20 starter activities

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Lateral ThinkingLateral Thinking

20 Super Starter Activities20 Super Starter Activitieswww.Teacher-of-English.com



Lateral Thinking

Improve

yourability to

infer,deduce



1. You have 5 minutes to thinkof an answer and write it in

your book. There is a man who lives on the topoor of a very tall building. Everydayhe gets the lift down to the ground

oor to leave the building to go towork. However, upon returning fromwork he an only travel half way up inthe lift and then has to walk the rest ofthe way ! unless it"s raining#

Why?



ANSW

The man is very, very short and anonly reah halfway up the lift buttons.However, if it is raining then he will

have his umbrella with him and anpress the higher buttons with it.



$. You have 5 minutes to thinkof an answer and write it in

your book.% man and his son are in a araident. The father dies at the

sene, but the hild is rushed tothe hospital. &hen he arrives thesurgeon says, '( an"t operate onthis boy, he is my son# '

How can this be?



ANSW

The surgeon was his mother.



% man is wearing all blak. )lak shoes, soks,trousers, oat, gloves and a ski mask. He iswalking in the road with all the street lamps o*. %blak ar is speeding towards him, with its lights

o*, but the driver somehow manages to stopbefore he rashes into the man dressed in blak#

"o# did the driver see the man$

+. You have 5 minutes to thinkof an answer and write it in

your book.



ANSW

(t was daytime.

h i hi k



% man went to a party and dranksome ie old punh. He was verytired so he deided to leave theparty early. Everyone else at theparty, who drank the punh,subseuently died of poisoning#

Why did the man not die$

-. You have 5 minutes to thinkof an answer and write it in

your book.



ANSW

The poison had been put in ie ubes.&hen the man drank the punh, theie was fully froen. /radually over the

evening the ie melted, poisoning thepunh and everyone who drank it#

5 Y h 5 i hi k



% man is found dead in his o0e. His head is onhis desk soaked in a pool of blood. )y his feet, onthe oor, is a small handgun that has reentlybeen red. 2orensis show that this is the gun that

killed him. He has been shot in the left temple atlose range. 3n the desk is a suiide note, and inhis left hand is the pen that wrote the note.

"o# did the police kno# this#as a murder and not a suicide$


your book.



ANSW

The man died with a pen in his lefthand 4 if it was suiide he would havedied holding the gun#

7 Y h 5 i t t thi k



&hen uy mith was si6 years old shehammered a nail into a tree in hergarden to reord her height. 2ifteen

years later she deided to see howmuh higher the nail was. The tree hadgrown by four entimetres eah year.

"o# much higher #as the nail$


your book.



ANSW(t was in e6atly the sameplae# Trees grow from the

top.

@ Y h 5 i t t thi k



Two English professors were disussing theEnglish 8anguage. 9rofessor /reen had :usttold 9rofessor ;ed about a very speial word.<How an that be=> aid 9rofessor ;ed. <%h

therein lies the seret#> replied 9rofessor/reen. <(t?s true there is a seven lettered wordin the English language that ontains eightwords without rearranging any of the letters.>

What is the #ord$

@. You have 5 minutes to thinkof an answer and write it in

your book.



ANSW

Therein

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

A Y h 5 i t t thi k



% man has ommitted murder and isondemned to death. He is given the haneto enter one of three rooms. The rst is araging inferno, the seond is full of assassinswith loaded guns, the third ontains a lionwho has not eaten for three years.

Which room is the safest to enter$

A. You have 5 minutes to thinkof an answer and write it in

your book.



ANSW

The room with the lion 4 the lion wouldbe dead as it had not eaten for threeyears.

B Y h 5 i t t thi k



What is the beginning

of eternity, the end oftime, the beginning

of every end, and theend of every place$

B. You have 5 minutes to thinkof an answer and write it in

your book.



ANSW

The letter Ce?

Eternity, time, end, plae

E

1D You ha e 5 minutes to



&hen you add $ to 11 theorret answer is 1.

"o# is this possible$

1D. You have 5 minutes tothink of an answer and write it

in your book.



ANSW

&hen you add two hours to

eleven o?lok you get oneo?lok#

11 You have 5 minutes to



% woman was found dead in the middleof a terrible snow storm. There were notraks leading to or from the body. Theause of death was partially due to theunopened pak on her bak.

What #as in the pack and #hatkilled her$

11. You have 5 minutes tothink of an answer and write it

in your book.



Ans#er

%n unopened parahute. The ause ofdeath was impat with the ground.

1$ You have 5 minutes to



9rofessor )o0n and 9rofessor leverwere playing hess. They played sevengamesF eah won the same number ofgames and there were no draws.

"o# can this betrue$

1$. You have 5 minutes tothink of an answer and write it

in your book.



ANSW

They were not playing eah other#

1+ You have 5 minutes to



Grs ummer is eighty ve years old and gettingrather absent minded. Every Tuesday she doesher weekly shopping. However, reently she hasbeen forgetting how to get to the supermarket#

8ast Tuesday on her way to the shops she did notstop at a red light and then turned down a oneway street in the wrong diretion. % poliemansaw everything but did nothing about it=

"o# could &rs Summerget a#ay #ith such

behaviour$

1+. You have 5 minutes tothink of an answer and write it

in your book.



Ans#er

Grs ummer was not driving she waswalking#



ANSW

% math# (t?s the only way to light theother things#




% famous ator was found shot dead whilesitting in his ar outside his home. 2orensisould not nd any trae of gunpowder in the

ar. This suggests he was shot by someoneoutside the ar however, the only bulletholes were found on the body. The doorsand windows were losed and loked and

the ar was ompletely undamaged."o# did someone manage to

kill him$


in your book.



ANSW

The ator was in a onvertible. He wasshot when the top was down#




%n aeroplane arrying /ermanitiens rashes on the border

between %meria and anada.

In #hich country #ould thesurvivors be buried$


in your book.



ANSW

Ieither# urvivors are not buried#

1@ You have 5 minutes to



(t had started to rain very heavily. ;ather than walk Grhatty deided to get a ta6i home. %s soon as he sat down inthe ta6i he began talking non!stop. The ta6i driver realisedhe was going to have to put up with his talking all the way toGr hatty?s house# o he looked in his rear view mirror and

said, <orry mate ( an?t hear a word you?re saying. ( brokemy hearing aid this morning and without it (?m ompletelydeaf#> Gr hatty remained silent for the rest of the :ourney.&hen they arrived at his house Gr hatty got out, paid hisfare and went inside. % few moments later he realised thatthe ta6i driver had lied to him about being deaf#

"o# did &r (hatty kno# he #aslying$

1@. You have 5 minutes tothink of an answer and write it

in your book.



ANSW

Gr hatty must have told the driver hisdestination. Had the driver not heardhim he would not have known where to

go#

1A You have 5 minutes to



% woman was driving alone in her ar whenshe spun o* the road at high speed. herashed through a fene, and plunged into afast owing river. %s the ar ame to a stop

the woman realised she had broken her armsand ould not release her safety belt and getout of the ar. The ar sank to the bottom ofthe river and she was trapped in the ar# Thepolie and re brigade arrived two hours laterFthe woman was still in the ar alive#

"o# #as this possible$

1A. You have 5 minutes tothink of an answer and write it

in your book.



ANSW

The water in the river only ame up tothe woman?s hest.

1B You have 5 minutes to



9olie, ating on a tip o*, raid a house to arresta man suspeted of robbing a bank. They haveno idea what he looks like but they know hisname is 9eter. &hen the polie break down the

door they nd a arpenter, a lorry driver, amehani and a reman playing ards. &ithouthesitation or asking the ard players anyuestions they immediately arrest the reman.

"o# do they kno# they have the rightperson$

1B. You have 5 minutes tothink of an answer and write it

in your book.



ANSW

The reman is the only man in theroom, the rest of the ard players arewomen.

$D You have 5 minutes to



%n empty yaht, whih had been missingfor a week, is disovered in the middle ofthe oean. (t is not damaged in any way.Iearby in the water are ve drownedbodies. &hen the lifeboat arrives they an?twork out what happened.

"o# could the people dro#n sonear a boat$

$D. You have 5 minutes tothink of an answer and write it

in your book.



ANSW

The people on the yaht deided to gofor a swim and :umped into the sea.Jnfortunately they forgot to put the

ladder down and therefore ould notlimb bak onto the boat. Eventuallythey drowned#

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