Riddles for kids: 80 fun riddles with answers for every age

The short answer: these 80 riddles for kids are short, clean and come with answers, sorted by difficulty and topic.

• Easy riddles for ages 4 to 6
• Animal, food and math riddles, plus funny pun riddles
• Tricky riddles for older kids, plus Christmas riddles
• Answers in bold so you can cover them
• Next step: Plan it with the Kids Chore Chart ($3.49).

These riddles for kids are short, clean and come with answers, so you can read them aloud at dinner, tuck them into lunchboxes or play a quick game in the car. There are 80 riddles below, sorted by difficulty and topic: easy riddles for little kids, what am I riddles, animal, food and math riddles, funny pun riddles, tricky riddles for older kids and a round of Christmas riddles. Answers are in bold so you can cover them while kids guess.

Make a riddle of the day the reward for finishing chores on the Kids Chore Chart ($3.49), and keep school calendars and family routines in one place with the Household Binder ($6.99).

Riddles are one of the oldest word games in the world; Britannica's riddle overview describes the riddle as a guessing game that has been part of the folklore of most cultures since ancient times. The most famous may be the Sphinx's riddle from ancient Greece: what walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon and three in the evening? The answer is a person, who crawls as a baby, walks as an adult and uses a cane in old age.

Riddles at a glance

Easy riddles for kids

1. What has to be broken before you can use it? An egg.
2. What has four legs but can't walk? A table.
3. What has hands but can't clap? A clock.
4. What gets wetter the more it dries? A towel.
5. What can you break without touching it? A promise.
6. What goes up but never comes down? Your age.
7. What has a neck but no head? A bottle.
8. What can you catch but not throw? A cold.
9. What has many teeth but can't bite? A comb.
10. What is full of holes but still holds water? A sponge.
11. What has one eye but can't see? A needle.
12. What do you put in a bucket to make it lighter? A hole.

What am I riddles

13. I have keys but open no locks. What am I? A piano.
14. I'm tall when I'm young and short when I'm old. What am I? A candle.
15. I have a bed but never sleep, and a mouth but never eat. What am I? A river.
16. I fly without wings and cry without eyes. What am I? A cloud.
17. I have pages but I'm not a tree. What am I? A book.
18. I go up and down but never move. What am I? Stairs.
19. I have a thumb and four fingers but I'm not alive. What am I? A glove.
20. I follow you all day but disappear in the dark. What am I? Your shadow.
21. I'm always running but I never get tired, and you can find me in the kitchen. What am I? A faucet.
22. I'm light as a feather, but even the strongest person can't hold me for five minutes. What am I? Your breath.
23. I'm full of keys and you use me every day at school. What am I? A keyboard.
24. I get smaller every time I take a bath. What am I? A bar of soap.

Animal riddles

25. What animal can jump higher than a house? Any animal, because houses can't jump.
26. What has stripes and is black and white? A zebra.
27. What animal keeps the best time? A watchdog.
28. What do you call a bear with no teeth? A gummy bear.
29. What kind of key opens a banana? A monkey.
30. Why do fish live in salt water? Because pepper makes them sneeze.
31. What animal is always at a baseball game? A bat.
32. What has a trunk but never travels? An elephant (or a tree).
33. What do you call a sleeping dinosaur? A dino-snore.
34. What goes "oom, oom"? A cow walking backward.

Food riddles

35. What has an eye but can't see, and grows underground? A potato.
36. What do you call cheese that isn't yours? Nacho cheese.
37. What has ears but can't hear? Corn.
38. What kind of room has no doors or windows? A mushroom.
39. What's orange and sounds like a parrot? A carrot.
40. Why did the cookie go to the doctor? It felt crummy.
41. What fruit never gets lonely? A pear, because it comes in a pair.
42. What starts with a T, ends with a T and has tea in it? A teapot.

Math and number riddles

43. I'm an odd number. Take away one letter and I become even. What number am I? Seven (take away the S).
44. What has a bottom at the top? Your legs.
45. If two's company and three's a crowd, what are four and five? Nine.
46. How many months have 28 days? All 12 of them.
47. A rooster lays an egg on top of a roof. Which way does it roll? Neither way; roosters don't lay eggs.
48. What three numbers give the same answer when you add them or multiply them? 1, 2 and 3.
49. How can you add eight 8s to get 1,000? 888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8.
50. What weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks? Neither; they both weigh a pound.

Funny riddles for kids

Many of these work as jokes too, because they end with a pun, which Britannica defines as a play on words with more than one meaning or that sound alike. For even more groaners, see our dad jokes.

51. Why was the math book sad? It had too many problems.
52. What do you call a fly without wings? A walk.
53. Why did the student eat his homework? The teacher told him it was a piece of cake.
54. What has four wheels and flies? A garbage truck.
55. Why can't a bicycle stand on its own? It's two-tired.
56. What is a tree's favorite drink? Root beer.
57. What building has the most stories? The library.
58. What do you call a belt made of watches? A waist of time.
59. Why did the scarecrow win an award? He was outstanding in his field.
60. What did the ocean say to the beach? Nothing, it just waved.

Tricky riddles for older kids

61. What can travel around the world while staying in a corner? A stamp.
62. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they? Footsteps.
63. What has cities but no houses, forests but no trees and water but no fish? A map.
64. What word is spelled wrong in every dictionary? "Wrong."
65. What belongs to you, but other people use it more than you do? Your name.
66. What can you hold in your right hand but never in your left hand? Your left elbow.
67. What has a head and a tail but no body? A coin.
68. What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years? The letter M.
69. If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you don't have me. What am I? A secret.
70. What breaks but never falls, and what falls but never breaks? Day breaks and night falls.
71. What can fill a room but takes up no space? Light.
72. Mary's father has five daughters: Nana, Nene, Nini and Nono. What's the fifth daughter's name? Mary.

Christmas riddles for kids

73. What do snowmen eat for breakfast? Snowflakes.
74. What do you call a cat on the beach at Christmas? Sandy Claws.
75. What falls at the North Pole but never gets hurt? Snow.
76. What has a lot of needles but doesn't sew? A Christmas tree.
77. What do elves learn in school? The elf-abet.
78. What goes up the chimney down, but can't come down the chimney up? An umbrella.
79. Why is Santa so good at karate? He has a black belt.
80. What do reindeer hang on their Christmas trees? Horn-aments.

Hosting a holiday party? Pair these with our Christmas trivia and Christmas party games.

How to play a riddle game

1. Pick a level. Start with easy riddles for younger kids and save tricky ones for older kids.
2. Read it twice. Read each riddle slowly, then repeat it.
3. Set a timer. Give 30 seconds to guess, then one hint.
4. Keep score. One point per correct answer, or play in teams.
5. Let kids take a turn. Kids love reading riddles to stump the adults.
6. Make your own. End with a round where everyone invents a riddle.

Easy ways to use riddles every day

• Lunchbox notes: write one riddle on a sticky note and the answer on the back. See our school lunches list for what goes in the box.
• Car rides: take turns asking riddles instead of turning on a screen.
• Dinner table: one riddle per person before dessert.
• Riddle of the day: post one on the fridge and reveal the answer at bedtime.
• Rainy days: pair riddles with our would you rather questions for a full game hour.

Keep family routines on track

• Kids Chore Chart ($3.49): reward finished chores with a riddle of the day.
• Household Binder ($6.99): school calendars, routines and family info in one binder.
• Holiday Season Bundle ($15.99): plan holiday parties, gifts and menus.

Browse all our Printables.

More family games

• Sports trivia questions
• Thanksgiving games
• Would you rather questions
• Christmas scavenger hunt