacent squares. After they struggle with it and fail you can point out the easy proof that it can't be done.

[Hitchhiker]

"Matchstick" puzzles -- though I always use Q-tips or toothpicks.

"Nim" -- where two people take turns taking one, two, or three pennies and try to force the other to take the last penny.

Can you think of ten three-letter words for parts of your body?

Shapes that can be traced without going back over the lines or lifting your pencil from the paper

Tangrams

Optical illusions

The card game "Set" is great for a wide variety of ages.

[lexprod]

I've always been a big fan of the Towers of Hanoi puzzle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Hanoi

Can be used with common coins, or blocks, or even huge boxes to make it more physical.

[grz*]

[Zag]

I've got 14 so far, 10 that are ok for kids.

Ok for kids: arm, leg, toe, rib, ear, eye, gum, jaw, lip, hip

Not so much: bum, ass, nut, tit,

[Hitchhiker]

Wow, Zag, you'd be the kind of student who gets sent to the principal's office =)

It's over now, but WInston Breen's Puzzle Party was fun and kid-appropriate, and the puzzles are still online:

http://www.winstonbreen.com/puzzleparty.html

(There are also two Winston books containing puzzles, and a Winston Breen puzzle blog. Winston's the character, Eric Berlin's the author.)

Hope you're having fun, Tally! It sounds like a great program!

[Jack_Ian]

[Hitchhiker]

A father and six-year-old daughter got nine the other day and decided the tenth part of your body must be DNA.

[Talitha]

I just wanted to say thank you all again for the ideas and encouragement. I have used many of your puzzles and ideas so far. It's going well. Tomorrow we're going to do the three letter body word challenge as a warm-up activity.

[Jack_Ian]

This is a simple game called Schocken played with 3 dice. The rules are simple, the games are quick and it provides some basic probability problems.
It's amazing how quickly young players become aware of which combinations will provide the best chances of success.

In the thread below, the dice results have somehow gotten corrupted, so don't try to follow the games played there.

[Jack_Ian]

Another game...Not sure what this is called. I learned it as a kid.

Draw a square (about 6" in length) on a piece of paper.
Draw a cross within it from the mid-point of each line and an X from corner to corner, so that you are left with something resembling the shape of a Union Jack.
For clarity, it helps if you draw a small disc at each of the intersections, 9 in total.

You will need 2 sets of 3 counters. Coins are good, or even just pieces of paper with 3 of them coloured in.

The idea is to get 3 in a row.
Each player takes turns placing a counter at a line intersection.
You are not allowed to place a counter on an already occupied spot.
Once you have no counters left, you may use your turn to move one of your counters along a line to the next intersection.
The first to get 3 in a row wins.

Very experienced players will always end up in deadlock, but it will take quite a while for kids to reach that level.

It's an easy game to set up just with what's available.
I've played it using Stones Vs Shells on a board drawn in the sand and I've even played using 3 girls Vs 3 boys using chalk on the driveway. That really got very competitive.

[L'lanmal]

That sounds like a scaled-down version of Nine Men's Morris called "Achi"?

[Jack_Ian]

Thanks for the link.

[KomradRikardo]

Involving dice, there's also a neat little "gambling" game called Zilch.
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May your puzzles be challenging and your solutions be rewarding!

[Mr Nigma]

That should go in the waste of time thread. Bye bye three hours of my life.
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