Logic Puzzles
We all like to solve logical puzzles so much so that they are a big part of many kinds of entertainment. The fun people have trying to solve mysteries has created a multimillion dollar book niche all by itself. Plus most good adventures and movie mysteries call for the audience to try to solve the puzzle along with or before the on screen detectives. Dozens of television shows have replicated the Sherlock Holmes mystery model to tease an audience and give them clues to try to solve the mystery before the star of the show does. From Murder She Wrote to Monk to Matlock to Alfred Hitchcock, we all love to solve puzzles in our minds.
Of course, these kinds of logical puzzles are used a lot in education. Who of us has not had a child come home from school with the classic math problem about two trains that were going separate directions or other logical puzzles? Such logical analysis word problems are also a big part of important tests like the SAT and other entrance exams. Youth who have been exposed to this kind of puzzle know how to filter out irrelevant information, to stitch together seemingly unrelated facts that can lead to the proper conclusion and then formulate a solution.
Even though logical kinds of word puzzles are used a lot education, they never cease to be popular as entertainment at all levels of play from adult mystery games or even simple children's logical puzzles that make the little ones draw conclusions and solve a well designed puzzle or mystery. For all of us, this kind of mental work out is really great brain exercise. Puzzles like this build our ability to look at a problem situation, gather necessary clues or data to draw a proper conclusion and then organize that data into a solution that makes sense.
Science tells us that much about how our brains go about solving problems like this is a mixture of the logical machinery of organized thinking and the intuitive ability to think "from the gut" to know when information is important for the solution and when it is unnecessary distraction. In most puzzles, such "rabbit trails" are intuitionally put there to make it more fun sorting out the answers. By taking pleasure in logical games, we naturally take that skill into life and take just as much pleasure solving life's puzzles as we do in playing mental games with logical word puzzles in our leisure time.
The availability of virtually an endless supply of logic based puzzles that you can access for any occasion and age group. A casual hour spent at your local bookstore will reveal entire aisles devoted to crossword, jumble and all kinds of logical puzzles for every age. You can find great puzzles to keep you amused on a long car trip or to use with a bunch of bored little ones who need their brains stimulated. On top of that, like everything else, the internet is virtually exploding with resources for logic based puzzles, games and activities. So you should have no trouble keeping everybody guessing and their brains working hard solving puzzles to make them smarter and quicker witted for school and life as well.