50 Riddles For Kids To Keep Your Brain Growing
Published October 12, 2023
Check out our riddles for kids and find some entertaining and fun ways to get your brain going.
Riddles are an excellent source of knowledge; they provide context, new ideas, exposure to wordplay, and stretch the imagination.
Learn all about the power of creativity and imagination with our riddles for kids.
Why should I check out riddles for kids?
Look, I get it; unless you are an educator, mentor, or parent, you might not find a whole lot of value in checking out riddles for kids.
However, before you dismiss the riddles, consider the following:
- Riddles sharpen logic.
- Riddles provide stress relief.
- Riddles enhance your ability to reason.
The many benefits of riddles
Riddles are as old as humanity.
We have been asking each other thought-provoking questions and playing games with wordplay since we first developed language.
I have been an educator for two decades, and during that time, I have seen the power of riddles to enhance self-esteem, peak interest in new subjects, and get the mind going.
Young people love being challenged, and riddles are great ways to get their brains ready to create.
I use riddles before every lesson as a way to get teams of students to work together to solve problems.
It creates an atmosphere of teamwork and allows young people to showcase experiential knowledge they possess that their classmates may not have.
The Riddle of the Sphinx
One of the oldest riddles in the world is the Riddle of the Sphinx.
You have probably heard it but just don’t remember:
What has one voice but goes on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?
The answer, of course, is a human being who crawls as a baby, stands on two legs as an adult, and walks with a cane in old age.
Riddles for kids as stress relief
When working with young students, emotions can flair, and hostility can overtake reason.
Riddles are a great way to get an emotional student’s mind off of whatever is causing the problem.
Riddles redirect attention and get help a person recenter themselves.
To learn more, check out our riddles for kids below.
Short riddles for kids to get you thinking
Let’s start our riddle journey with these quick riddles to get your brain going.
1. “I can be cracked or played, told or made. What am I?”
Answer: A joke!
2. “I go all around the world but never leave the corner. What am I?”
Answer: A stamp
3. “I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?”
Answer: A candle
4. “Nobody empties me, but I never stay full for long. What am I?”
Answer: The moon
5. “Give me a drink, and I will die. Feed me, and I’ll get bigger. What am I?”
Answer: A fire
6. “If you drop me, I’m sure to crack, but smile at me, and I’ll smile back. What am I?”
Answer: A mirror
7. “You’ll find me in Mercury, Earth, Mars, and Jupiter, but not in Venus or Neptune. What am I?”
Answer: The letter R
8. “I’m light as a feather, yet the strongest person can’t hold me for five minutes. What am I?”
Answer: Your breath
9. “I’m always on the dinner table, but you don’t get to eat me. What am I?”
Answer: Plates and silverware
10. “I have cities, but no houses. I have forests, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I?”
Answer: A map
The top interesting questions and riddles for kids
These fun riddles will bring out the brain power in anybody.
11. “What is yours but mostly used by others?”
Answer: Your name
12. “What has many rings but no fingers?”
Answer: A telephone
13. “What goes up but never comes back down?”
Answer: Your age
14. “What goes in a birdbath but never gets wet?”
Answer: The bird’s shadow
15. “What two things can you never eat for breakfast?”
Answer: Lunch and dinner
16. “What has hands and a face, but can’t hold anything or smile?”
Answer: A clock
17. “What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it?”
Answer: A promise
18. “If you drop a yellow hat in the Red Sea, what does it become?”
Answer: Wet
19. “What word begins with E and ends with E, but only has one letter?”
Answer: Envelope
20. “What appears once in a minute, twice in a moment, but not once in a thousand years?”
Answer: The letter M
The best math riddles for kids for number lovers
Who doesn’t love fun math riddles?
21. “Why was 6 afraid of 7?”
Answer: Because 7, 8 (ate), 9!
22. “What did the triangle say to the circle?”
Answer: You are pointless
23. “How many seconds are in a year?”
Answer: Twelve; January 2nd, February 2nd, March 2nd…
24. “When things go wrong, what can you always count on?”
Answer: Your fingers
25. “How many letters are there in the alphabet?”
Answer: There are 11: three in “the” and eight in “alphabet.”
26. “If two’s a company, and three’s a crowd, what are four and five?”
Answer: Nine
27. “Four legs up, four legs down, soft in the middle, hard all around. What am I?”
Answer: A bed
28. “Ms. Smith has four daughters. Each daughter has a brother. How many kids are there in total?”
Answer: Five; there are four daughters and one son. Each daughter has the same brother.
29. “If there are seven oranges and you take three away, how many oranges do you have?”
Answer: Three, since that’s how many you took.
30. “You have a basket that’s one foot in diameter and one foot deep. How many apples can you fit in the empty basket?”
Answer: Only one, because then it’s not empty anymore.
Awesome animal riddles for kids
Your kids will crack up with these funny and cute animal riddles.
31. “What’s black, white and blue?”
Answer: A sad zebra.
32. “What do you call a bear with no teeth?”
Answer: A gummy bear.
33. “Why do bees have sticky hair?”
Answer: Because they use their honeycombs.
34. “A cowgirl road into town on Friday. Three days later, she left on Friday. How is that possible?
Answer: Friday is the name of her horse.
35. “What kind of lion never roars?”
Answer: A dandelion
36. “What has a thousand needles but cannot sew?”
Answer: A porcupine
37. “What’s bright orange with green on top and sounds like a parrot?”
Answer: A carrot
38. “A rooster is sitting on the roof of a barn facing west. If it laid an egg, would the egg roll to the north or to the south?”
Answer: It’s impossible roosters don’t lay eggs.
39. “Without me, Thanksgiving and Christmas are incomplete; when I’m on the table, everyone tends to overeat. What am I?”
Answer: Turkey
40. “An elephant in Africa is called Lala. An elephant in Asia is called Lulu. What do you call an elephant in Antarctica?”
Answer: Lost
Fun food riddles for kids
We close our list with these classic food riddles for kids.
41. “What is the richest nut?”
Answer: A cash-ew
42. “What fruit can you never cheer up?”
Answer: A blueberry
43. “What has to be broken before you can use it?”
Answer: An egg
44. “Why did the citrus tree go to the hospital?”
Answer: Lemon-aid.
45. “What kind of foods are the most fun at parties?”
Answer: Fungi
46. “What has a head but no eyes, nose, or mouth?”
Answer: Lettuce
47. “I’m red and small, and I have a heart of stone. What am I?”
Answer: A cherry
48. “What kind of cheese is made backwards?”
Answer: Edam. Made is M-A-D-E, Edam is E-D-A-M, or “made” backwards
49. “You cut me, slice me, dice me, and all the while, you cry. What am I?”
Answer: An onion
50. “First, you throw away my outside and cook the inside. Then you eat my outside and throw away the inside. What am I?”
Answer: Corn
Riddles for kids can also make adults laugh
We are all big kids in adult bodies.
At any age, laughter is always beneficial.
Do you have a favorite riddle for kids?
Be sure to let us know in the comments.
