Back in the days when matchsticks were available in every household, people used them not only to light the candles, but also to solve some lateral thinking puzzles with their friends. As time passed, lighters replaced match boxes, and somewhere along the line these “out of the box thinking” puzzles became lost. The matchstick puzzles in this article are great for keeping your kids entertained while waiting at restaurants using minimal materials.
I introduced my kids to these brain teasers today, and together we worked through a couple. In some cases, they found solutions immediately, but in others it was more difficult. All in all, we had a great time exercising our brains. So, let’s get started.
MATCHSTICK PUZZLES WITH ANSWERS
Place the matchsticks on a table as shown below. Then ask your kids, if they can correct the equation by moving only 1 matchstick.
And the solution is to move the vertical matchstick from the addition operator to the number 6 to convert the number 6 to 8.
Lets try another example,
Can you move 2 matchsticks and reform the hoop in the same shape so that the ball is outside the hoop.
By moving the left matchstick downward parallel to the handle of the hoop and slightly moving the horizontal matchstick, all of the vertical matchsticks will be aligned properly.
Have your kids had fun solving the matchstick puzzles ? Then try some of these challenging ones below. If you do not have a matchstick, you can also use plastic drinking straws (cut them into smaller pieces), toothpicks or thin pretzel sticks, the options are endless. Have fun with these low cost brain teasers.
ADDITIONAL MATCHSTICK PUZZLES
Rearranging Squares – Puzzles of this type suggest rearranging the matches in order to obtain a certain number of squares or triangles.
Changing Direction – Additionally, there are more creative challenges. For example, move a certain number of matches to make the animal or object in the picture look to the other side.
Order of Digits – In these puzzles, the challenge is to rearrange a certain number of matchsticks to get the largest and smallest number possible using a number
Solve the equation – These matchstick puzzles are among the most popular. In this puzzle, the equation is not correct. The challenge is to move certain number of matchsticks to correct the equation.
Lateral thinking puzzles like matchstick puzzles are a great way to help your kids flex their problem-solving muscles. These types of puzzles can improve cognitive skills and help with creative thinking. Have you tried out any of these puzzles with your family? We’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments below.
Pin it for later.
For the first puzzle, I solved it by taking a matchstick away from the six and adding it to the last four, to get 5+4=9.
That is right Suzanne. There are couple of other combinations to solve this puzzle, can you also find them ?