What are hiccups? Your “diaphragm,” the muscle between your lungs and your stomach, normally shrinks slowly to make you breathe, but sometimes it freaks out and pulls a lot faster than it should. That makes your throat snap shut, which makes that silly hiccup sound. Holding your breath, drinking water while upside down, or eating a teaspoon of sugar can stop them – but not always. Poor Charles Osborne started hiccuping one day in 1922 and didn’t stop until 1990!
Wee ones: If you just counted your 5 hiccups, what are all the numbers you said before that?
Little kids: If you start hiccuping twice today, and take 2 teaspoons of sugar each time, how many teaspoons of sugar do you get to eat? Bonus: If you hiccup on 10 days straight and it all starts on a Tuesday, what’s your last day of hiccuping?
Big kids: If Charles Osborne hiccuped from 1922 to 1990, how many years was that? Bonus: If he hiccuped 2,000 times each year, how many hiccups did he have in total? (Hint if needed: What if he hiccuped just twice each year…and then how does 2,000 a year change that?)
Answers:
Wee ones: 1, 2, 3, 4.
Little kids: 4 teaspoons. Bonus: On a Thursday…remember, Monday will be your 7th day, not the Tuesday.
Big kids: 68 years. Bonus: 136,000 hiccups!
