The 116 Best Riddles for Kids That Aren’t Too Confusing
Riddles aren't just for Batman villains or weirdos. Here are a bunch that are perfect for kids, but hard enough to still be fun.
There’s a reason riddles are the bedrock of ancient folk tales and superhero sagas. Riddles are a great way to knock the mind out of its cognitive ruts and stimulate creative thinking in kids, adults, and mythic heroes alike. The best riddles for kids, like the best jokes and trivia questions, are challenging, fun word puzzles that push children to think outside the box while encouraging them to have fun with language. Of course, there’s a fine line to strike between riddles that are too easy and extra tricky riddles that will make your kid get red in the face with frustration. The right riddles for kids can and should offer a playful way to wrestle with truly challenging questions.
Most kids have a natural aptitude for the type of thinking riddles require and will surprise you with how well they tackle a stumper. The best riddles engage a kid’s natural problem-solving skills and make them laugh along the way. These easy riddles for kids — ranging from simple to hard — are great for children of all ages to solve and have fun while doing so.
The Best Food Riddles
Riddle: What has to be broken before you can use it?
Answer: An egg.
Riddle: You bought me for dinner but never eat me. What am I?
Answer: Cutlery.
Riddle: If you took two apples from a pile of three apples, how many apples would you have?
Answer: The one apple you took.
Riddle: What kind of vegetables are the most fun at parties?
Answer: Fungi.
Riddle: What is the richest nut?
Answer: A cash-ew.
Riddle: Why did the fruit salad skip its own wedding?
Answer: It had a lot of can’t-elope.
Riddle: What kind of beer won’t get you tipsy?
Answer: Root beer.
Riddle: What kind of poultry is always going to the bathroom?
Answer: Chick peas.
Riddle: Why did the citrus tree go to the hospital?
Answer: Lemon-aid.
Riddle: You cut me, slice me, dice me, and all the while, you cry. What am I?
Answer: An onion.
Riddle: What kind of apples do computers prefer?
Answer: Macintosh.
Riddle: What has many ears but cannot hear?
Answer: Corn.
Riddle: What did the Mom tomato say to the dawdling Baby tomato?
Answer: “Ketchup.”
Riddle: I’m a bird, a person, and a fruit. What am I?
Answer: A Kiwi.
Riddle: How many eggs would a rooster lay over three weeks, provided it is adequately fed and housed?
Answer: Zero. Roosters do not lay eggs.
Riddle: I’m red or green and grow on a vine. I’m dried to make raisins and squeezed to make wine. What am I?
Answer: Grapes.
Riddle: When I’m ripe, I’m green, when you eat me, I’m red, and when you spit me out, I’m black. What am I?
Answer: A watermelon.
Riddle: I’m the father of fruits. What am I?
Answer: A papa-ya.
Riddle: What vegetable always loses in every competition yet is a terrific rapper?
Answer: Beets.
Riddle: What vegetable can you use to tie your shoelace?
Answer: A string bean.
Riddle: What fruit never wants to be alone?
Answer: A pear.
Riddle: I am a stick stuck in a ball of sweetness. What am I?
Answer: Lollipop.
Riddle: What fruit is friendly and likes to meet people?
Answer: A date.
Riddle: I am the sweetest and most romantic fruit. What am I?
Answer: Honeydew.
Riddle: Which vegetable is always unhappy?
Answer: Bitter melon.
Riddle: What vegetable grows eggs?
Answer: Eggplant.
Riddle: What is the most deceitful fruit?
Answer: Lychee.
Riddle: What do you call the father of all sodas?
Answer: Pop.
The Best Math Riddles
Riddle: If two’s company, and three’s a crowd, what are four and five?
Answer: Nine!
Riddle: After a train crashed, every single person perished. Who survived?
Answer: All of the couples.
Riddle: Four legs up, four legs down, soft in the middle, hard all around. What am I?
Answer: A bed.
Riddle: A word I know, six letters it contains, remove one letter and 12 remains, what is it?
Answer: Dozens.
Riddle: The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?
Answer: Footsteps.
Riddle: What goes up but never comes back down?
Answer: Your age.
Riddle: When things go wrong, what can you always count on?
Answer: Your fingers.
Riddle: I am an odd number. Take away a letter and I become even. What number am I?
Answer: Seven.
Riddle: What has a head, a tail, is brown, and has no legs?
Answer: A penny.
Riddle: What happens once in a lifetime, twice in a moment, but never in one hundred years?
Answer: The letter “M.”
Riddle: How many months in the year have 28 days?
Answer: All months in the year have at least 28 days.
Riddle: Using only addition and eight eights, how do you get 1,000?
Answer: 888+88+8+8+8
Riddle: If I add six to 11, I get five. How?
Answer: 11 a.m., six hours later, is 5 p.m.
The Best Medical and Science Riddles
Riddle: What can you catch but not throw?
Answer: A cold.
Riddle: A boy and his father get into a car accident. When they arrive at the hospital, the doctor sees the boy and exclaims, “that’s my son!” How can this be?
Answer: The doctor is the boy’s mother.
Riddle: Light as a feather, there’s nothing in it, but the strongest man can’t hold it much more than a minute.
Answer: Breath.
Riddle: What has hands but doesn’t clap?
Answer: A clock.
Riddle: I have legs but cannot walk. What am I?
Answer: A chair.
Riddle: I can fill up a room without taking any space. What am I?
Answer: Light.
Riddle: What becomes wetter the more it dries?
Answer: A towel.
Riddle: What can’t talk but will reply when spoken to?
Answer: An echo.
Riddle: The more of this there is, the less you see. What am I?
Answer: Darkness.
Riddle: What has a neck but no head and arms but no hands?
Answer: A shirt.
Riddle: What did the fox scientist name his laboratory?
Answer: Den-sity.
Riddle: I’m excellent to taste but horrible to smell. What am I?
Answer: Tongue.
Riddle: I can be good for you; I can be bad. You can find me all over your body. What am I?
Answer: Bacteria.
Riddle: What are the three Rs that keep our planet clean?
Answer: Reduce, reuse, recycle.
Riddle: I can rush, I can be hot, I can be cold, I can be hard, I can slip through anything. What am I?
Answer: Water.
Riddle: What period of time weighs the least?
Answer: A light-year.
Riddle: You cannot see me, I cannot be touched, you cannot feel me, but I can cook your lunch. What am I?
Answer: A microwave particle.
Riddle: I am a tunnel, a shortcut that connects places across space and time. What am I?
Answer: A wormhole.
Riddle: I have been around for millions of years but am only a month old. What am I?
Answer: The moon.
Riddle: What is a priest’s favorite part about physics?
Answer: Mass.
Riddle: I am a rock bigger than Venus but smaller than Uranus. What am I?
Answer: Earth.
The Best Family Riddles
Riddle: If a brother, his sister, and their dog weren’t under an umbrella, why didn’t they get wet?
Answer: It wasn’t raining.
Riddle: I am so simple that I can only point, yet I guide men all over the world.
Answer: A compass.
Riddle: What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer: Shorter. (Short + ‘er’)
Riddle: What travels around the world but stays in one spot?
Answer: A stamp.
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 brother.
Riddle: David’s parents have three sons: Snap, Crackle, and…?
Answer: David!
Riddle: What belongs to you, but other people use it more?
Answer: Your name.
Riddle: Two fathers and two sons sit down for breakfast. They eat exactly three eggs, and yet each person ate an egg. How?
Answer: One father is a grandfather, and therefore only eats one egg.
Riddle: Three doctors said that Bill was their brother. Bill says he has no brothers. How many brothers does Bill actually have?
Answer: None. He has three sisters.
The Best Animal Riddles
Riddle: What’s black, white, and blue?
Answer: A sad zebra.
Riddle: How can a leopard change its spots?
Answer: By moving from one spot to another.
Riddle: Why can’t a leopard hide?
Answer: He is always spotted.
Riddle: What do you call a cat who loves to swim?
Answer: A catfish.
Riddle: I jump while walking but sit while standing. What am I?
Answer: A kangaroo.
Riddle: The noises I make are bow-wow and tick-tock. What am I?
Answer: A watch dog.
Riddle: When you say “hey” to me, I eat it. What am I?
Answer: A horse.
The Best Geography Riddles
Riddle: What has four eyes but can’t see?
Answer: Mississippi.
Riddle: Where can you find cities, towns, shops, and streets but no people?
Answer: A map.
Riddle: What room do ghosts avoid?
Answer: The living room.
Riddle: What is the capital in France?
Answer: The letter F is the only capital letter in France.
Riddle: What always comes into a house through the keyhole?
Answer: A key.
Riddle: Come up and we go, drop and we stay. What am I?
Answer: An anchor.
Riddle: I go up and down stairs without moving. What am I?
Answer: Carpet.
Riddle: Mississippi, Rhine, Amazon, Colorado, Nile, and Rio Grande. What are all of these?
Answer: Rivers.
Riddle: What goes through towns and over mountains but never moves?
Answer: A road.
Riddle: What is the laziest mountain in the world?
Answer: Mt. Ever-rest.
The Best Short Riddles
Riddle: What is full of holes but still holds water?
Answer: A sponge.
Riddle: What is easy to get into but hard to get out of?
Answer: Trouble.
Riddle: I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?
Answer: A candle.
Riddle: What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?
Answer: Silence.
Riddle: What is always in front of you but can’t be seen?
Answer: The future.
Riddle: What has a neck but no head?
Answer: A bottle.
Riddle: What word is spelled wrong in the dictionary?
Answer: Wrong.
Riddle. What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it?
Answer: A promise.
Riddle: I’m filled with keys but can’t open a lock. What am I?
Answer: A piano.
Riddle: What has eyes, a tongue, and a soul but can’t see or taste?
Answer: A shoe.
Riddle: What goes in your pocket but keeps it empty?
Answer: A hole.
Riddle: What kind of ship has two mates but no captain?
Answer: A relationship.
The Best All-Around Riddles
Riddle: Mr. Blue lives in the blue house. Mrs. Yellow lives in the yellow house. Mr. Orange lives in the orange house. Who lives in the White House?
Answer: The president.
Riddle: What bank never has any money?
Answer: A river bank.
Riddle: If a red house is made of red bricks, and a yellow house is made of yellow bricks, what is a greenhouse made of?
Answer: Glass. All greenhouses are made of glass.
Riddle: You draw a line. Without touching it, how do you make it a longer line?
Answer: Draw a short line next to it and now it’s the longer line.
Riddle: How do you make the number one disappear?
Answer: Add a “G” for “gone.”
Riddle: What has 13 hearts but can’t love?
Answer: A pack of cards.
The Best Tricky Riddles
Riddle: A phone and case cost $110 total. The phone costs $100 more than the case. How much is the phone?
Answer: $105.
Riddle: What begins with T, finishes with T, and has T in it?
Answer: A teapot.
Riddle: How many letters are there in the English alphabet?
Answer: 18. Three in “the,” seven in “English,” and eight in “alphabet.”
Riddle: What begins with an E but only has one letter?
Answer: An envelope.
Riddle: What question can you never answer yes to?
Answer: Are you asleep yet?
Riddle: I sometimes run but cannot walk. You follow me around. What am I?
Answer: Your nose.
Riddle: A cowboy comes into town on Friday. He stays two nights at a local hotel. He leaves on Friday. How is this possible?
Answer: His horse’s name is Friday.
Riddle: I am a gas that helps plants but cannot be bought at the gas station. What am I?
Answer: Carbon dioxide.
Riddle: What word has three sets of repeating letters back-to-back-to-back?
Answer: Bookkeeper.
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