Last Updated on August 9, 2024
Riddles are a fantastic way to spend quality time with your kids and have intimate family bonding sessions. Whether you’re on a road trip or just spending your weekend at home, a good riddle can help you while the time away and even diffuse some tense situations.
But riddles aren’t just an exciting way to spend quality time with your near and dear ones. You can also use them to challenge your kids to think outside the proverbial box.
If properly executed, a riddle may boost your child’s problem-solving and analytical skills while also stimulating their creativity. Some riddles might also improve your kid’s verbal fluency and reading comprehension, especially if it’s the child saying out the riddles. Other notable benefits of riddles for kids include boosting a child’s memory, elevating their mood, enhancing focus and concentration, and helping foster a sense of accomplishment.
Here’s a collection of 60 awesome riddles that are suitable for kids of all ages.
1. A man dies of old age on his 25 birthday. How is this possible?
Answer: He was born on February 29.
2. After an electric train crashed, every single person died. Who survived?
Answer: All of the couples.
3. Double it and multiply it by 4. Then divide it by 8 and you’ll have it once more. What number is it?
Answer: Any number. If a number is doubled and multiplied by 4, it’s actually been multiplied by 8, so dividing by 8 will get you the original number again.
4. Everyone has it and no one can lose it; what is it?
Answer: A shadow.
5. How many months of the year have 28 days?
Answer: All of them! Every month has *at least* 28 days.
6. I am an odd number. Take away a letter and I become even. What number am I?
Answer: Seven.
7. I am light and seem to have no substance at all. But even the strongest person in the world can’t hold me for very long.
Answer: Breath
8. I can be red or blue—I am always changing. I can ruin your day or lift you up. I am always with you except when you sleep.
Answer: Your mood
9. I don’t have money, though I do have banks. I feed others, though I don’t eat. Cross me if you can, I won’t be mad.
Answer: The mouth of a river
10. I get answered even though I never ask a question. What am I?
Answer: A door knock or doorbell
11. I go all around the world, but never leave the corner. What am I?
Answer: A stamp.
12. I have a stem, but I am not a flower. I have a foot, but I cannot hop. Children are too young to hold me.
Answer: A wine glass
13. I have a tail and a head, but no body. What am I?
Answer: A coin.
14. I have no life, but I can die. What am I?
Answer: A battery.
15. I look like you, but I am not you. You can blow me up or find me in a wallet. Share me or frame me, both are nice.
Answer: A photograph of you
16. I run, but I don’t walk. I drip and drop, but I can’t pick myself up. You have to consume me and sometimes I surround you. What am I?
Answer: Water
17. I sound like I could cut you, but I’m actually quite comfortable. I can be green or yellow. I can be stiff or soft. I am a friend to bugs and also bare feet.
Answer: A blade of grass
18. It belongs to you, but your friends use it more. What is it?
Answer: Your name.
19. It’s raining at midnight, but the forecast for tomorrow and the next day is clear. Will there be sunny weather in 48 hours?
Answer: No, it won’t be sunny because it will be dark out. In 48 hours, it will be midnight again.
20. It’s the only place in the world where today comes before yesterday. Where is it?
Answer: A dictionary.
21. Kate’s mother has three children: Snap, Crackle and ___?
Answer: Kate!
22. Liam was 11 the day before yesterday, and next year he’ll turn 14. How is this possible?
Answer: Today is January 1st, and Liam’s birthday is December 31st. Liam was 11 the day before yesterday (December 30th), then turned 12 the next day. This year on December 31st he’ll turn 13, so next year he’ll turn 14.
23. People have stepped on me, but not many. I never stay full for long. I have a dark side.
Answer: The moon
24. Riddle: Mary has four daughters, and each of her daughters has a brother — how many children does Mary have?
Answer: Five. Each daughter has the same single brother.
25. Riddle: Where can you find cities, towns, shops, and streets but no people?
Answer: A map.
26. The more of this there is, the less you see. What is it?
Answer: Darkness
27. The more you take the more you leave behind. What are they?
Answer: Footsteps.
28. There’s a one-story house in which everything is yellow. Yellow walls, yellow doors, yellow furniture. What color are the stairs?
Answer: There aren’t any—it’s a one-story house.
29. There’s only one word in the dictionary that’s spelled wrong. What is it?
Answer: The word “wrong.” It’s the only word that’s spelled W-R-O-N-G.
30. Two fathers and 2 sons spent the day fishing, but only caught 3 fish. This was enough for each of them to have one fish. How is this possible?
Answer: There were only 3 people fishing. There was one father, his son, and his son’s son. This means there were 2 fathers and 2 sons, since one of them is a father and a son.
31. What 2 things can you never eat for breakfast?
Answer: Lunch and dinner.
32. What becomes wetter the more it dries?
Answer: A towel.
33. What begins with an E and has only one letter?
Answer: An envelope.
34. What begins with T, finishes with T, and has “T” in it?
Answer: A teapot.
35. What can you keep after giving to someone?
Answer: Your word.
36. What can you put between 7 and 8, to make the result greater than 7, but less than 8?
Answer: A decimal point. Your result would be 7.8, which is between 7 and 8.
37. What can’t talk but will reply when spoken to?
Answer: An echo.
38. What gets bigger the more you take away?
Answer: A hole.
39. What goes up but never comes down?
Answer: Your age.
40. What happens once in a lifetime, twice in a moment, but never in one hundred years?
Answer: The letter “M”
41. What has 88 keys, but cannot open a single door?
Answer: A piano.
42. What has a neck but no head?
Answer: A bottle.
43. What has four wheels and flies?
Answer: A garbage truck.
44. What has hands and a face, but can’t hold anything or smile?
Answer: A clock.
45. What has to be broken before you can use it?
Answer: An egg.
46. What is always in front of you but can’t be seen?
Answer: The future.
47. What is full of holes but still holds water?
Answer: A sponge.
48. What is the capital in France?
Answer: The letter F is the only capital letter in France.
49. What kind of cup doesn’t hold water?
Answer: Cupcake or hiccup.
50. What question can you never answer yes to?
Answer: Are you asleep/dead yet?
51. What room do ghosts avoid?
Answer: The living room.
52. What’s black and white and read all over?
Answer: A newspaper.
53. What’s really easy to get into, and hard to get out of?
Answer: Trouble.
54. When Tom was 10, his brother was half his age. Now, Tom is 18. How old is his brother?
Answer: His brother is 13. Half of 10 is 5, so Tom’s brother will always be 5 years younger than Tom. This means when Tom is 18, his brother is still 5 years younger, which makes him 13.
55. Which weighs more: a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks?
Answer: They weigh the same.
56. You see a boat filled with people, yet there isn’t a single person on board. How is that possible?
Answer: All the people on the boat are married.
57. You walk into a room that contains a match, a kerosene lamp, a candle and a fireplace. What would you light first?
Answer: The match.
58. You’ll find me in Mercury, Earth, Mars and Jupiter, but not in Venus or Neptune. What am I?
Answer: The letter ‘R’.
59. You’re running a race and at the very end, you pass the person in 2nd place. What place did you finish the race in?
Answer: You finished in 2nd place.
60. Zoey has a very big family. She has 20 aunts, 20 uncles and 50 cousins. Each of her cousins has an aunt who is not Zoey’s aunt. How is this possible?
Answer: Their aunt is Zoey’s mom!
Final Word
Like other kid-friendly games, the best riddles for kids should be fun and relatively easy to solve. The riddles should also be able to challenge your children to think creatively, even if the answer is right before their eyes.
It’s also important to go for theme-oriented riddles. Most importantly, remember to give your kids some reassurance even when they get the answers wrong.
