Riddles for Kids: 60 Fun Riddles With Answers
Here are 60 riddles for kids with answers, each answer on its own line so you can read the riddle aloud and let everyone guess before you reveal it. They run from easy riddles for ages 5 to 7, through funny, "what am I?" and animal riddles, to tricky riddles and word-connection puzzles for kids aged about 8 to 12.
The sets are sorted by the kind of thinking each riddle needs, not just by topic. Easy riddles describe an everyday object in an unexpected way. Funny riddles turn on a pun. Tricky riddles hide a wrong assumption in the question. Pick the set that suits the kids in front of you, and use the section on how to run them at the end to turn a handful of riddles into a proper game.
Easy Riddles for Kids
These suit ages 5 to 7 and early readers. Each one describes something kids see every day, so the answer is always within reach. Give at least 30 seconds before you offer a hint.
1. What has four legs but can't walk?
Answer: A table.
2. What is orange and sounds like a parrot?
Answer: A carrot.
3. What goes up when the rain comes down?
Answer: An umbrella.
4. What has ears but can't hear?
Answer: Corn. A cob of corn is called an ear.
5. What has a bark but no bite?
Answer: A tree.
6. What has a bottom at the top?
Answer: Your legs. Your bottom sits at the top of them.
7. What kind of room has no doors or windows?
Answer: A mushroom.
8. What is always in front of you but can't be seen?
Answer: The future.
9. What runs all the way around the yard but never moves?
Answer: A fence.
10. What can go through a window without breaking it?
Answer: Light.
11. What has a spine but no bones?
Answer: A book.
12. What starts with P, ends with E, and has thousands of letters?
Answer: The post office.
Funny Riddles for Kids
Every one of these is a pun, so the answer makes kids groan and laugh at once. They work well at dinner, in the car, or as a lunchbox note. If a child doesn't get the joke, explain the double meaning: that is where the learning happens.
13. Why did the math book look so sad?
Answer: It had too many problems.
14. What do you call a bear with no teeth?
Answer: A gummy bear.
15. Why did the cookie go to the doctor?
Answer: It was feeling crummy.
16. What do you call a sleeping dinosaur?
Answer: A dino-snore.
17. Why can't a bicycle stand up by itself?
Answer: It's two tired. It has two tires, and it's "too tired."
18. What did one wall say to the other wall?
Answer: "I'll meet you at the corner."
19. What did the ocean say to the beach?
Answer: Nothing. It just waved.
20. What kind of tree fits in your hand?
Answer: A palm tree.
21. Why are fish so smart?
Answer: They live in schools.
22. What do you call cheese that isn't yours?
Answer: Nacho cheese. Say it out loud: "not your cheese."
What Am I? Riddles for Kids
In a "what am I?" riddle the object describes itself with clues that seem impossible. Read each clue slowly, and let kids guess after every line if they want to.
23. I have cities but no houses, forests but no trees, and water but no fish. What am I?
Answer: A map.
24. I'm as light as a feather, but even the strongest person can't hold me for five minutes. What am I?
Answer: Your breath.
25. I'm full of holes, but I can still hold water. What am I?
Answer: A sponge.
26. I follow you everywhere when the sun is out, but I disappear in the dark. What am I?
Answer: Your shadow.
27. I have a tongue but can't taste, and I go wherever you walk. What am I?
Answer: A shoe. The flap under the laces is called the tongue.
28. I have a head, a foot and four legs, but I never get up. What am I?
Answer: A bed. It has a headboard at one end and a foot at the other.
29. I fly without wings and cry without eyes. What am I?
Answer: A cloud.
30. You can see me in the water, but I never get wet. What am I?
Answer: Your reflection.
31. I have keys but no locks, a space but no room, and you can enter but never go inside. What am I?
Answer: A keyboard.
32. I'm found in socks, scarves and mittens, and often in the paws of playful kittens. What am I?
Answer: Yarn.
Animal Riddles for Kids
Some of these are clue riddles that test what kids know about animals, and some are jokes. Mixing the two keeps younger kids in the game.
33. I'm slow, I carry my home on my back, and I leave a shiny trail behind me. What am I?
Answer: A snail.
34. I'm a black and white bird, but I can't fly. I'm a great swimmer instead. What am I?
Answer: A penguin.
35. What animal can jump higher than a house?
Answer: Any animal that can jump. Houses can't jump at all.
36. What do you call a fish with no eyes?
Answer: A fsh. Take the "i" out of "fish."
37. What animal is always at a baseball game?
Answer: A bat.
38. Which dog keeps the best time?
Answer: A watchdog.
39. What do you call an alligator in a vest?
Answer: An investigator. "In vest" plus "alligator."
40. What has a trunk but never goes on vacation?
Answer: An elephant. A tree works too, which makes a good argument.
Tricky Riddles for Kids
These suit ages 8 to 12. Each one sets a trap: the question pushes you toward one reading of a word, and the answer uses another. If kids are stuck, ask them which word in the riddle could mean two things.
41. What can you keep after you give it to someone?
Answer: Your word. When you give your word, you keep it by doing what you promised.
42. What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when you throw it away?
Answer: Charcoal.
43. What question can you never answer "yes" to?
Answer: "Are you asleep?"
44. The more of it there is, the less you see. What is it?
Answer: Darkness.
45. What is at the end of everything?
Answer: The letter G.
46. Where does today come before yesterday?
Answer: In the dictionary.
47. What two things can you never eat for breakfast?
Answer: Lunch and dinner.
48. How many letters are in "the alphabet"?
Answer: 11. Count the letters in the words "the alphabet": three in "the" and eight in "alphabet." The quick answer, 26, is the trap.
49. If you drop a yellow hat into the Red Sea, what does it become?
Answer: Wet.
50. What kind of coat is always wet when you put it on?
Answer: A coat of paint.
51. What has a head and a tail but no body?
Answer: A coin.
52. What word sounds the same even after you take away four of its five letters?
Answer: Queue. Take away "ueue" and you are left with "Q," which sounds exactly the same.
Word Connection Riddles for Kids
Each set has three words. Find one word that joins all three to make a compound word or a common phrase. This is a kid-sized version of the Remote Associates Test, the puzzle format researchers use to study creative thinking. It is a good one for kids who already know the classic riddles, because there are no stock answers to remember.
53. butter, dragon, fire
Answer: Fly (butterfly, dragonfly, firefly).
54. tooth, hair, paint
Answer: Brush (toothbrush, hairbrush, paintbrush).
55. cup, pan, birthday
Answer: Cake (cupcake, pancake, birthday cake).
56. fire, rain, snow
Answer: Storm (firestorm, rainstorm, snowstorm).
57. star, cat, sword
Answer: Fish (starfish, catfish, swordfish).
58. bed, class, play
Answer: Room (bedroom, classroom, playroom).
59. black, white, chalk
Answer: Board (blackboard, whiteboard, chalkboard).
60. birth, light, school
Answer: Day (birthday, daylight, school day).
The trick is to stop looking for something the three words have in common and start trying words that could sit next to each one. Kids who say lots of guesses out loud ("Is it 'man'? Fireman, snowman... rainman?") usually get there faster than kids who wait for the answer to pop into their head.
How to Use These Riddles With Kids
Guess first, reveal second. Read the riddle twice, then count to 30 (or 60 for the tricky ones) before you give anything away. Covering the answer with a hand or a sticky note keeps you honest if you're reading from a screen.
Give hints, not answers. A good hint removes one wrong idea without solving the riddle. For "What has ears but can't hear?" try "It's something you eat." For "What is at the end of everything?" try "Look at how the word is spelled."
Ask why the answer works. Once a riddle is solved, ask the child to explain it back to you. Explaining the double meaning in "It's two tired" is harder than getting the joke, and it's where kids notice how words can mean two things.
Play a riddle round in 10 minutes. Pick eight riddles from mixed sections. Give each player or team 60 seconds per riddle, one point for a correct answer and one bonus point for explaining it. Swap the reader each round so everyone gets a turn asking.
Use them as a classroom warm-up. Write one riddle on the board as students come in. Everyone writes a guess on scrap paper before anyone speaks, which stops the fastest child from ending the puzzle for the rest of the room. Reveal it after three minutes.
Match the set to the age. Ages 5 to 7 usually enjoy the easy, funny and animal sets. Ages 8 to 12 can handle the tricky riddles and the word connections, and older kids who breeze through them are ready for the brain teasers for middle school.
How Kids Can Write Their Own Riddles
Writing a riddle teaches more than solving one, because the writer has to see an ordinary object from a strange angle. This activity takes about 15 minutes.
- Pick an object (1 minute). Something in the room works best: a pencil, a door, a sock.
- List its parts (3 minutes). Write down every part that has a name: a pencil has a point, a body and an eraser; a door has a handle and hinges.
- Find the double meanings (5 minutes). Circle any part whose name also belongs to a person or animal, like the "eye" of a needle or the "teeth" of a zipper.
- Write the riddle (4 minutes). Turn two or three of those parts into clues that sound impossible: "I have teeth but I never eat. I hold your coat together. What am I?" (A zipper.)
- Test it (2 minutes). Try it on someone. If they get it in under five seconds it's too easy; if nobody gets it with a hint it needs one fairer clue.
Kids who enjoy this can also try making word-connection triads like the ones above. The hard part is checking that only one word fits all three.
Keep Practicing With Fresh Puzzles
A riddle works only once. As soon as a child knows the answer, it's used up. The word-connection riddles (53 to 60) are different, because the format keeps working with new words.
Our Speed Connections drill is built on that format. You see three cue words and type the word that connects them, with up to three guesses per triad. A correct answer moves you on to the next one until the timer runs out, and you can set the timer length before you start. The triads are written for adults, so it works best for parents, teachers and confident older readers, or as a team round where a grown-up reads the words out and the kids shout guesses. The word association game has spoken versions that need no screen at all.
For more riddles, the Christmas riddles include an easy set for younger kids, the lateral thinking puzzles are longer mysteries that a family can solve by asking yes-or-no questions, and the hard riddles are there when the kids want to stump the adults.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some good riddles for kids? Short riddles with one clear answer work best, such as "What has ears but can't hear?" (corn) or "What has a bark but no bite?" (a tree). Mix easy riddles with funny puns and a couple of tricky ones so every child gets a chance to solve one first.
What age are riddles for kids suitable for? Most kids start enjoying simple riddles around age 5, once they know that a word can mean more than one thing. The easy, funny and animal riddles here suit ages 5 to 7, and the tricky riddles and word connections suit about 8 to 12.
What is a tricky riddle for kids? A tricky riddle hides a wrong assumption in the question. "How many letters are in the alphabet?" sounds like it wants 26, but it is asking about the words "the alphabet," which have 11 letters. Riddles 41 to 52 above all work this way.
How do you help a child who can't solve a riddle? Give a hint that rules out one wrong idea instead of giving the answer, for example "It's something you eat" or "One of those words means two things." If they still don't get it, reveal the answer and ask them to explain why it works.
What is the difference between a riddle and a joke? A joke is told for the punchline, and nobody is expected to guess it. A riddle is a question you are meant to try to answer. Pun riddles like "Why are fish so smart?" sit in between: you can guess them, but most kids enjoy them as jokes.
How can kids make up their own riddles? Pick an everyday object, list its parts, and look for any part whose name also belongs to a person or animal, like the "teeth" of a comb or the "hands" of a clock. Then turn those parts into two or three clues that sound impossible, and test the riddle on a friend.
Ready to train your creativity? Try science-backed exercises that measure and improve your creative thinking. Start a Free Exercise