The Best Riddles for Kids (With Answers! )
Finding ways to entertain kids can seem difficult these days. While children of yesteryear loved spending time outside more than anything else, kiddos today have screens to keep them endlessly entertained inside. So, what can you do to amuse and enthrall your little ones without electronics? We suggest adding a few tried-and-true riddles for kids to the conversation.
31 Fun Riddles for Kids to Get Those Mental Wheels Turning
These brain teasers will leave your little ones scratching their heads and, in some cases, laughing out loud.
Finding ways to entertain kids can seem difficult these days. While children of yesteryear loved spending time outside more than anything else, kiddos today have screens to keep them endlessly entertained inside. So, what can you do to amuse and enthrall your little ones without electronics? We suggest adding a few tried-and-true riddles for kids to the conversation.
Unlike knock-knock jokes and other jokes for kids, whose purpose is primarily laughter, riddles are designed to get the mental cogs moving, which can help teach your kids to become deeper thinkers. Of course, that’s not to say all riddles for kids are a serious learning experience—some are just plain goofy and fun.
To help you unveil the wonders of riddles to your little one, ahead you’ll find 31 riddles for kids. With answers ranging from easy to hard, funny to thought-provoking, they are bound to make your child think outside the box, and—more importantly—the screen.
Fun Riddles for Kids with Answers
Q: What do you call a bear with no teeth?
A: A gummy bear.
Q: What has to be broken before you can use it?
A: An egg.
Q: I jump when I walk and sit when I stand. What am I?
A: Kangaroo
Q: Two fathers and two sons are in a car, yet there are only three people in the car. How?
A: They are a grandfather, father, and son.
Q: If two’s company and three’s a crowd, what are four and five?
A: Nine.
Q: What question can you never answer yes to?
A: Are you asleep yet?
Q: What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it?
A: A promise.
Q: What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?
A: A river.
Q: What goes through cities and fields, but never moves?
A: A road.
Q: People make me, save me, change me, raise me. What am I?
A: Money.
Q: What starts with a P, ends with an E, and has thousands of letters?
A: The post office.
Q: What do you call a pig that does karate?
A: A pork chop.
Q: What breaks yet never falls, and what falls yet never breaks?
A: Day, and night.
Q: What is the end of everything?
A: The letter “g”.
Q: How many seconds are in a year?
A: Twelve — January 2nd, February 2nd, March 2nd…
Q: What kind of lion never roars?
A: A dandelion.
Q: What do you call a dog magician?
A: A labracadabrador.
Q: I’m lighter than a feather, yet the strongest person can’t hold me for five minutes. What am I?
A: Your breath.
Q: What would you find in the middle of Toronto?
A: The letter “o.”
Q: What has 13 hearts, but no other organs?
A: A deck of cards.
Q: What has hands and a face, but can’t hold anything or smile?
A: A clock.
Q: It belongs to you, but your friends use it more. What is it?
A: Your name.
Q: What can you catch but not throw?
A: A cold.
Q: Where would you take a sick boat?
A: To the dock.
Q: What is made of water, but if you put it into water it vanishes?
A: An ice cube.
Q: I am an odd number. Take away a letter and I become even. What number am I?
A: Seven.
Q: What goes up but never comes back down?
A: Your age.
Q: What word begins with E and ends with E, but only has one letter?
A: Envelope.
Q: A cowgirl road into town on Friday. Three days later, she left on Friday. How is that possible?
A: Friday is the name of her horse.
Q: Ms. Smith has four daughters. Each daughter has a brother. How many kids are there in total?
A: Five, there are four daughters and one son. Each daughter has the same brother.
Q: I am always hungry and will die if not fed, but whatever I touch will soon turn red. What am I?
A: Fire.
More Fun Ways to Keep the Kids Entertained
Rebecca Ravee Norris is a full-time freelance writer with a decade’s worth of lifestyle media experience. Based out of the Washington metropolitan area, she writes for a variety of publications, covering everything from beauty and wellness to style and celebrity news. She is a graduate of George Mason University. There, she earned her B.A. in Media: Production, Consumption, and Critique, along with a minor in Electronic Journalism. When she’s not working, she can be found with her beloved Jack-Chi, Cash, adventuring with family and friends, working through reps at the gym, dreaming up her next home decor project, testing a new recipe, getting lost in the pages of a book, or catching up on her favorite shows.
The Best Riddles for Kids (With Answers!)
Looking for a way to while away the time with your kids while you’re waiting for your food at a restaurant or cruising on a road trip, but don’t want to resort to using a smartphone to entertain them?
Take part in a good old riddle showdown.
Riddles aren’t only fun, but they can help boost your children’s verbal fluency , problem-solving skills , and creative thinking. Riddles , and other brain teaser -type verbal puzzles, typically rely on clever new angles to look at something common , or on words with veiled or multiple meanings.
Riddles for Kids: Some Ground Rules
Riddles should be fun, and to make sure the riddles you share with your kids are fun, it’s best to follow a few ground rules.
Rule #1: The riddles have to be in the language the kids involved speak. So, if the kids you’re riddling speak English , make sure the riddle can be understood in that language.
Rule #2: Give the kids a theme to orient them in the right direction. So, give them a head’s up that you’re giving them an animal riddle when the answer involves an animal. Let them know they’ll have to think in numbers when you give them a math riddle . In every way you can, give the kids the best chance to stay engaged and work hard at solving the riddles. If you’re going to be giving them a particularly tricky riddle , go ahead and let them know ahead of time.
Rule #3: Let them know it’s ok not to know things. For example, to answer most riddles , your kid needs to know what the words in the riddle mean and their various applications. For example, when you ask, “What has a head, a foot, and four legs?” your kiddo needs to know that the concept of “legs” applies not only to animals but to beds. If they don’t know that, well, the riddle is a way for you to teach them and expand their perspective and vocab.
The Art of Manliness’s Collection of Riddles for Kids
Below you’ll find 44 riddles for kids . Some of them are classics (“What’s black and white and read all over?” The answer is not a zebra . ); some may be new to you. Some are hilarious jokes disguised as riddles; others are reliant on puns.
There’s also a nice mixture of easy, medium, and hard riddles , so you’ll find puzzles for all ages and abilities here.