April 18 is International Juggler’s Day, all about the amazing act of juggling. In juggling you toss a whole bunch of balls, bananas or flaming torches into the air and catch them over and over! You can throw the balls up and around in a circle, or across each other in an X. The world record for juggling the most balls is 11, set by Alex Barron. But the record for juggling flaming torches is 7, held by Anthony Gatto. The rest of us should practice with bananas, though.
Wee ones: If you toss a banana, then a rubber chicken, then a banana again, then a rubber chicken…what do you juggle next?
Little kids: It’s easier to juggle odd numbers of things than even numbers. If you have 6 bananas, what are the 2 closest odd numbers? Bonus: If you have 8 flaming torches and your friends each want to practice with just 3, how many friends can you give 3 torches, and how many are left over?
Big kids: If Alex juggled 11 balls and made 23 catches, with the balls caught in the same repeating order, how many balls were caught more than twice? Bonus: If each ball weighed 6 ounces, how many pounds of balls was he throwing? (Reminder if needed: A pound has 16 ounces).
Answers:
Wee ones: A banana.
Little kids: 5 and 7. Bonus: 2 friends, with 2 torches left over, since you can give away 6 at most.
Big kids: Just 1, since the 11 balls went through 2 catches each to make the first 22 catches. Bonus: 4 pounds 2 ounces. They weigh 66 ounces total, and 64 ounces is the biggest multiple of 16 that’s still less than that.
