Math isn’t all about numbers, it is about logic and reasoning as well. So spend some time in July having children act out these various logic problems. They are great fun and have kids thinking critically and logically which will help to enhance their problem solving skills. Try and have them create some of their own.
The Farmer, the Fox and the Chicken
A man has to get a fox, a chicken, and a sack of corn across a river.
He has a rowboat, and it can only carry him and one other thing.
If the fox and the chicken are left together, the fox will eat the chicken.
If the chicken and the corn is left together, the chicken will eat the corn.
How does the man do it?
ANSWER:
The Camels
Four Tasmanian camels traveling on a very narrow ledge encounter four Tasmanian camels coming the other way.
As everyone knows, Tasmanian camels never go backwards, especially when on a precarious ledge. The camels will climb over each other, but only if there is a camel sized space on the other side.
The camels didn't see each other until there was only exactly one camel's width between the two groups.
How can all camels pass, allowing both Groups to go on their way, without any camel reversing?
ANSWER:
First a camel from one side moves forward, then two camels from the other side move forward, then three camels from the first side move forward etc...
The Frog
A frog is at the bottom of a 30 meter well. Each day he summons enough energy for one 3 meter leap up the well. Exhausted, he then hangs there for the rest of the day. At night, while he is asleep, he slips 2 meters backwards. How many days does it take him to escape from the well?
Each day he makes it up another meter, and then on the twenty seventh day he can leap three meters and climb out.
