Every day at lunch, I present a puzzle to my kids for them to solve – a thinking challenge. My kids love these daily challenges and can usually figure them out – some puzzles quicker than others.

In all the years I’ve been doing these lunchtime puzzles with my kids, they have never gotten frustrated or stumped before. Well… today’s puzzle frustrated my very logical thinking, pattern spotting son nearly to the point of tears. I felt so bad for him, I ended up asking him questions to help guide him to the answer (and he now thinks this is a really cool puzzle).

Want to try our puzzle from today? Here’s what you do:

What You Will Need:

• 3 Pieces of Silverware


• Your two hands


• Table

What You Do:

• Present this puzzle by telling your kids a story, something like this: “I had the strangest dream last night; I had met a group of aliens from another planet and they were teaching me about their culture and how they communicate. Here… let me show you something I learned. If you want to learn, just watch everything I do.”


• The object of this puzzle is for your kids to figure out the special way that aliens communicate numbers.


• Arrange several pieces of silverware on the table any way you like – the more unusual the pattern, the better.


• Your kids attention will be drawn to the silverware, but never mention to them that they have to look at it. The trick in this puzzle are your fingers (but don’t say anything about that either).


• To communicate a number from one to ten, choose a number in your head, arrange the silverware, then use that number of fingers to hold the silverware in place; your fingers are really the clues to solving this puzzle – the silverware is just a way of distracting your kids attention. For example, hold out four fingers while arranging the silverware and say “This is the number four to the aliens.” IMPORTANT: Be very discreet with your fingers; don’t make it obvious that your fingers are giving away the number. Think like a slight-of-hand magician!


• Now rearrange the silverware, using a different number of fingers to arrange and hold the pieces and tell your kids what the number is. Do this several times, then ask them to guess what the number is; continue doing this until your kids catch on.

Tips:

• Make sure not to tell your kids how this puzzle works. No questions are allowed while you display the silverware.


• Arrange lots of different patterns and different numbers. If your kids still can’t solve the puzzle, try different silverware arrangements but hold them with the same number of fingers each time. For example, arrange the silverware and hold out seven fingers while saying “This is the number 7 to the aliens”. Rearrange the silverware into a completely different pattern, holding them with seven fingers and say “This is the number 7 to the aliens.”


• If one of your kids figures out the puzzle before the others, let him or her take over.

One Step Further:

• When your kids have solved the puzzle, ask them what they were thinking as they watched you arrange and rearrange the silverware.


• To solve this puzzle, kids need to be very observant. These observation skills are obviously very important as they go through life. By observing and guessing how the puzzle works, they work their way toward a solution.


• No mother wants to purposely frustrate her kids… if your kids become really frustrated with this puzzle, ask them guided questions, such as “What is it that you are looking for?”, “What specifically are you looking at?”, “What other clues could there be?” – you get the idea!

Oh… and my son who was frustrated with today’s puzzle? That’s him in the picture – practicing. He can’t wait for his Dad to come home and try this puzzle with him! Now do you know what alien number he is displaying?

Have fun!

Looking for some thinking puzzles? Check these books out!

Super Smart: 180 Challenging Thinking Activities – Put the minds of bright kids in overdrive! Filled with 180 “activity-a-day” classroom warm-ups that include new, challenging vocabulary activities and critical thinking activities that push the limits, Super Smart will pique kids’ curiosity and tickle their funny bone.

Brain Games – Here’s a unique collection of over 170 reproducible exercises that stimulate your child to think and reason more intelligently and critically! The exercises are fun, can be used at any time for a variety of instructional purposes, and are perfect for large and small groups as well as independent work.

Are They Thinking? – This outstanding thinking-skills program will fascinate students with its diverse challenges.