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Extending on Ralph's answer, there is a similar very neat proof for the formula for $Q_n:=1^2+2^2+\dots+n^2$. Write down numbers in an equilateral triangle as follows:

    1
2 2
3 3 3
4 4 4 4


Now, clearly the sum of the numbers in the triangle is $Q_n$. On the other hand, if you superimpose three such triangles rotated by $120^\circ$ each, then the sum of the numbers in each position equals $2n+1$. Therefore, you can double-count $3Q_n=\frac{n(n+1)}{2}(2n+1)$. $\square$

(I first heard this proof from János Pataki).

How to prove formally that all positions sum to $2n+1$? Easy induction ("moving down-left or down-right from the topmost number does not alter the sum, since one of the three summand increases and one decreases"). This is a discrete analogue of the Euclidean geometry theorem "given a point $P$ in an equilateral triangle $ABC$, the sum of its three distances from the sides is constant" (proof: sum the areas of $APB,BPC,CPA$), which you can mention as well.

How to generalize to sum of cubes? Same trick on a tetrahedron. EDIT: there's some way to generalize it to higher dimensions, but unfortunately it's more complicated than this. See the comments below.

If you wish to tell them something about "what is the fourth dimension (for a mathematician)", this is an excellent start.

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1

Extending on Ralph's answer, there is a similar very neat proof for the formula for $Q_n:=1^2+2^2+\dots+n^2$. Write down numbers in an equilateral triangle as follows:

    1
2 2
3 3 3
4 4 4 4


Now, clearly the sum of the numbers in the triangle is $Q_n$. On the other hand, if you superimpose three such triangles rotated by $120^\circ$ each, then the sum of the numbers in each position equals $2n+1$. Therefore, you can double-count $3Q_n=\frac{n(n+1)}{2}(2n+1)$. $\square$

(I first heard this proof from János Pataki).

How to prove formally that all positions sum to $2n+1$? Easy induction ("moving down-left or down-right from the topmost number does not alter the sum, since one of the three summand increases and one decreases"). This is a discrete analogue of the Euclidean geometry theorem "given a point $P$ in an equilateral triangle $ABC$, the sum of its three distances from the sides is constant" (proof: sum the areas of $APB,BPC,CPA$), which you can mention as well.

How to generalize to sum of cubes? Same trick on a tetrahedron. If you wish to tell them something about "what is the fourth dimension (for a mathematician)", this is an excellent start.