Human beings have a lot of magnificent abilities. We can jump, run, catch, speak, sing, dance, and play music. The list goes on almost endlessly. At Beyond the Blackboard, we believe that one of the most rad and stupendous of human skills is our ability to reason.

Some breeds of dog can be taught to 'sing'. Jellyfish have no brain, and yet are among the most feared creatures on Planet Earth. Pronghorn can run swiftly. As far as we know, though, no other species on this medium-sized blue marble we call home can solve problems and use logic to the extent that people can. Unfortunately, as humans, we often take this fact for granted. Just as a lion cub needs to practice pouncing in order to be able to catch its prey as an adult, we need to exercise our brains to get the most out of our ability to reason.

Browse our list of fabulous brainteasers, designed to help you work out your brain muscles and get your cranial nerves firing together!

Morphy
Your goal is to find the longest string of changes. Start with the ball on one peg over one disc. Then, find another disc that's different by only one attribute - color, pattern, or center circle size. Start with a GREEN disc with STRIPES and a LARGE center circle. Move to an ORANGE disc with STRIPES and a LARGE center circle - or a GREEN disc with DOTS and a LARGE center circle - or a GREEN disc with STRIPES and a SMALL center circle ... Now, can you find another? And another? Whoever connects and collects the most discs wins the game!

IQ Circuit
Select a challenge. Each challenge shows 2, 4, or 6 dots. The object of the game is to connect all the dots with a path. All puzzle pieces must be placed on the game board. Each path starts and ends at a dot. Unconnected path pieces are not allowed. There is only 1 solution, which can be found at the end of the challenge booklet!

Tumble Maze
In this solo action gravity powered puzzle game, challenge yourself to roll stainless steel balls into specific spots with a minimum of trials, navigating between obstacles and using bonus walls to guide the balls into the right directions.

Diamond Quest
Select a challenge. Each challenge offers multiple hints about the position of some jewels. Combine the hints to find the location of all the jewels and discover where the red diamond is hidden! The location of some pieces might not be given, but can always be deducted using logic. There is only one possible solution!

Corners Up
Each player gets 20 game pieces of one color. On each turn, players have to place one of their pieces adjacent to or on top of the other pieces within a 4x4 grid, building a pyramid as they go.

When a 2x2 square is completed, whoever has the most pieces within that 2x2 square gets to place one of their pieces on top of those four. Can you trick everyone else into providing you with the best moves?

The game continues until the last piece of the pyramid is placed. Then, start counting up the corners. - Whoever is occupying the most corners wins the game!

Whichever toy or game you choose to train your brain, we encourage you to play often, to keep your noggin sharp and in shape!