Lure of the Labyrinth... Yes, of course it's a game!

This week's mental challenge comes from the Lure of the Labyrinth. The interesting part of this game is that it has a separate 'Play the Puzzle' section; the link is just under the 'Play the Game' legend.

If you're not really into playing long games, you can just play the puzzles. You won't get any game credits by playing the puzzles outside of the main game, but they are fun on their own!

You must sign up to play either the game or puzzles but logging in is immediate, with no hunting around for a confirmation email. Click "Sign up here!", create a username and password and off you go!

Have fun!

And let me know if you prefer the game or the puzzles.

Coursera for Kids!

I haven't posted in a few weeks, but that doesn't mean that we've been idle!

We've been looking at those websites that are designed for adults but that can be equally fascinating for gifted kids. This short article is about Coursera.

Coursera.org is similar to Academic Earth, but seems to have shorter courses that can be done in 4 to 6 weeks rather than whole undergraduate lectures. So... is there really anything for kids on there?

How to Solve Some Logical Reasoning IQ Test Puzzles

Last week we discovered two things: that very few students in our real-life club have had a formal IQ test; and that many students enjoy doing puzzles. So, putting these together we shall start our quest to find the best IQ tests online and treat them as puzzles to solve, understand and then make our own.

Each blog post will look at one online IQ test. They are not in any order of preference yet, but at the end I shall list the best ones.

This week, we shall look at IQ-TEST.com (Certified by The High IQ Society).

Game About Squares

A nice gentle start to the year with a clever game I found during the summer.

Let's see what level you can reach during the lesson!

Go to Game About Squares.

Enjoy!

Welcome to our IQ Test Factory

Welcome to the new school year and to the Gifted Club for primary students at Traill International School.

I see some new names on the list of invited students. Take the time to look at the various pages on this website; it will give you some idea of what we did last year. Hopefully, you'll also find some interesting stuff you hadn't seen before.

Now, being a gifted kid means that you've probably had to go through numerous tests. Not just school tests but also IQ tests and perhaps even personality tests. Maybe you enjoy them, maybe not so much, but somehow it doesn't seem enough to have genius thoughts, you also have to answer questions made up by someone you'll never know.

Khan Academy for Primary Kids

Last week, I was surprised to learn that none of my students had heard of Khan Academy. Although mainly aimed at secondary topics, many subjects, such as mathematics, start at the very beginning with basic arithmetic.

Every topic has a short video lecture and a comments section to clarify any confusing points. Although the videos can be watched without logging in, it really is worth creating an account as you can keep track of your progress with the Knowledge Map. This shows you all the topics you have completed, those that you need to go back to and those new topics that follow logically from those you have already done. Khan Academy is now huge and the Knowledge Map will help you through the forest.

Cryptograms for Kids

A few weeks back we spent a couple of sessions on cryptography and code cracking. By far the most popular site with my students was Cryptograms.org.

It has a nice clean interface and the letters are easy to input. Every cryptogram is a quotation, so you end up with (hopefully) something interesting to read at the end. However, this does mean that the quotations may have some long or unfamiliar words, but learning new words is also part of the fun! The one thing Cryptograms doesn't let you do is to see a full solution if you've given up on a particularly tough puzzle.

Play Countdown

One of the most popular and long-running daytime gameshows in the UK is Countdown. Broadcast since 1982, each programme has two contestants pitting their wits against each other, a ticking clock and some word and number puzzles.

The word games involve finding the longest word you can from 9 random letters. In the actual shows, the contestants take turns in selecting how many vowels and consonants there are.

The number games involve using arithmetic operations to reach a random 3-digit target number using 6 randomly selected numbers.

The very last round is known as the 'conundrum', which involves unravelling a 9-letter anagram

Polymath Crosswords

I shall try to update this blog with all the different websites and resources that we have been using in the after-school club. For now, here's this week's selection.

Polymath No.762

On Saturdays, the Financial Times publishes its weekly Polymath crossword. This is different to the FT's usual cryptic crosswords as it is more of a 'quiz crossword'. You can go directly to Polymath No.762, but bear in mind that this will open up a pdf file and that the link may no longer work in a couple of months as it is taken off their list of recent crosswords. Solutions are published after two weeks.

The Start of the End of 2013 Quiz

I know, it isn't quite the end of the year, but it is the last session of this club. So to celebrate, here is an End of 2013 Quiz.

It isn't all mathematics... and it isn't all that easy either! The good news is that there are only 12 questions. So, get a piece of paper, number your answers A1 to A12 and hand in your completed sheet once you've done all you can!

Have fun!

Question 1

How many times faster does the second hand of a clock go round compared to the hour hand?

A1 = ___

-=/=-

Question 2

The diagram is constructed using one circle of radius 4 units, plus pairs of semicircles of radii 1, 2 and 3 units.

Find the ratio of the red : yellow : green : blue areas.

-=()=-

Question 3

USDUMDSLW LZW HJGVMUL GX LZW XAJKL XANW GVV FMETWJK.

A3 = ___

>>> Go to next section >>>

Questions 4 to 6: End of 2013 Quiz

Question 4

Place these numbers in decreasing order of size.

8^1, 7^2, 6^3, 5^4, 4^5, 3^6, 2^7, 1^8

Which is the highest number?

(Note that 6^3 means 6³.)

A4 = ___

-=+=-

Question 5

32-28-92-16 2-75 !

What does it mean?

A5 = ___

-=o=-

Question 6

Here is a peculiar sequence of numbers:

123456789, 33456789, 6456789, 696789, 691389, ...

What single-digit number is left at the end?

A6 = ___

>>> Go to the next section >>>

Questions 7 to 9: End of 2013 Quiz

Question 7

Which English word has five vowels in a row?

A7 = ___

-=)(=-

Question 8

When Tanvir climbed the Tajingdong mountain, on his way to the top he saw it was raining 11 times. At Tajindong, on a rainy day, it rains either in the morning or in the afternoon; but it never rains twice in the same day. On his way, Tanvir spent 16 mornings and 13 afternoons without rain.

How many days did it take for Tanvir to climb the Tajindong mountain in total?

A8 = ___

-=*=-

Question 9

You have two rectangular tiles and wish to place them inside the larger square. One tile is blue and red, the other is blue and yellow.

How many different unique patterns can you make?

In this case, treat all rotational symmetries as one unique pattern; just as you would if it was a real tile that you could rotate in your hand.

A9 = ___

>>> Go to the next page >>>

Questions 10 to 12: End of 2013 Quiz

Question 10

Which word has five consonants in a row?

A10 = ___

-=/=-

Question 11

Mrs Pixey likes to play tricks on her three kids. This morning she packs their personal lunch boxes, one in each of their school bags. However, she places every lunch box in the wrong bag!

In how many ways can she do this?

A11 = ___

-=0=-

Question 12

And finally...

Here is a small number puzzle.

1 Across is a cube

3 Across is a square

1 Down is a square

2 Down is a cube

All four 3-digit numbers must be different.


A12 = ___



That's it!

Now, have a quick check that you've answered all the questions and submit it before the end of the hour.

If you're doing this online, the solutions will be published in a few days.

Word Games

Words are important. Picking the right word can make the difference between a sentence that sparkles and one that... peters out limply. A dictionary and thesaurus help, but you can't look for a word that you don't know exists! Building up one's vocabulary can seem like a long task, but this is where word games can be a fun way to discover new words.

I personally like doing cryptic crosswords, but they take some training to understand the clues, never mind figuring out the actual answers. Below is a small selection of some slightly easier word games.

Ouverture Facile: A Riddle Game

Last week, a number of students were playing Ouverture Facile, an online riddle game. It’s an interesting game and reminds me of something similar that was online at about the same time (2005) but has since been taken down. I helped a little bit with some of the mathematical puzzles and got to know the programmer.

Both games share the aim that the puzzles build one upon the other and that they ultimately guide the player to some new knowledge, be it some code or mathematics, or using a new piece of software or the structure of the internet.

Escape the Room Puzzle Games

There is a genre of games known as “escape the room”. These are minimalist flash video games in which you are locked inside a... room, or rooms, and have to figure out how to escape. if you've never tried such games, have a go at The Viridian Room first.

The Crimson Room is perhaps the most famous (and the smallest) such game however, there is one clue that requires going to a specific URL and last time I tried to play it the information was out of date and did not work. This may have been fixed; you’ll know it when you see it! Lots of other similar escape games at Escape Room.

Learning to Program Online (Programming 1)

Most of you have already got started on Codecademy. This is good to see, but there are some other options.

The first question to ask yourself is: which programming language should I learn first? Note that a static webpage will require HTML and CSS; an interactive webpage may well require jQuery, PHP and JavaScript too. Learning everything is a lot of work!

The MA Primary Maths Challenge (Mathematics 1)

 One good place to start is the Mathematical Association's Primary Maths Challenge page.

There is one online PMC that is automatically marked at the end of the test. Try it out and let me know your score! Don't forget that this is not a mental maths test - you are expected to have pen and paper handy to do many of the calculations.

You can also download past paper, but make sure you try each paper before looking at the answers!