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in: Family, People

• • Last updated: July 29, 2021

The Best Riddles for Kids (With Answers!)

A boy sitting on a stair with his father and guessing a riddle.

Looking for a way to while away the time with your kids while you’re waiting for your food at a restaurant or cruising on a road trip, but don’t want to resort to using a smartphone to entertain them?

Take part in a good old riddle showdown.

Riddles aren’t only fun, but they can help boost your children’s verbal fluency,  problem-solving skills, and creative thinking. Riddles, and other brain teaser-type verbal puzzles,  typically rely on clever new angles to look at something common, or on words with veiled or multiple meanings.

Riddles for Kids: Some Ground Rules

Riddles should be fun, and to make sure the riddles you share with your kids are fun, it’s best to follow a few ground rules.

Rule #1: The riddles have to be in the language the kids involved speak. So, if the kids you’re riddling speak English, make sure the riddle can be understood in that language.

Rule #2: Give the kids a theme to orient them in the right direction. So, give them a head’s up that you’re giving them an animal riddle when the answer involves an animal. Let them know they’ll have to think in numbers when you give them a math riddle. In every way you can, give the kids the best chance to stay engaged and work hard at solving the riddles. If you’re going to be giving them a particularly tricky riddle, go ahead and let them know ahead of time.

Rule #3: Let them know it’s ok not to know things. For example, to answer most riddles, your kid needs to know what the words in the riddle mean and their various applications. For example, when you ask, “What has a head, a foot, and four legs?” your kiddo needs to know that the concept of “legs” applies not only to animals but to beds. If they don’t know that, well, the riddle is a way for you to teach them and expand their perspective and vocab.

The Art of Manliness’s Collection of Riddles for Kids

Below you’ll find 40 riddles for kids. Some of them are classics (“What’s black and white and read all over?” The answer is not a zebra.); some may be new to you. Some are hilarious jokes disguised as riddles; others are reliant on puns. 

There’s also a nice mixture of easy, medium, and hard riddles, so you’ll find puzzles for all ages and abilities here.

After you’ve read these, be sure to check out the 54 best jokes for kids of all ages. As well as the best knock-knock jokes for kids.


“Riddle: I’m tall when I’m young and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?”
Answer: A candle.

“Riddle: Where can you find cities, towns, shops, and streets but no people?”
Answer: A map.

“Riddle: There is a rooster sitting on top of a barn. If it laid an egg, which way would it roll?”
Answer: Roosters don’t lay eggs.

“Riddle: What five letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?”
Answer: Short (short+er).

“Riddle: What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?”
Answer: Silence.

“Riddle: What has a bottom at the top?”
Answer: Your legs.

“Riddle: What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs?”
Answer: A clock.

“Riddle: How many months have 28 days?”
Answer: All 12 of them do.

“Riddle: What’s black and white and read all over?”
Answer: A newspaper.

“Riddle: What word is spelled wrong in every dictionary?”
Answer: Wrong.

“Riddle: I have no life, but I can die. What am I?”
Answer: A battery.

“Riddle: What gets wetter as it dries?”
Answer: A towel.

“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.

“Riddle: You walk into a room which contains a match, a kerosene lamp, a candle, and a fireplace. What would you light first?”
Answer: The match.

“Riddle: What has four wheels and flies?”
Answer: A garbage truck.

“Riddle: What has 88 keys, but cannot open a single door?”
Answer: A piano.

“Riddle: What has a bed but never sleeps, can run but never walks, and has a bank but no money?”
Answer: A river.

“Riddle: The more you take the more you leave behind. What are they?”
Answer: Footsteps.

“Riddle: What is full of holes but still holds water?”
Answer: A sponge.

“Riddle: Who can shave 25 times a day but still have a beard?”
Answer: A barber.

“Riddle: What begins with T, finishes with T, and has “T” in it?”
Answer: A teapot.

“Riddle: Which weighs more: a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks?”
Answer: They weigh the same.

“Riddle: Everyone has it and no one can lose it; what is it?”
Answer: A shadow.

“Riddle: What goes up but never goes back down?”
Answer: Your age.

“Riddle: What has one head, one foot, and four legs?”
Answer: A bed.

“Riddle: What begins with an E but only has one letter in it?”
Answer: An envelope.

“Riddle: I am an odd number. Take away a letter and I become even. What number am I?”
Answer: Seven.

“Riddle: After an electric train crashed, every single person died. Who survived?”
Answer: All of the couples.

“Riddle: What gets bigger the more you take away?”
Answer: A hole.

“Riddle: Three men were in a boat. It capsized, but only two got their hair wet. Why?”
Answer: One was bald.

“Riddle: What 2 things can you never eat for breakfast”
Answer: Lunch and dinner.

“Riddle: You’ll find me in Mercury, Earth, Mars and Jupiter, but not in Venus or Neptune. What am I?”
Answer: The letter 'R'.

“Riddle: It belongs to you, but your friends use it more. What is it?”
Answer: Your name.

“Riddle: If you don't keep me, I break. What am I?”
Answer: A promise.

“Riddle: I have a head and tail, but no body. What am I?”
Answer: A coin.

“Riddle: I go all around the world, but never leave the corner. What am I?”
Answer: A stamp.

“Riddle: It’s the only place in the world where today comes before yesterday. Where is it?”
Answer: A dictionary.

“Riddle: If I have it, I don’t share it. If I share it, I don’t have it. What is it?”
Answer: A secret.

“Riddle: 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: 2nd Place.

“Riddle: I am always running, but never get tired or hot. What am I?”
Answer: A refrigerator.