Nelly’s Nose

Dogs love people, and are happy to play just about any game with us. Usually they like to catch, fetch, or just chase us across the yard. But here’s a dog who likes a different game: balancing things on her head. Nelly’s owners can give her just about anything — a toy plane, a light bulb, a carton of eggs — and she can hold it on her nose with no problem. Her owners have taken lots of pictures of her in these poses, and now Nelly’s nose is famous. Dogs also like to snack, but Nelly can balance a stack of potato chips on her nose, a grapefruit section, and a long loaf of bread without eating them. With all the time we’re spending indoors, we might be able to train our pets – or ourselves – to do the same!

Wee ones: If you can balance a flowerpot on your head for 4 seconds and Nelly can hold it for 6 seconds, whose falls first?

Little kids: If Nelly balances a blender for 5 seconds and a pint of ice cream for 7 seconds, how much longer did she balance the ice cream? Count up from 5 if it helps!  Bonus: If she balances one right after the other, how long does the whole stunt take?

Big kids: If Nelly balances 2 stuffed animals, then 3 Lego cars, then 2 stuffed animals to repeat, what kind of toy is the 25th one she balances?  Bonus: Of her first 50 toys in this pattern, how many would be stuffed animals?

The sky’s the limit: If we ask Nelly to balance a pineapple, a lamp, a juicebox, and a stack of toilet paper rolls in any order she wants, in how many orders can she balance them if the pineapple is always 3rd? (Hint if needed: What if the pineapple were always 1^st?)

Answers:
Wee ones: Your flowerpot.

Little kids: 2 seconds longer.  Bonus: 12 seconds.

Big kids: A Lego car, because every set of 5 ends in a Lego car.  Bonus: 20, since 2 out of every 5 are stuffed animals.

The sky’s the limit: Just 6 ways. Having the pineapple third is the same as always having it 1^st, so you can ignore it and find the different orders for the other 3 objects. You have 3 choices for the 1^st of those slots (L, J or T), and you have 2 choices for each of those choices, giving you 3 x 2; then you have just 1 item left, so it’s 3 x 2 x 1 = 6. If you want to write out the orders, they are LJT, LTJ, JLT, JTL, TLJ, TJL…and you can stick in a P in the 3^rd slot to see the real results.