Fun with Pennies

By Erma Reynolds

Before you put your pennies into a piggy bank, you might like to try these stunts with them. Some aren’t as easy as they seem!

Submerge a small glass right side up in the bottom of a large wide-mouthed bottle filled with water. Then try to drop pennies into the glass.
Press a penny firmly against the center of your forehead, slide it upward about an inch, let go, and it will stay there.
Lie flat on your back on the floor. Have someone put a penny on the tip of your nose. Without moving your head, try to dislodge the coin by wiggling your nose.
Stand with your feet together and your heels against a wall. Have someone place a penny about eighteen inches in front of your toes. Without moving your heels from the wall, try to pick up the coin.
Hold out one hand, palm up. Have someone place a penny on each fingertip except the thumb. See if you can get all the pennies into one pile on a fingertip without using the thumb or other hand.
Have a friend put an even number of pennies in one closed fist and an odd number in the other. Announce that without looking you can tell which hand holds the even number of pennies. Ask the person holding the pennies to multiply the number of pennies in his right hand by five, the number in his left hand by six. The two results are added together and the total number announced. If it is an even number, the even number of pennies is in the right hand. If the total is an odd number, the number of pennies in the right hand will be odd.

Illustrated by Shauna Mooney