100 Riddles for Kids With Answers
The hardest part of using riddles with children is not finding them. It is finding one pitched right, because a riddle that is slightly too hard produces silence and a riddle that is slightly too easy produces a shrug.
So these 100 riddles for kids are sorted by age first, starting at four and running to twelve, then by theme underneath. Every one comes with its answer, and every section can be printed as a worksheet with the answers left in or taken out.
Tap any riddle to reveal its answer.
Find the right level
Search the collection or jump straight to printable worksheets.
Riddles for Kindergarteners, Ages 4 to 6
Very short, familiar objects, and answers a child can picture. Read these aloud rather than handing them over.
Riddles for Grades 1 and 2, Ages 6 to 8
One small twist each. This is the age where children start enjoying the trick rather than being frustrated by it.
Riddles for Grades 3 and 4, Ages 8 to 10
Wordplay and double meanings. Children at this age can hold two meanings of a word at once, which is exactly what a riddle asks for.
Riddles for Grade 5 and Up, Ages 10 to 12
Longer setups and answers that need a moment. Some of these will beat adults.
Children who solve most of these are ready for easy riddles, which are pitched at all ages rather than at a grade, and the gentler end of what am I riddles.
Funny Riddles for Kids
The groan is the point. These get repeated at dinner for a week.
More of these fill funny riddles, where the whole page is built on the same principle.
Riddles for Kids by Theme
Every collection below is written for children and comes with a printable version.
Animals and nature
School and learning
Around the house
Holidays
Space and world
Free Printable Riddles for Kids
Every riddle on this page can be printed two ways. Print with the answers for yourself, and print without them for the children. No account and no email required.
Print with answers gives you the full sheet, sized for a clipboard or a lesson plan.
Print without answers gives you a worksheet with space to write, sized for a whiteboard or a handout.
Sets are available by grade, by theme and by holiday.
How Riddles Help Children Learn
A riddle asks a child to hold two meanings of one word at the same time. That single skill sits underneath a surprising amount of what school asks of them.
Reading comprehension.
Most misread sentences are misread because a word was taken in its most obvious sense. Riddles train children to notice when a word could mean something else, which is the same instinct good readers use on a difficult paragraph.
Vocabulary in context.
Children learn a word properly when they meet it doing something unexpected, not when they are handed a definition. A riddle does exactly that.
Persistence.
A riddle is short enough that a child will stay with it. Getting it wrong three times and then right is a small, safe experience of not giving up.
Talking.
Riddles are social. Children guess out loud, argue about the answer and explain their reasoning to each other, which is more language practice than most worksheets produce.
How to Use Riddles With Children
Read them aloud to younger children.
Below about age seven, reading the riddle themselves uses up the attention they needed for solving it.
Give a clue rather than the answer.
“It is something you eat” keeps a child in the game. Handing over the answer ends it.
Let wrong answers stand for a moment.
A child explaining why they thought the answer was a snake is doing more thinking than a child who guessed right immediately.
Use three, not thirty.
Attention drops sharply after the third riddle. Save the rest for tomorrow.
Use them as a starter or a brain break.
In the classroom, they need no preparation, no equipment and about ninety seconds.