Ready for some brain-teasing fun? Get your students thinking (and laughing) with this great list of riddles for kids, with answers. There’s something for all grade levels, but be sure to review these riddles for kids before sharing to make sure they’re appropriate for your classroom!
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Classic Riddles for Kids
1. What has a head and tail but no body?
A coin.
2. Which letter of the alphabet has the most water?
“C.”
3. What’s black and white and read all over?
A newspaper.
4. What gets bigger the more you take away?
A hole.
5. What month of the year has 28 days?
All months have at least 28 days.
6. If you don’t keep me, I’ll break. What am I?
A promise.
7. I will fill a room but take up no space. What am I?
Light.
8. I am easy to lift but hard to throw. What am I?
A feather.
9. What has to be broken before you can eat it?
An egg.
10. Where will you find Friday before Thursday?
In a dictionary.
11. What two things can you never eat for breakfast?
Lunch and dinner.
12. What kind of room has no walls, doors, or windows?
A mushroom.
13. What goes up but never comes down?
Age.
14. What building has the most stories?
A library.
15. What has a ring but no finger?
A telephone.
Animal Riddles for Kids
16. What happens when a sheep studies karate?
Lamb chops.
17. My teddy bear is never hungry. Why?
He’s stuffed.
18. Which fish costs the most?
A goldfish.
19. What two keys cannot open any doors?
Monkey and donkey.
20. What’s a frog’s favorite game?
Leapfrog.
21. How do you catch a school of fish?
With a bookworm.
22. What is as big as an elephant but weighs nothing?
An elephant’s shadow.
23. What is it called when a dinosaur makes a soccer goal?
A dino-score.
24. Who wears shoes while sleeping?
A horse.
Math Riddles for Kids
25. I add 5 to 9 and get 2. The answer is correct, so what am I?
A clock. When it is 9 a.m., adding 5 hours would make it 2 p.m.
26. Which number stays the same no matter what number you multiply it with?
0.
27. An electric train is heading east at 400 mph. How fast will the smoke blow?
Electric trains do not produce smoke.
28. Kavita has 3 strawberries and 2 oranges in one hand and 2 strawberries and 4 oranges in the other. How many oranges and strawberries does Kavita have?
6 oranges and 5 strawberries.
29. Bill, Judy, and Dane attended a baseball game together and bought one ticket each. How many tickets did they buy in total?
3.
30. How many times can you subtract 10 from 25?
Once. After you subtract 10 from 25 the first time, it becomes 15.
31. What are eight 8s that add up to 1,000?
8 + 8 + 8 + 88 + 888 = 1,000.
32. Rachel goes to the supermarket and buys 10 tomatoes. Unfortunately, on the way back home, all but 9 get ruined. How many tomatoes are left in good condition?
9.
33. When my father was 30 years old, I was 9 years old. Now I am 40 years old, so what is my father’s age now?
61.
34. How do you make the number 7 even without adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing?
Delete the “S.”
35. What comes before 11 and after 15?
10 and 16.
36. When Rebecca was 8 years old, her little brother, Bob, was half her age. If Rebecca is 20 years old today, how old is Bob?
16.
37. What can you put between 4 and 5 so that the result is more than 4 but less than 5?
A decimal.
38. How many sides does a square have?
4.
39. If 2 is company and 3 is a crowd, what are 4 and 5?
9.
40. When is 1500 plus 20 and 1600 minus 40 the same thing?
When it’s military time.
Word Riddles for Kids
41. What four-letter word can be written the same forward and backward, as well as upside down?
NOON.
42. What word begins and ends with “E” but only has one letter?
Envelope.
43. What English word has three consecutive double letters?
Bookkeeper.
44. You won’t see me at all in March, May, or January, but catch me once in June and twice in November. What am I?
The letter “E.”
45. How do you make the word “one” disappear?
Add a “G” in front and it’s gone!
46. What is at the end of a rainbow?
The letter “W.”
47. I’m not in Venus or Neptune, but you can find me in Mercury, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Uranus. What am I?
The letter “R.”
48. Which word in the dictionary is always spelled incorrectly?
Incorrectly.
49. What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Short.
50. What 7-letter word is spelled the same backward and forward?
Racecar.
Object Riddles for Kids
51. What has many keys but cannot unlock a single door?
A piano.
52. What has many teeth but can’t bite?
A comb.
53. What has a neck but no head?
A bottle.
54. I go around the world but never leave the corner. What am I?
A stamp.
55. What game is dangerous for your mental health?
Marbles—you don’t want to lose them.
56. What has legs but cannot walk?
A stool.
57. People buy me to eat, but I cannot be eaten. What am I?
A plate.
58. What is always answered without being questioned?
A doorbell.
59. What has holes all over but still holds water?
A sponge.
60. I have no life, but I can die. What am I?
A battery.
61. What has words but never speaks?
A book.
62. I’m light as a feather, yet the strongest person can’t hold me for five minutes. What am I?
Your breath.
63. What gets wetter when it dries?
A towel.
64. I have a face and arms but no legs. What am I?
A clock.
65. What has a heart that doesn’t beat?
An artichoke.
66. I start with “t,” end with “t,” and have “t” in me. What am I?
A teapot.
67. What has cities but no houses, forests but no trees, and rivers but no water?
A map.
Life and Nature Riddles for Kids
68. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?
Footsteps.
69. What comes down but never goes up?
Rain.
70. What has many needles but does no sewing?
A pine tree.
71. I am not alive, but I grow; I don’t have lungs, but I need air; I don’t have a mouth, but water kills me. What am I?
Fire.
72. What kind of tree can you carry in your hand?
A palm tree.
73. Kids can make it but never hold it or see it. What is it?
Noise.
74. Everyone has one, but no one can lose it. What is it?
A shadow.
Funny Riddles for Kids
75. Bobby’s mother has three children: Snap, Crackle, and ___?
Bobby.
76. Where do you take a sick boat?
To the dock-tor.
77. What loses a head in the morning, but gets it back at night?
A pillow.
78. What is something brown with a head and tail but no legs?
A penny.
79. What has 88 teeth but has never brushed them?
A piano.
80. You walk into a room that has a match, a candle, and a fireplace. Which should you light first?
The match.
81. If you threw a black stone into the Red Sea, what would it become?
Wet.
82. Why did the golfer put on a second pair of pants?
He got a hole in one.
83. Why did the football coach go to the bank?
He wanted his quarterback.
84. How do shells get around the ocean?
A taxi crab.
85. Imagine you are trapped in a closet with a locked door. How will you get out?
Stop imagining.
86. What is used by others but only belongs to you?
Your name.
87. What did the sea say to the sand?
Nothing, it just waved.
Tricky Riddles for Kids
88. Is it possible for a woman to go 10 days without sleeping?
Yes, she will sleep at night.
89. How many animals did Moses take on the ark?
Zero. Noah took them.
90. When the water comes down, I go up. What am I?
An umbrella.
91. What would you call a man who does not have all fingers on one hand?
A man, because humans have fingers on both hands.
92. A woman called her horse from the opposite side of a river. The horse crossed the river without getting wet and without using a boat or bridge. How?
The river was frozen.
93. You see a boat filled with people. It has not sunk, but when you look again, you don’t see a single person on the boat. Why not?
They’re all married.
94. Three men jump into the water, but only two come out with wet hair. Why?
The third man was bald.
95. My life is measured in hours and I serve you by expiring. I’m quick when I’m thin and slow when I’m fat. The wind is my enemy. What am I?
A candle.
96. What is white but smells like blue paint?
White paint.
97. A woman fell from a 30-foot ladder without getting hurt. How?
She was standing on the bottom rung.
98. A cowboy rode into town on Friday. He stayed for three nights and rode out on Friday. How is this possible?
His horse’s name is Friday.
99. After an electric train crashed, every single person died. Who lived?
The couples.
100. Amy threw the ball as hard as she could and it came back to her, without anything or anyone touching it. How?
She threw the ball upward into the air.
101. Sally’s father has five daughters: Sammy, Stella, Sarah, and Sadie. Guess the name of the fifth daughter.
Sally.
102. What is the fastest way to double your money?
Place it in front of a mirror.
103. If a red house is made with red bricks, a blue house is made with blue bricks, and an orange house is made with orange bricks, what is a greenhouse made of?
Usually glass, so plants can grow more easily.
104. What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
The letter “M.”
105. What has a thumb and four fingers but is not alive?
A glove.
106. In a single-story house, there is a green chair, green bed, green computer, green couch, green flowers, green carpet, and green table. What color is the staircase?
There is no staircase. It’s a single-story house.
107. What comes in many different colors but always ends up black?
A chalkboard.
108. What comes at the end of everything?
The letter “g.”
109. What has keys but opens no locks, space but no room, and you can enter but not go in?
A keyboard.
110. What has one eye but can’t see?
A needle.
111. If you have it, you want to share it. If you share it, you don’t have it. What is it?
A secret.
112. What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never thinks, and has a bed but never sleeps?
A river.
113. What has a bottom at the top?
Your legs.
114. What begins with “p,” ends with “e,” and has thousands of letters?
The post office.
115. What goes up and down but doesn’t move?
A staircase.
116. What can you hold in your left hand but not in your right?
Your right elbow.
117. I’m taken from a mine and shut up in a wooden case, from which I am never released, and yet I am used by almost every person. What am I?
Pencil lead.
118. What is always coming but never arrives?
Tomorrow.
119. What invention lets you look right through a wall?
A window.
120. I shave every day, but my beard stays the same. What am I?
A barber.
121. What can you catch but not throw?
A cold.
122. What is always in front of you but can’t be seen?
The future.
123. What is made of water but if you put it into water, it will die?
An ice cube.
124. What is so fragile that saying its name will make it break?
Silence.
125. The more of this there is, the less you can see. What is it?
Darkness.
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