Brain Teasers and Pleasers

The activities on these pages can be well above grade level.  With this in mind, encourage your child to find the answers through research.  Students may use a dictionary, encyclopedia, atlas, almanac, thesaurus, calculator, internet or whatever they can think of to find the answers.  I want them to learn about the different types of resources that are available to them and which reference type is most appropriate for the information needed.

Other activities may require the use of blocks, coins or other manipulative. 

Help your child develop a systematic method of problem solving.  Organizing thoughts and methods can lead to quicker solutions as well as developing great strategies for the future.

Click on the appropriate month below.

September    October    November    December    January    February    March    April    May

May Brain Teasers and Pleasers

Adding A's

Add two A's to each of the letter groups below to make a common word.

1.  IRPLNE

2.  NIML

3.  FRID

4.  GIN

5.  MZE

6.  HED
Box Design

Below are three different views of the same box.  Cut out the box pattern, fold along the dotted lines, and lightly hold it together.  Decide where your first design will go.  Spread the box flat and draw it there.  To determine where your next design will go, refold the pattern and study the diagrams.  Then unfold the pattern to draw the design.  Repeat this for each design.  When all your designs are drawn, color them and tape the box together.
Table Tennis Marathon

Manuel and Maria started playing table tennis at 8:00 a.m. Saturday.  They stopped at 12 noon.  They took a 5-minute break after every half-hour.  Exactly how long did they play table tennis?

Hint:  On a piece of paper, complete a table like the one
started below.

8:00 - 8:30   Played table tennis
8:30 - 8:35   5-minute break
8:35 - 9:05     Played table tennis

 
Network

Five children are playing tennis.  Each child will play each of the other four children once.  How many games will be played altogether?  

Hint:  Draw linking lines to show when a game is played. 

 

April Brain Teasers and Pleasers

It's All in Your Head!

Fill in the grid.  Each word names a part of your head.

                                             
                                             
                                             
                                             
                                             
                                             
                                             
PL8S 2 GO

Write what these personalized license plates really say.

10S 4 ME   T 4 2 2 4 T  
REDE 2 GO   U R A QT  
GO EZ   I 8 2 MUCH  
Word Pyramids

Drop a letter from each word.  Form a new word with the remaining letters.

 

                       
                 
               
                     
                           
F I N D   C R A T E   C R E A T E
What Comes Next?
4 9 16 25 36 49 ?   a b c d e g h i j k ?
12 20 30 42 56 72 ?   A C F J O           ?

Try one!  Make your own sequence and give it to a classmate to solve.

 

 

March Brain Teasers and Pleasers

Mirror Image

Most letters are reversed when seen in a mirror.  Without using a mirror, write 11 capital manuscript letters that would read the same way on the page and in the mirror.

______    ______    ______    ______   ______    ______     ______     ______    ______     ______      ______    (11 letters)

Write a word that uses four or more of these letters.  ___________________________________________________
March Eighth

Rearrange the letters of MARCH to make another word.  _____   ______  ______   ______   ______

Rearrange the letters of EIGHTH to make another word.  ______   ______   ______   ______   ______   ______

Plants

Follow the numbered clues to solve the puzzle.

1.  The oxygen in the air comes from these.

2.  Houses are built from this plant material.

3.  We eat these orange roots.

4.  Plants grow in this big watery place.

5.  These are the tallest living things.

6.  Plants grow in this hot region.

        1P          
        2L          
      3 A          
4       N          
        5T          
    6   S          
Mixed Foods

By rearranging each group of letters below and adding p, s, i, m, r, or h you can spell the name of a food.  The first letter of the name is written for you.

1.  actor  _c__________________

2.  pale   _p____________________

3.  take   _s____________________

4.  cape   _p___________________

5. rains   _r___________________

6. tatoo   _t___________________

 

February Brain Teasers and Pleasers

 

Word Chain

Write a word that matches each clue.  The last two letters of each word will be the first two letters of the next word.  TRY ONE!  Make your own word chain complete with clues.  Remember the answer key.

 1.  A citrus fruit ____ ____ ____ ____ ____                4.  A mistake ____ ____ ____ ____ ____  

 
 2.  One time only ____ ____ ____ ____                       5.  A keyboard instrument ____ ____ ____ ____ ____  

 
 3.  The middle part ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____                         6. A joint in the body ____ ____ ____ ____ ____  

 
Picture Words

Combine a picture in the top row with a picture in the bottom row to make a compound word.  List them on the back of the paper.

hair

bath

Number Cubes

Circle the fewest "cubes" that together will total 100.

                   50                 66                   5                      17                         19                            37                                41                                46
This Week

Jack wants to go to the bookstore, visit his mom at work, go to the doctor, and have dinner with a friend.  The bookstore is closed on weekends.  His mother's office is closed on Tuesday, Thursday, and the weekend.  The doctor has office hours only on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday.  His friend cannot see him on Wednesday.  Use the calendar strip below to determine which day Jack can do all four things.

Sunday  

Monday

 

 Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

 

Which day can Jack do everything he planned?  _______________________________

 

 

January Brain Teasers and Pleasers

 

State Riddle

Look at the abbreviations of our 50 U.S. states to answer these riddles.

 1.  What state is yourself?  ________                  4.  What state is a word used instead of Miss or Mrs.?  _______
 2.  What state is the first word of our national anthem?  ________                          5.  What state goes with either?  ____________
 3.  What state is a large city in CA?  _______                                                    6.  What state is the 3rd tone of the musical scale?  ________
A Dollar to Spend

You are supposed to spend exactly $1.00 for prizes.  No tax will be charged.  Which six prizes below could you buy?  You can even buy more than one of a kind.

$0.17 - crayons      $0.39 - book          $0.16  - pencil           $0.24  - notebook           $0.23 - necklace          $0.40 - car
Witty Anagrams

An anagram is a word or phrase made by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase.  How many anagrams can you match correctly?

1.  ____ MIDNIGHT a.  All niceness
2.  ____ THIS EAR b.  It hears
3.  ____ BRUSH c.  No city dust here
4.  ____ CLEANLINESS d.  Careful first
5.  ____ THE COUNTRYSIDE e.  Dim thing
6.  ____ TRAFFIC RULES f.  Shrub
Add To

Make a new word with a different meaning by adding a word.

  1. Add part of a clock to make someone good-looking.  _________________ some
  2. Add an adult male to make a big estate.                                                 __________________ or
  3. Add a month to make an elected official.                                           __________________ or

 
Ten Circles

1.  Cut our ten circles and arrange them in a triangle as shown.

                                      

 

2.  By moving just three circles, form a triangle as shown.

 

December Brain Teasers and Pleasers

 

Words Within Words

Make a word  by adding one or two letters.  The new word is an antonym (opposite) of the italicized word.


go             ___ T O ___ early                   ___ A T E
messy               ___ E A T together           ____ P A R ____
end            ___ T A R ___ whisper          _____ O W L
Land Ho!

Fill in the blanks to spell some countries or islands that end in 'land'.

____ ____ ____ land

____ ____ ____ land

____ ____ ____ land

____ ____ ____ land

____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ land

____ ____ ____ ____ ____ land
Compound Your Fun

Complete each compound word starting with 'some'.

some ____ ____ ____ (4 words)

some ____ ____ ____ ____ ( 3 words)

some ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ (4 words)
Circle Round and Round

Write a number in each of the shaded areas so each circle adds up to 21.  Use each number from 1 - 14 once.  On the chart below, check off each number as you use it.                         

 

November Brain Teasers and Pleasers

Compound Fun

Make a new word with a different meaning by adding a word.

 1.  To make a body part, add something a dog likes.                              back_____________________________
 2.  To make a ninth grader, add an adult male.                                                fresh_____________________________
 3.  To make a time of day, add a season.                                                                 night_____________________________
 4.  To make a food for breakfast, add something sweet.             pan_______________________________

TRY ONE!  Write 3 of your own. 

Dice

List the six different ways three dice can be combined so they total 12.  Write the combinations on the back of the paper.

                                                                                                                                  

Funny Faces

Study the faces to find six different patterns:  shape of face, hair, eyes, nose, mouth, ears.  Then draw the face that should come next.

 

 
Straight and Curved

The letters of three words have been separated into straight and curved strokes.  Combine the straight lines with the curves to write each word.  Remember that a's and d's are formed with o's and either a short straight line or a long straight line respectively.  Notice when lines are placed to the left, center, or right of the box. 

                             Straight                                     Curved

 

October Brain Teasers and Pleasers

Are You "Box" Wise?

Look carefully at the arrangement of boxes.  Answer the following questions.

1.  How many boxes are there altogether? ____

 

2.  How many are not visible? ____

3.  How many are touching the floor?  ____
Be a Figure Sleuth

Fill in the missing numbers in these addition and subtraction problems.  You may use a calculator.

   

[] 7    

 +2 []    

  7 5  

 6 2 [] 

 - 3 [] 6  

  [] 5 3   

   [] [] 2 5

  + 5 2 4 []

     6 6 [] []

- [] 3  7 4

  4 [] [] 2

                                                                                                                                  

Three of a Kind

Fill in the blanks to complete each missing synonym.  A dictionary or a thesaurus may be helpful.

Anglo-Saxon Latin Greek
1.  f ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ amusing comical
2.  huge enormous col ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
3.  world u ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ cosmos
Fun With Words

Fill in the word that fits each definition.  The pairs of words are spelled the same in the beginning.

1a.  b ___ ___ ___ = high shoe 3a.  b ___ ___        =    snake 
1b.  b ___ ___ ___ ___   = loot 3b.  b ___ ___ ___ ___ = pig
2a. t ___ ___ ___          = high 4a.  s ___ ___             = droop
2b.  t ___ ___ ___ ___ = count 4b.  s ___ ___ ___ = long story
Find the Hidden Animals

In each of the sentences below, the name of an animal is hidden.  Underline the animal's name in each sentence.  Example:  What shall I do, George?  (dog)

1.  John came late to his arithmetic class.

2.  I enjoy listening to music at night.

3.  Did I ever tell you, Bill, I once found a dollar?

4.  Asking nutty questions can be most annoying.

September Brain Teasers and Pleasers

Dog Talk

Unscramble the letters to spell six types of dogs.

1.  l a s n i p e 4. s t e r e t
2. l i c o l e 5. s h o g d e e p
3. r e t r i r e 6. e v e r t r i e r

 
Coins

Using nickels, dimes, and/or quarters, list six (6) different combinations of coins that will make thirty-five cents.  Write the combinations on the back of your paper.

 
MMMMMMM

Eight U.S. states start with the letter M.  List as many as you can.  Did you spell them correctly?

M __ __ __ __ M __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
M __ __ __ __ __ __ M __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
M __ __ __ __ __ __ __ M __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
M __ __ __ __ __ __ __ M __ __ __ __ __ __ __
Which One Doesn't Belong?

Circle the item in each set of four that doesn't belong.  Write the category of the remaining three items.

9 18 29 36 multiples of nine
7 x 1 15 - 8 56 ÷ 8 5 + 7  
soccer ball volleyball football baseball  
pine rose carnation daisy  
spaghetti tacos pizza lasagna  
Antartica Africa Argentina Asia  

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