
  Possible Duplicate:
  In plain English, what is recursion?  




What is the best way to explain "Recursion" to  8 years old kid?

I tried with the Fibonacci Series but i failed.

Well, recursion is actually pretty simple to grasp for kids. Don't try it with mathematics or whatever the other people here are suggesting. They are too young to understand it. It's too abstract and boring for them.

Instead:
Show them a picture of a painter who is painting a picture of painter who is painting a picture ...

Something like this:


There are probably even better examples to be found on the web. And trust me: They'll understand it in no time.

Regardless of the question, I think any child should own a book with paintings of M. C. Escher. It'll be good for their development and creativity.



Edit:

Lately I have realized that you can explain recursion to children by using food, too. Take broccoli or cauliflower for example:



These are fractal vegetables. Tear them apart and you'll find that the smaller parts will turn out to look like the big whole you once had, just smaller. This has the advantage that you can teach your child recursion while eating. Don't laugh! Children will remember it better, because it's related to their meal (and thus important to their conciousness) and they can comprehend it. A German term for "comprehend" is "begreifen", which literally means "to touch something in order to understand it". Try it yourself. It's far easier to remember something you have once touched.
