It's always a good idea to mix up your instruction every now and then just to keep your kids on their toes.
And sharing today's fun math riddles and brain teasers like the Handshake Puzzle with your students is a great way to engage your students and incorporate some excitement into your upcoming lesson plans.
Here's the scenario:
If there are 20 people in a room and they each shake each other's hands once and only once, how many handshakes are there all together?
This challenge makes for a great warm-up or cool-down activity for sparking mathematical discussion and creative problem-solving at any grade level!
It's always fun to see the variety of strategies (acting out, drawing diagrams, algebraic, etc) that your students will apply to try to solve this puzzle.
Answer: 19 + 18 + 17 + . + 3 + 2 + 1 = 190 total handshakes
My best-selling workbook 101 Math Riddles, Puzzles, and Brain Teasers for Kids Ages 10+! is now available as a PDF download. You can get yours today by clicking here.
