5 zebra puzzles for kids

If you liked Einstein’s riddle, we offer you five puzzles with the same solution principle. Zebra puzzles are a kind of logic problem composed similarly to the riddle of an outstanding physicist

Puzzle #1. What do the Potters dream of?

Let’s meet the Potters: Mummy, Daddy, their son Peter, a schoolboy, and his younger sister Betty. There is also Aunt Polly, who often visits them. Each family member has his or her hobbies, favorite desserts, and dreams!

Conditions of the puzzle:

1. Mummy Potter attends yoga classes on Mondays and Thursdays.
2. A person loving ice cream dreams of visiting Paris.
3. Betty likes only marmalade.
4. Mummy eats only marshmallows.
5. The Potters have three money boxes for their dreams at their home: one for a trip to the sea, one for a ticket to the Swan Lake ballet, one for a new album for the collection of coins.
6. Aunt Polly has a sewing machine and a collection of sewing materials at home. She made a ballet suit for Betty for her classes.
7. Peter often goes fishing with his dad, but he quickly becomes bored of it and begins to walk down the shore looking for rare coins for his collection.
8. Peter doesn’t like anything with cream.
9. Peter and Betty’s parents have made the same New Year wish both.
10. On holidays, Mummy prepares the family’s favorite desserts: Napoleon cake, marmalade, and waffles.

Read these statements, fill in the table and say who likes the Napoleon cake and who dreams of going to Paris.

These are the so-called Zebra puzzles. According to the legend, the famous physicist Albert Einstein, known as the Nobel prize winner and author of the theory of relativity, came up with such a quiz when he was a child. As a rule, such puzzles should be solved in mind, but, of course, it would be easier for children to fill in a table that will show the way to the solution.

Riddle #2. One Evening

Once Donald Smith came to visit his schoolmate Bill Simpson to do their homework together and learn William Shakespeare’s sonnets. When he entered Simpsons’ apartment, he could see five pairs of shoes: sandals, office shoes, lace-up boots, and two pairs of sneakers.

Try to guess which room each of the Simpsons’ family members (Bill, Mummy, Daddy, Granny, and Bill’s sister Melanie) is in, what they do, and what kind of shoes each of them was wearing outdoors before coming home.

These statements can help you.

Conditions of the puzzle:

1. Daddy is in the kitchen alone.
2. Melanie is preparing for her philosophy college exam.
3. Granny prefers to wear open-toe shoes.
4. A person preparing dinner is also watching the news on TV.
5. There are several things being read by the Simpsons’ at the moment: a philosophy textbook, a newspaper, and a book of Shakespeare’s sonnets.
6. There is no one in the bedroom.
7. Daddy has just returned home from work. He is a civil servant and wears business-style clothes and shoes.
8. Mummy is looking after flowers.
9. There are three people in the living room.
10. Bill has brought a book to the children’s room.
11. Mummy and Melanie came after jogging an hour ago.

To solve zebra puzzles, read the introductions and all the tips attentively.

Puzzle #3. A Bowling Game

Toadigy, Ducktor Hillary, Professor-r-r Roary, Zeebrain, and HaliLeo were playing ten-pin bowling. They had bowling balls of four colors — yellow, green, red, and blue.

Guess what order they have made their moves, what color balls they have chosen, how many strikes they have hit, and how many misses they have made.

A strike is a successful move in a bowling game in which a player knocks down all the pins in one hit.

Conditions of the puzzle:

1. HaliLeo began the game and collected 10 strikes, which is more than others.
2. The number of HaliLeo’s misses was similar to his order number in the game.
3. Balls of all colors have been used.
4. HaliLeo and Zeebrain have chosen balls of the same color.
5. Ducktor Hillary has chosen the ball of the color, which can be reached by mixing colors of balls of the second and third players.
6. Toadigy was playing after Professor-r-r Roary. He has chosen a yellow ball and beaten two times fewer strikes than HaliLeo.
7. Professor-r-r Roary wasn’t’ first. He had no misses, beating the pits with a blue ball.
8. Ducktor Hillary played last, having six misses and twice fewer strikes.
9. Professor-r-r Roary had the same amount of strikes and misses.
10. Toadigy had one fewer misses than strikes. Zeebrain had the same amount of misses.
11. Zeebrain had one fewer strike than Toadigy and one more strike than Ducktor Hillary.
12. HaliLeo and Zeebrain entered the game before and after Toadigy correspondingly.

1. What color were HaliLeo and Zeebrain’s balls?
2. If you answer the quiz properly, you will see some specific order of the players. Which one?

Zebra puzzles for children seem complex, but they train some qualities that can be useful to a child both at school and in everyday life:

• attention;
• the ability to separate important information from insignificant one;
• concentration;
• the ability to operate simultaneously with many facts;
• the ability to think quickly.

Puzzle #4. Granny’s Birthday

Granny Simpson’s birthday is coming soon. The rest of the family have prepared gifts for her, many of them at the same time! Granny will have a birthday show, bouquets from everyone, and many tasty things for her anniversary.

What gifts will Granny receive? Read the tips and find out the answer!

Conditions of the puzzle:

1. The Simpsons are preparing a concert show with tricks, a guitar song, and one family member’s own poem.
2. A person who wrote the poem will give a bread machine as a present and buy irises.
3. Mummy will buy tulips.
4. Melanie has learned to bake cinnamon buns and remembered guitar chords for Granny’s birthday.
5. The trickster has prepared a notebook for recipes and a fruit salad.
6. Melanie knows that Granny likes daisies.
7. A person who will give a rocking chair will also prepare homemade candies for Granny.
8. Bill has a special deck of cards and a box with a double bottom.
9. Mummy and Melanie have had rehearsals for two for a week.
10. Daddy will prepare orange juice.
11. Granny will also be given a bouquet of roses and a ticket to the theatre play.

Who will give a theatre ticket and who will buy roses?

Puzzle #5. What to wear

Ben and Mary spent time at a health camp from Monday till Friday. Each of them took such clothes as shorts, jeans, a zipped jacket, a polo, and a baseball cap.

What did the kids wear every day at the camp? It is known that they haven’t changed their clothes during the day.

Conditions of the puzzle:

1. Ben was wearing the same clothes as Mary twice — on Wednesday and Friday. It was very hot on Wednesday, so they wore the lightest clothes they had.
2. They both wore jeans on Monday.
3. Mary wore the same clothes on Thursday and Friday.
4. Each of them wore a baseball cap once on different days of the week with even numbers.
5. Mary wore a zipped jacket on Monday, Thursday, and Friday.
6. On Tuesday, Ben wore a zipped jacket and jeans. Overall, Ben wore jeans three times, and he also wore a zipped jacket twice.
7. Mary didn’t put on her baseball cap on Thursday.
8. On departure day, Mary put on her zipped jacket and jeans.
9. Mary wore jeans one day more than shorts.

It wasn’t easy, but you finally did it! Good for you!

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