Bottle

Place an empty bottle upright on the table. Next, cut a one-inch-wide strip of paper, one foot long, from a newspaper. Place the strip of paper over the mouth of the bottle as shown. Finally, place four coins on top of the paper. Start with a quarter, then add a nickel and two pennis. Now, challenge anyone to remove the strip of paper leaving the coins still balanced on top of the bottle. They cannot touch either the coins or the bottle while doing this. The only item that may be touched, in any way, by anything, is the strip of paper. Your friends will soon discover that this problem is nearly impossible to solve. Try it a few times yourself before looking up the answer.