Lateral ThinkingLateral Thinking

20 Super Starter Activities20 Super Starter Activities

Lateral Thinking

Improve your ability to infer, deduce and speculate!

1. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

There is a man who lives on the top floor of a very tall building. Everyday he gets the lift down to the ground floor to leave the building to go to work. However, upon returning from work he can only travel half way up in the lift and then has to walk the rest of the way - unless it's raining!

Why?

ANSWERThe man is very, very short and can only reach halfway up the lift buttons. However, if it is raining then he will have his umbrella with him and can press the higher buttons with it.

2. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

A man and his son are in a car accident. The father dies at the scene, but the child is rushed to the hospital. When he arrives the surgeon says, "I can't operate on this boy, he is my son! "

How can this be?

ANSWER

The surgeon was his mother.

A man is wearing all black. Black shoes, socks, trousers, coat, gloves and a ski mask. He is walking in the road with all the street lamps off. A black car is speeding towards him, with its lights off, but the driver somehow manages to stop before he crashes into the man dressed in black!

How did the driver see the man?

3. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

ANSWER

It was day time.

A man went to a party and drank some ice cold punch. He was very tired so he decided to leave the party early. Everyone else at the party, who drank the punch, subsequently died of poisoning!

Why did the man not die?

4. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

ANSWER

The poison had been put in ice cubes. When the man drank the punch, the ice was fully frozen. Gradually over the evening the ice melted, poisoning the punch and everyone who drank it!

A man is found dead in his office. His head is on his desk soaked in a pool of blood. By his feet, on the floor, is a small handgun that has recently been fired. Forensics show that this is the gun that killed him. He has been shot in the left temple at close range. On the desk is a suicide note, and in his left hand is the pen that wrote the note.

How did the police know this was a murder and not a suicide?

5. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

ANSWER

The man died with a pen in his left hand – if it was suicide he would have died holding the gun!

When Suzy Smith was six years old she hammered a nail into a tree in her garden to record her height. Fifteen years later she decided to see how much higher the nail was. The tree had grown by four centimetres each year.

How much higher was the nail?

6. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

ANSWERIt was in exactly the same place!

Trees grow from the top.

Two English professors were discussing the English Language. Professor Green had just told Professor Red about a very special word. “How can that be?” Said Professor Red. “Ah therein lies the secret!” replied Professor Green. “It’s true there is a seven lettered word in the English language that contains eight words without rearranging any of the letters.”

What is the word?

7. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

ANSWER

Therein

the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere.

A man has committed murder and is condemned to death. He is given the chance to enter one of three rooms. The first is a raging inferno, the second is full of assassins with loaded guns, the third contains a lion who has not eaten for three years.

Which room is the safest to enter?

8. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

ANSWER

The room with the lion – the lion would be dead as it had not eaten for three years.

What is the beginning of eternity, the end of time,

the beginning of every end, and the end of every

place?

9. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

ANSWER

The letter ‘e’Eternity, time, end, place

E E E E E E

When you add 2 to 11 the correct answer is 1.

How is this possible?

10. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

ANSWER

When you add two hours to eleven o’clock you get one o’clock!

A woman was found dead in the middle of a terrible snow storm. There were no tracks leading to or from the body. The cause of death was partially due to the unopened pack on her back.

What was in the pack and what killed her?

11. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

Answer

An unopened parachute. The cause of death was impact with the ground.

Professor Boffin and Professor Clever were playing chess. They played seven games; each won the same number of games and there were no draws.

How can this be true?

12. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

ANSWER

They were not playing each other!

Mrs Summer is eighty five years old and getting rather absent minded. Every Tuesday she does her weekly shopping. However, recently she has been forgetting how to get to the supermarket! Last Tuesday on her way to the shops she did not stop at a red light and then turned down a one way street in the wrong direction. A policeman saw everything but did nothing about it?

How could Mrs Summer get away with such behaviour?

13. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

Answer

Mrs Summer was not driving she was walking!

During a terrible snow storm a man gets lost in the mountains. Almost dead from the cold he stumbles across a log cabin. Inside the cabin there is a newspaper, a fireplace, some kindling and a kerosene lamp.

What should he light first?

14. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

ANSWER

A match! It’s the only way to light the other things!

A famous actor was found shot dead while sitting in his car outside his home. Forensics could not find any trace of gunpowder in the car. This suggests he was shot by someone outside the car however, the only bullet holes were found on the body. The doors and windows were closed and locked and the car was completely undamaged.

How did someone manage to kill him?

15. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

ANSWER

The actor was in a convertible. He was shot when the top was down!

An aeroplane carrying German citizens crashes on the border between America and Canada.

In which country would the survivors be buried?

16. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

ANSWER

Neither! Survivors are not buried!

It had started to rain very heavily. Rather than walk Mr Chatty decided to get a taxi home. As soon as he sat down in the taxi he began talking non-stop. The taxi driver realised he was going to have to put up with his talking all the way to Mr Chatty’s house! So he looked in his rear view mirror and said, “Sorry mate I can’t hear a word you’re saying. I broke my hearing aid this morning and without it I’m completely deaf!” Mr Chatty remained silent for the rest of the journey. When they arrived at his house Mr Chatty got out, paid his fare and went inside. A few moments later he realised that the taxi driver had lied to him about being deaf!

How did Mr Chatty know he was lying?

17. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

ANSWER

Mr Chatty must have told the driver his destination. Had the driver not heard him he would not have known where to go!

A woman was driving alone in her car when she spun off the road at high speed. She crashed through a fence, and plunged into a fast flowing river. As the car came to a stop the woman realised she had broken her arms and could not release her safety belt and get out of the car. The car sank to the bottom of the river and she was trapped in the car! The police and fire brigade arrived two hours later; the woman was still in the car alive!

How was this possible?

18. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

ANSWER

The water in the river only came up to the woman’s chest.

Police, acting on a tip off, raid a house to arrest a man suspected of robbing a bank. They have no idea what he looks like but they know his name is Peter. When the police break down the door they find a carpenter, a lorry driver, a mechanic and a fireman playing cards. Without hesitation or asking the card players any questions they immediately arrest the fireman.

How do they know they have the right person?

19. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

ANSWER

The fireman is the only man in the room, the rest of the card players are women.

An empty yacht, which had been missing for a week, is discovered in the middle of the ocean. It is not damaged in any way. Nearby in the water are five drowned bodies. When the lifeboat arrives they can’t work out what happened.

How could the people drown so near a boat?

20. You have 5 minutes to think of an answer and write it in your book.

ANSWER

The people on the yacht decided to go for a swim and jumped into the sea. Unfortunately they forgot to put the ladder down and therefore could not climb back onto the boat. Eventually they drowned!