Which hand?

One of the most important aspects of thinking in all of mathematics is inference. Inference is the deriving of new information from old information with logical certainty. Help your child develop his ability to infer with this activity:

1. Show your child a coin.
2. Put the coin in one hand, but do not tell your child which hand.
3. Close both hands into fists and show the fists to the child and ask “Which hand?”
4. When your child chooses a hand, open that fist.
5. If your child chooses the correct hand, the game is over. If your child chooses the empty hand, he gains practice in deducing that the coin is in the other hand.

Take turns with your child hiding the coin. For variation, add another denomination of coin and try to guess which hand holds each coin.