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Brain Teasers With Answers

Understanding brain teaser activity.

Contrary to common perceptions, gaming activities, such as brain teasers, are not a waste of time. They help the brain relax and enhance cognitive abilities. Brain teasers are challenging puzzles requiring critical and creative thinking.

Playing Brain Teasers

Preparing brain teasers is easy but solving them is challenging. Various printable brain teaser puzzles can be found online, providing endless opportunities for cognitive exercise. A few clicks can get you an assortment of puzzles to enjoy for free.

Who Can Play?

Everyone can benefit from brain teaser puzzles, including adults, children, educators, parents, and seniors. They serve as both educational and entertaining activities , making them versatile and flexible.

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• Brain Teasers with Answers
• Brain Teaser Worksheets Adults
• Puzzles Brain Teasers with Answers
• Christmas Brain Teasers for Kids
• Word Puzzles Brain Teasers
• Riddles With Answers For Adults
• Another Hidden Meaning Brain Teaser Game
• Brain Teasers Puzzle Worksheet
• Brain Teasers For Kids
• Brain Teasers With Answers For Adults
• Math Brain Teasers, Shape Patterns And IQ Puzzles For Kids And Math Students
• Brain Teasers For All Ages
• Brain Teaser Worksheets
• 3rd Grade Brain Teasers
• Logic Puzzle With Shapes And Numbers
• Fun Riddles For Kids With Answers
• Hidden Meaning Brain Teaser Game
• Brain Teaser Worksheets For Spelling Fun
• Brain Teaser Rebus Puzzles
• Logic Letter Puzzle For Math Students

Types of Brain Teasers

Brain teasers, recommended as learning aids for children, include:

• Riddles : Encourage creative thinking.
• Puzzle Games : Help improve problem-solving skills.
• Memory Challenges : Enhance memorizing ability.
• Word Play : Enhance vocabulary skills.
• Pattern Recognition : Aid in cognitive development.

Key Takeaways of Brain Teasers

Brain teasers are problem-solving puzzles that invigorate cognitive abilities and provide multifaceted benefits such as mental stimulation, cognitive skills enhancement, creative thinking, and problem-solving skills.

Cognitive Benefits

Engaging with brain teasers can enhance cognitive velocity and efficiency. It boosts cognitive flexibility by promoting different thought processes and innovative problem-solving approaches. It further encourages creative thinking.

Brain Functioning

Brain teasers stimulate multiple brain regions enhancing memory, problem-solving and visual-processing abilities. Simultaneously, it triggers dopamine release, promoting feel-good factors and reinforcing desirable behaviors.

Neuroplasticity

Brain teasers foster neuroplasticity , facilitating neuronal interconnections and overall cognitive resilience and development.

Stress Relief

Engagement in puzzles can help reduce anxiety, providing relaxation and elevating mental well-being.

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Dec 6, 2022

I love using these free printable brain teasers! They challenge my mind and give me a fun mental workout. Plus, having the answers available helps me learn and improve. Thank you for this resource!

Nov 8, 2022

Great resource for brain exercise! These free printable brain teasers are perfect for keeping the mind sharp and entertained. The answers provided really help in improving problem-solving skills. Highly recommended!

Oct 18, 2022

I found the Free Printable Brain Teasers with Answers resource extremely helpful and engaging. It's a great way to exercise my mind and challenge myself. Thank you for providing this valuable resource!

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Critical Thinking Brain Teasers: Enhance Your Cognitive Skills Today

Critical thinking brain teasers are an engaging way to challenge one’s cognitive abilities and improve problem-solving skills. These mind-bending puzzles come in various forms, such as logic puzzles, visual puzzles, and rebus puzzles, each designed to test one’s ability to analyze, evaluate, and think outside the box. Incorporating critical thinking brain teasers into daily routines or educational settings helps develop key cognitive skills, fostering creativity and enhancing overall intellectual capacity.

The role of critical thinking in problem-solving cannot be overstated, as it enables individuals to approach complex issues rationally, systematically, and strategically. By using brain teasers specifically designed to enhance critical thinking skills, individuals can sharpen their analytical prowess and improve their decision-making abilities in various life situations. Engaging in educational games and worksheets that incorporate brain teasers can be an effective way to promote critical thinking and create a lifelong curiosity for learning.

Key Takeaways

Understanding critical thinking.

A significant aspect of critical thinking is the ability to approach problems from multiple angles. This skill allows individuals to consider various perspectives, enhancing the quality and accuracy of their judgments. It also aids in identifying biases and misleading information, fostering an open and clear-minded approach to complex issues.

In the realm of education, critical thinking is crucial for promoting independent thought and fostering a deeper understanding of complex topics. Educators can encourage the development of these skills by incorporating various critical thinking activities into lesson plans, such as debates, analysis of case studies, and group problem-solving exercises. This not only helps students become more insightful individuals but also equips them with the tools necessary for lifelong learning and adaptation in an ever-changing world.

Role of Critical Thinking in Problem-Solving

Developing problem-solving skills begins with understanding the importance of reasoning and logic. Critical thinking encourages individuals to avoid relying solely on intuition and assumptions. Instead, they should seek evidence, identify biases, and consider various perspectives before reaching a conclusion.

Brain teasers are an excellent way to build critical thinking skills. These cognitive exercises require individuals to think outside the box, analyze patterns, and draw logical conclusions. By engaging in brain teasers and similar activities, people can improve their problem-solving and decision-making abilities. Using brain teasers to build critical thinking skills enhances mental agility and adaptability, as individuals must consider multiple approaches to reach a solution.

Brain Teasers and Their Importance

Brain teasers play a significant role in developing and maintaining cognitive skills. They come in various forms, ranging from simple puzzles that provide a sense of joy to more hard challenges that require extensive critical thinking. These mind-boggling exercises often require creativity, analytical thinking, and logical reasoning to solve.

The benefits of brain teasers are evident in different areas of life. They not only maintain mental sharpness but also help in building critical thinking skills. These skills enable individuals to tackle complex problems, analyze data, and formulate well-informed decisions. Engaging in critical thinking brain teasers provides opportunities for personal growth and success in various spheres.

In summary, brain teasers offer a range of advantages, from improving critical thinking skills to providing mental stimulation and enjoyment. By incorporating these engaging exercises into daily routines, individuals can enhance their cognitive abilities and contribute to overall personal growth and success.

Logic Puzzles

Sudoku is another popular type of logic puzzle that challenges a player’s logic and deduction skills. In a Sudoku puzzle, the player is presented with a partially filled 9×9 grid, with each row, column, and 3×3 subgrid containing the numbers 1 to 9 exactly once. The objective is to fill in the remaining cells in the grid using the provided information and the rules of the game, without guessing.

Enhancing Cognitive Skills and Creativity with Brain Teasers

Brain teasers offer a fun and engaging way to sharpen cognitive skills and boost creativity. They are designed to challenge the way individuals think, analyze information, and solve problems. Utilizing brain teasers as a part of one’s daily routine can foster intellectual growth, improve memory, and stimulate new ideas.

Moreover, brain teasers can be an excellent tool for mental training, keeping the mind sharp and focused. They can help in reducing cognitive decline associated with age, and even have the potential to improve productivity in various aspects of life. By maintaining an active mind, individuals are more likely to excel in their personal and professional pursuits.

Critical Thinking Brain Teasers

One type of critical thinking brain teaser involves a match-stick puzzle. In these puzzles, participants are given a specific number of matchsticks, and the objective is to rearrange them to form a new shape only by moving the specified number of matchsticks. These puzzles require a good spatial sense, attention to detail, and an understanding of geometric principles.

Another category of critical thinking brain teasers includes logic puzzles and grid-based challenges, where participants must deduce relationships between objects, people, or events based on a set of clues. For example, in a puzzle involving five houses of different heights and colors, participants must determine which house is the tallest and who lives in each house.

Strategies to Solve Brain Teasers

First, take the time to carefully read and understand the information provided in the brain teaser. Identify the key details and relevant information that will help in reaching the solution. It is essential to have a clear understanding of the problem before diving into solving it.

Another useful strategy is to approach the brain teaser from different angles or perspectives. Explore multiple possibilities and consider alternative interpretations of the information provided. This can help in identifying potential solutions that might not have been apparent at first glance.

Benefits of Brain Teasers in Real World

Brain teasers offer a wide range of benefits in the real world. They not only provide entertainment but also enhance your cognitive abilities in various aspects of life.

Furthermore, brain teasers often require a strong command of language skills. Puzzles based on wordplay, riddles, or anagrams can be particularly beneficial for expanding vocabulary, improving reading comprehension, and honing language abilities. This expertise in language assists you in more effective communication, both written and verbal, in various personal and professional settings.

Visual Puzzles and Rebus Puzzles

Visual puzzles are logic or reasoning problems that are expressed and solved using drawings or images. They can be found in various forms, such as finding differences between two pictures, identifying hidden objects in a scene, or determining the number of geometrical shapes in a given pattern. Some popular examples of visual puzzles are mentioned in this article titled “ Visual Puzzles & Brain Teasers That Will Challenge Your Mind .”

In conclusion, both visual puzzles and rebus puzzles are valuable tools for exercising critical thinking and cognitive skills. These challenges offer an engaging and entertaining way to promote mental agility while enhancing language and problem-solving abilities.

Educational Games and Worksheets

In addition to worksheets, teachers may also utilize visual brain teasers in their lessons. These activities encourage students to use critical thinking skills by solving problems through visual cues and patterns. This engaging form of game-based learning can be a fun way to develop logical thinking and problem-solving abilities among students.

Engaging in brain teasers is a valuable activity to develop and improve critical thinking abilities. They offer a way to sharpen the mind, making it more efficient and effective when facing complex challenges. Examples of such brain teasers can be found on websites like gcfglobal and Psychology Today .

Frequently Asked Questions

What is half of 2+2.

The first step in solving this is understanding that the equation should be read as “half of (2+2).” In this case, you have to perform the addition first: 2+2 equals 4. Now, find half of 4, which equals 2. Therefore, half of 2+2 is 2.

Which tire doesn’t move when a car takes a left turn?

You walk into a room with one match, a stove, a candle, and a fireplace; which do you light first, a man gave one of his three children one coin each. how many coins are left.

To solve this, it’s essential to realize that the man has three children and gave each of them one coin. Therefore, all three of the coins are given away, and none are left.

What is full of holes but still holds water?

What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it, you may also like, the 7 best game theory youtube channels, critical thinking in healthcare and medicine: a crucial skill for improved outcomes, critical thinking under pressure, unleash your true mental power with these 10 critical thinking habits, download this free ebook.

49 free printable brain teasers with answers

Free printable brain teasers with answers.

Updated 17/06/23

These puzzle activities are a heap of fun and are suitable for late primary school kids, middle school, and adults. The printable brain teasers are in different forms on each worksheet. There are riddles, picture puzzles, math problems, word puzzles, and logic problems to solve.

Apart from the memory puzzle, the printable brain teasers with answers have six brain teasers on each sheet. This is useful in that you can also cut them out if you want to use them as cards in classroom games.

They work well as group activities where different students can bring their own ideas and perspectives. If you find your students are totally baffled by a puzzle, don’t be afraid to give them some subtle hints.

All the answers are at the bottom of this page. Scroll down to check if you are correct or if you are completely stumped by one. So far there are 49 printable brain teasers but more will be added in the future.

If you are looking for more brain teasers make sure to check out the free printable rebus puzzles .

Solutions for the printable brain teasers with answers sheet 1

1- There are 2 solutions to this puzzle. Firstly, you can move the middle horizontal matchstick in the 6 to make it a zero (0+4=4). The second answer is to take the horizontal match off the addition sign and use it to make the 6 into an 8 (8-4=4).

2- The odd word is Grid. All the other words make legitimate words when spelt backwards. Dirg is not a word.

3 – The missing number is 5. Each number is the number of pieces the number before it has. The digital 8 has 7 pieces, the 7 has 3 pieces, and so on.

4 – The shirt has 10 holes. There are the 6 bullet holes, the 2 sleeve holes, and the neck and waist holes.

5 – I am John. Your son’s father is you.

6 – The door has no knob or handle to open it.

Printable brain teasers with answers worksheet 2

1 – The next letter should be E. The letters represent the first letter of the numbers one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven.

2 – The solution is to simply arrange the matchsticks into the numeral 4 which is 3 strokes or lines.

3 – The answer is 12. It is a trick question, a dozen of anything is always 12.

4 – The car is in park number 87. The picture is upside down. Turn it over the other way to see it clearly.

5 – The odd one out is D. All the other 3 digit numbers add up to 15. In D the numbers add up to 14 (3+3+8=14).

6 – The cord/lead for the electric hairdryer is missing. The start of the lead can be seen behind the hairdresser but then it stops.

Printable brain teasers with answers 3

1 – The missing number is 17. In all the numbers the first digit is multiplied by the second digit then the third digit is added to the total (8 x 3 + 4 = 28), (6 x 7 + 5 = 47), (9 x 1 + 8 = 17) and (5 x 2 + 7 = 17).

2 – The answer is hand number 2. It is the odd one out because it is a left hand. all the others are right hands.

3 – The highest number you can make by moving 2 matches is 781. Take the middle and bottom horizontal matches off the three and make a 1 behind the eight.

4 – The answer is paper or tissue paper. If can fall from great heights without a problem but water will destroy it.

5 – The next letter is T. The puzzle uses a decreasing sequence in the order of the alphabet. The letters are 5,4,3,2 places after each other. K is 5 letters after F, O is 4 letters after K, R is 3 letters after 0, and T is 2 letters after R.

6 – The woman’s mouth/lips are upside down.

Printable brain teasers with answers sheet 4

1 – The sign should read 24/7/52. The sequence is hours a day, days in a week, then days a year. It should be hours a day, days a week, and weeks a year to be consistent.

2 – The answer is that both snakes are the same size. The railroad tracks make an optical illusion that makes the furthest snake seem bigger than the closest one.

3 – To make 3 squares, remove the 2 matches in the bottom left corner of the picture. This leaves 4 squares. Then remove the middle match in the top horizontal row to leave 3 squares.

4 – The missing number is 75. The pineapple = 4, watermelon = 9, strawberry = 7, berries = 8. The final line is  8 + 4 + 9 x 7 = 75.

5 – The answer is L. It is the only other letter in the English alphabet that can be made using 2 planks of wood.

6 – The 3 fishermen were a related son, father, and grandfather.

Printable brain teasers with answers sheet 5

1 – To solve this match puzzle you make the glass upside down or inverted. Move the 1 horizontal match either left or right so only its end touches the bottom vertical match. Then take one of the top vertical matches and move it down to make the other side of the glass.

2 – The answer is that the word spot appears twice in the question. This is often overlooked by people who focus on the numbers instead.

3 – To solve this puzzle, switch the middle full glass with the middle empty glass.

4 – There is a crab that is camouflaged in the sand and pebbles around the middle left area.

5 – The answer to this riddle is  – Post Office.

6 – The answer to this puzzle is ITP. Each letter comes from the first letter in the question. WAT = what are the, NTL = next three letters, and ITP in this puzzle.

Solutions for brain teasers 6

1 – Make the shape of the word ONE.

2 – All points A, B, and C are the same shade of grey. It is an optical illusion.

3 – Place the numbers as such –

2 – 7 – 6

9 – 5 – 1

4- 3 – 8

4 – Cut the word in half horizontally, then flip it upside down. You will see the month July.

5 – The 9 letter word is abilities.

6 – The answer is a glove.

Solutions for brain teasers 7

1 – See the image below.

2 – AS. The letters represent the first letters of the months of the year – DJ (December, January), FM (February, March), AM (April, May), JJ (June, July), and AS (August, September).

3 -Fill the 5 litre bucket and use this bucket to fill the 3 litre one. Now empty the 3 litre bucket and pour the remainder of the 5 litre bucket into it (this will be two litres).

Next, refill the 5 litres bucket and fill the 3 litre bucket to the top (this will take 1 litre). There will be 4 litres remaining in the 5 litre bucket!

4 – This is an optical illusion. The lines are straight but the staggered squares make them appear to be bent.

5 – Her name is Sarah.

6 – The 4-letter word is jump. The 4 words are countries spelt backwards and missing their first letter. Japan, Uganda, Mexico, and Portugal.

Solutions for brain Teasers 8

2 – X represents the letters US. This forms the words of usual, music, brush, and lotus.

3 – The trick here is to remember that birds have 2 legs while bees have 6. There are 9 birds and 13 bees in the garden.

4 – Turn the square with the 6 in it upside down. This way you can make the number 798.

5 – Dog. By adding the word dog you can form the words of watchdog, underdog, corn dog, and sheepdog.

6 – All the people on the boat are married or in a relationship, hence there are no single people.

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Students will love trying to solve these clever rebus puzzles. This brain teaser activity will help your students to develop their critical thinking skills. You can find this printable puzzle, and many more brain teaser worksheets in our collection!

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Critical Thinking Worksheets

• Brain Teasers - A great way to stimulate thinking. Don't worry, they come complete with answer keys.
• Compare and Contrast - Students examine differences and similarities in a variety situations.
• Dictionary Practice Worksheets - Practice your dictionary skills.
• Fact And Opinion - Students determine the validity of a body of work.
• How Many Are There? - Fun activities for examining patterns.
• Internet Search Worksheets - Fun Internet searches for students.
• Logic Puzzle - Each scenario is thought provoking. Lots of brain power needed here.
• Making Predictions - A good warm-up for inferences.
• Mazes - Your run-of-the-mill start and finish mazes.
• Name People That ...- Good creative thinking exercises.
• Name Places That ...- Good creative thinking exercises.
• Name Things That ...- Good creative thinking exercises.
• Secret Code - Students answer riddles through secret codes.
• Study Skills Worksheets - Great for test preparation.
• Sorting and Classifying - Great for meeting national standards.
• What Do You Remember? - A visual memory activity.

Activities That Improve Student Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is perhaps the most important skill we need. It is paramount not just for job success but also for making the best decisions in crucial life matters.

As an educator, you should explain to your students that almost all our mistakes can be attributed to a lack of critical thinking. You can pick just about any big blunder you made in the past. You will invariably find that it transpired because of a failure to think critically.

Remember, the best thing you can do as a teacher is to inculcate a strong sense of critical thinking in your students.

Here are the activities that will help students to develop critical thinking.

Discuss Cognitive Biases

There are myriad cognitive biases.

The fact of the matter is we succumb to these biases at some point in our lives. Hence, it pays to study these biases.

You can pick those biases you think are the most detrimental and insidious. You should then explain them to your students to learn to identify and avoid these biases.

Perhaps the most dangerous bias by far is the Optimism bias. It may sound rather innocuous because of the word ‘optimism’. However, it is far more sinister in reality.

Optimism bias tends to think that bad things won't happen to us - they will happen to others only. For example, many think they won't suffer a fatal car crash. Hence, some get involved in overspeeding and texting while driving despite knowing their perils. No wonder these two reckless acts are the main reasons for fatal car crashes.

Writing About Biases

After elucidating various biases and providing simple examples to help them grasp these concepts, you can instruct your students to write about adverse events in their lives when they succumbed to these biases.

What did you learn? What were the consequences? These are further questions you can ask.

Talking about one’s mistakes is never easy. It is hard to concede that we are wrong at times. However, if we want to become better human beings and find success, we must learn from our mistakes. But the first step entails admitting one’s mistakes.

This will also instill humility and reduce overconfidence.

Avoiding Biases – The Easy Way 

All biases and ensuring blunders are avoidable with one simple trick.

It just takes one word to get smarter – “why”. That is, you should question everything. As simple as that.

In particular, you should question all that you do and think.

Write it down first whenever you are about to take action or form an opinion about something. Then in front of it, just write “why?” You can then brainstorm and write for and against the idea in logical points.

If you make this a regular habit, you will avoid many mistakes and regrets. You will also maximize positive returns from your decisions.

Explain It to a 6-Year Old

This is something that can greatly benefit students in their academic endeavors.

We are inclined to think that we understand what has been just said. But just nodding along is not enough. You should be able to explain it to others.

The good news is that this goes far beyond altruism. In truth, it is self-empowerment. When you explain an abstruse concept to others, you bolster your own understanding of the same. Reiterating something embeds it more deeply into your long-term memory.

The social factor may also be beneficial and fruitful.

Do Your Research

Teach students to challenge common perceptions and conventional wisdom.

Explain carefully that this entails walking a fine line. You don't want to be dismissive, nor do you want to be naive. Instead, you should have an open mind and a willingness to do your research carefully.

Inform students about consulting reliable online sources. Explain that it is best to consider multiple authentic sources. Don't be satisfied with just the first entry in Google search results.

Here's how you can instill the importance of research in your students.

Instruct your students to research air pollution in the US. Those who do their research more meticulously will find that indoor air pollution is far deadlier than outdoor air pollution.

Tell them that they found out this key health fact courtesy of research. You can further instruct them to find ways of mitigating these risks.

Motivate your students to do research by telling them that they will be pleasantly surprised at the wealth of knowledge that they can uncover via dedicated research.

Beware of Disinformation

Disinformation is ubiquitous these days. It has become a weapon of choice for bad actors ranging from rogue states to unscrupulous individuals.

Critical thinking can help dispel misinformation and prevent you from becoming its victim.

You should help kids to detect and deal with weapons of mass distraction.

There was a time when fake news was disseminated largely via social media.

It is being spread by state-sponsored groups masquerading as legitimate media outlets on the internet. The scope and scale of these fake news campaigns are staggering to say the least.

One such fake news campaign involved no less than 750 fake sites posing as media outlets. Disinformation from this notorious racket reached millions around the globe and even found its way to UN and European Parliament meetings.

You can instruct kids in your class to do a project on internet disinformation, complete with case studies. You should also tell them to write about all possible ways to spot fakes and scams.

Bottom Line

Shown above are the activities to develop critical thinking in students.

You might agree that cultivating this key ability in your students is one of the best things you did for them. 

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Critical Thinking and Decision-Making  - Using Brain Teasers to Build Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinking and decision-making  -, using brain teasers to build critical thinking skills, critical thinking and decision-making using brain teasers to build critical thinking skills.

Critical Thinking and Decision-Making: Using Brain Teasers to Build Critical Thinking Skills

Lesson 4: using brain teasers to build critical thinking skills.

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Using brain teasers to build critical thinking skills

Here's a brain teaser: A rooster is on the roof of a barn facing east. The wind is blowing to the west at 10 miles per hour. The rooster lays an egg. Which direction does the egg roll?

The answer appears below the image.

Answer: There is no egg. The rooster didn't lay one because roosters are male. Did you get it right? Let's pick this apart and see why so many people have difficulty with this brain teaser, and so many others.

Watch the video below to learn more about how you can use brain teasers to improve your critical thinking.

The answer is in the details

It's easy to overlook details or accept them without questioning. In the brain teaser above, the answer could be found in the second word: r ooster .

In hindsight, we realize it's impossible for roosters to lay eggs. But it's easy to overlook this when it's casually mentioned in the brain teaser.

Misdirection

Another process at work in this brain teaser is misdirection . There were several details included that we may have paid too much attention to: The fact that the rooster was facing east, and that the wind was blowing west at 10 miles per hour.

In the end, these details had nothing to do with the actual answer. However, they seemed important in the context of the brain teaser! This directed us away from the relevant information.

Applying these ideas to the real world

The same techniques we use to solve brain teasers can also be applied to real-world situations . When you're trying to figure something out, it's important to analyze the information that's available to you and ask the following questions:

• Are there any key details I may be missing?
• Am I being misled by something?
• Could I be thinking about this in another way?

Brain teasers not only help to keep your mind sharp, but can help improve your critical thinking skills as well.

Let's finish things off with another brain teaser...

You are in a dark room with a single match. The only objects available to you are a candle, an oil lamp, and a gas stove. Which item do you light first?

Answer: The match!

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7 Puzzles to Challenge Your Critical Thinking

Can you spot the connections and sort these items.

Posted March 5, 2015 | Reviewed by Ekua Hagan

The theme of this post is critical thinking—and the kinds of puzzles that can be constructed around it. This term is used frequently in psychology and education . There are various definitions, but the one that best suits our purpose and which is, in the end, perhaps the best, is the ability to comprehend the logical connections among ideas, words, phrases, and concepts . In the relevant scientific literature, of course, the term is used much more broadly as a framework for understanding human cognition . But in my opinion, the best way to understand things is to construct puzzles to illustrate their basic essence.

Critical thinking involves skill at recognizing a pattern in given information and especially recognizing how the information is connected to the real world. Here are a couple of very simple examples. First, consider the five words below:

• Cruise ship
• Walking on foot
• Automobile (not a race car)

Now, put them in order from the slowest to the fastest, when they are going at maximum speed. The solution, of course, is: 4-2-5-1-3.

As with all such puzzles, there might be slightly different solutions—one could claim that some automobiles go faster than cruise ships. This “indeterminacy” characterizes this kind of thinking. However, some puzzles are straightforward. For instance, what do the following five things have in common?

The answer? These are all words referring to shades of blue.

The seven puzzles below are to the ones above, though hopefully more challenging. Some involve knowledge of facts, but critical thinking is still involved in such cases because the organization of the facts according to some principle is always involved—for example, a puzzle may ask you to put five items in order of their dates of invention.

The following tongue-in-cheek definition of critical thinking by Richard W. Paul, a leading expert on critical thinking theory, says it all: “Critical thinking is thinking about your thinking while you’re thinking in order to make your thinking better.”

I. What do the following 5 things have in common?

• Orange juice

II. Put the following buildings or structures in order of height, from the shortest to the tallest.

• Typical camping tent

III. What do the following animals have in common?

IV. Put the following inventions in order from earliest to most recent.

V. What feature do the following words have in common?

• Imagination

VI. Put these bodies of water in order in terms of volume, from smallest to largest .

VII. What do the following landmasses have in common?

I. They are all drinkable liquids. II. 5-1-4-3-2 III. They all have a tail. They are also all quadrupeds. IV. To the best of my knowledge: 5-4-3-1-2 V. They start with a vowel: a, e, i, o, u VI. 4-2-1-5-3 VII. They are all peninsulas.

Marcel Danesi, Ph.D. , is a professor of semiotics and anthropology at Victoria College, University of Toronto. His books include The Puzzle Instinct and The Total Brain Workout .

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FREE ELA brain teasers mysteries & logic puzzles: critical thinking

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These FREE brain teaser tasks are perfect to have at the ready for instant fun and critical thinking. If your grades 5-8 students are getting restless and need a change of pace or brain break, or finish early, bring out these cards! They will create smiles, while also stretching growing brains. There are 3 pages of questions, and 3 pages of answers, taken from 3 brain teaser resources. Get 3 for the price of 2 brain teaser collections! 180 MINI MYSTERIES and BRAIN TEASER PUZZLES How to set up the activity

If you intend to get the students to ask each other the brain teasers, photocopy enough question and answer cards for the number of groups you wish to have.

You can leave the cards in sheets (6 to a page) or cut them into individual cards and double back the answers- whatever you prefer! Photocopy them onto card stock or laminate them and they will continue to delight many future classes.

If your students enjoyed the brain teaser stories, try:

Mini Mysteries grades 5-8 and this long, single mystery : Brain teaser mystery fun inferential skills practice. 15 further mysteries can be found at BRAINTEASERS MYSTERY STORIES VOL. 2

For a daily brainteaser to add zing! to the start of a class: BRAINTEASER BELL RINGERS: MYSTERY STORIES, RIDDLES AND PUZZLES FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL If you want a mystery resource that demands more writing from your students, try Reading Comprehension Mysteries & Questions

Do your students enjoy being detectives? There's lots to keep them busy and engaged in MYSTERY UNIT DETECTIVE SKILLS & ACTIVITIES There are 5 more mysteries in ELA Games Grades 5-8 Or go for the -20% off bundle: Brain Teaser Bundle grades 5-8

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions about this product - or any other product in my store - please write to me at [email protected]. I would love to hear from you!

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