Riddle us this: Who doesn’t love a fun little brain-teaser? Puzzles are an excellent way to keep mentally sharp. For children, riddles can help them stretch their mental muscles while also encouraging them to think in creative ways. After all, a riddle’s answer is only apparent after the reveal.
For families, riddles are a great way to spend time together, testing and amusing each other with creative clues. That’s why we wanted to publish dozens of riddles for kids (and the young at heart). We’re sure you’ll get a kick out of solving these little enigmas no matter which age group you fit into.
What has tons of keys but can’t open a single door?
Answer: A piano
What can’t be used before it’s broken?
Answer: An egg
Which mountain is the laziest?
Answer: Mount “Ever-rest”
I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?
Answer: A candle
A woman dies of old age on her 25th birthday. How?
Answer: Her birthday is Feb. 29.
What starts with P, ends in E and has millions of letters?
Answer: The Post Office
You board a plane with no empty seats, yet not a single person aboard. How?
Answer: All of the passengers are married.
What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer: Short
There’s a one-story house in which everything is purple. Purple ceiling, purple floors, purple furniture, purple everything. What color are the stairs?
Answer: There aren’t any. It’s a one-story house.
If I have it, I don’t share it. If I share it, I don’t have it. What is it?
Answer: A secret
What are two things you can never have for breakfast?
Answer: Lunch and dinner. Believe us; we’ve tried.
What word can be read in any direction, even upside down?
Answer: NOON
What can go up and down a flight of stairs without moving?
Answer: A carpet
Which month has 28 days?
Answer: All of them
What has branches but no leaves or trunk?
Answer: A bank
What is full of holes but still holds water?
Answer: A sponge
What has plenty of eyes but no vision?
Answer: A potato
What’s black when it’s new, red when you use it and white when you’re done with it?
Answer: A brick of charcoal
What is 3/7 chicken, 2/3 cat, and 2/4 goat?
Answer: Chicago
What has knots that can never be untangled?
Answer: Wood
What’s the size of an elephant, but totally weightless?
Answer: An elephant’s shadow
What gets larger the more you take away?
Answer: A hole
Why do bees have sticky hair?
Answer: Because they use honeycombs
What word is pronounced the same even with just the first letter?
Answer: Queue
What can you put in your pocket without taking up any space?
Answer: A hole
What’s one thing everyone has and no one can lose?
Answer: Their shadow
What has legs but still can’t walk?
Answer: A table (or chair or several other pieces of furniture)
What does everyone need and loves to give, yet hates to receive?
Answer: Advice
What type of rock is never found in the ocean?
Answer: A dry one
What falls but never gets hurt?
Answer: Snow
Three kids were under an umbrella, but two left theirs at home. Why didn’t any of them get wet?
Answer: Because it was sunny out
I am an odd number. Take away a letter and I become even. What number am I?
Answer: Seven
What has 13 hearts, but not a single other organ?
Answer: A deck of cards
What invention allows you to see through walls?
Answer: A window
A man fell off a 20-foot ladder, but wasn’t injured. How?
Answer: He fell off the bottom rung.
How can you make the No. 1 disappear?
Answer: Add a letter G to the beginning. Then, it’s “gone.”
The more of this there is, the less you see. What is it?
Answer: Darkness
I’m light as air, and yet you can’t hold me for more than a few minutes. What am I?
Answer: Your breath
What’s always in front of you but can never be seen?
Answer: The future
What’s so fragile that stating its name breaks it?
Answer: Silence
Where can you find endless cities but no people?
Answer: On a map
Three lawyers claimed that John was their brother. John says he has no brothers. How many does he really have?
Answer: None. He has three sisters.
What do you get to keep even after giving it to someone else?
Answer: Your word
What kind of cup makes noise and holds no water?
Answer: A hiccup
What fills a room but takes up no space?
Answer: Light
Where does Friday appear before Thursday?
Answer: In the dictionary
What kind of coat can only be put on when it’s wet?
Answer: A coat of paint
What can you break without ever touching it?
Answer: A promise
Janet’s mother has four kids. Three are named Donald, David and Sofia. What’s the fourth child’s name?
Answer: Janet
What runs but never gets tired?
Answer: A refrigerator
I can’t walk, but I sometimes run. What am I?
Answer: A nose
If you feed me, I grow. If you water me, I die. What am I?
Answer: Fire
What has four letters, occasionally has 12 letters, but never has five letters?
Answer: The question is also the answer, as “what” contains four letters, “occasionally” is 12 letters long, and “never” has five letters.
I have a face and two hands but no arms or legs. What am I?
Answer: A clock. Clocks have faces as well as a minute and second hand. If your clock has arms and legs, you might want to start running…
What is always with you, copies your every move, but you’ll never be able to touch or catch it?
Answer: Your shadow. Even Peter Pan couldn’t catch his.
If two is company, but three is a crowd, what’s four and five?
Answer: Nine
What has a tail and a head, but no body?
Answer: A penny
It rushes and sits, can be hot or cold, and slips through almost anything. What is it?
Answer: Water. And, yes, the average person is made up of close to 70 percent of the stuff.
I am the beginning of everything, the end of everywhere. I’m the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space. What am I?
Answer: The letter “e”
What can you catch but never throw?
Answer: A cold, so remember to keep your hands washed.
What did the momma tomato say when the baby tomato fell behind during their walk?
Answer: “Ketchup!”
Jack’s father has three sons: Bill, Bob and…
Answer: Jack. A great kids riddle for determining if the listener was paying attention.
What has ears but cannot hear?
Answer: Corn. You can explain to your child that the part of the corn that contains the kernels is often referred to as an “ear,” while the green leafy part that it is wrapped in is the husk.
What begins with ‘E,’ but only has one letter?
Answer: An envelope.
If Mr. Blue lives in the blue house and Mr. Yellow lives in the yellow house, who lives in the White House?
Answer: The president. Fun fact: George Washington is the only U.S. President to never live in the White House.
What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?
Answer: Frostbite
What kind of band never plays any music?
Answer: A “rubber” band.=
I can run, but never walk. What am I?
Answer: A river