A riddle is a fun type of brain teaser that asks a question or makes a statement that must be solved. Many riddles are worded in a misleading or puzzling way; they may have a double or hidden meaning. Therefore, one is required to think creatively and “outside-the-box.” Riddle answers are often unexpected, which makes them so much fun.
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Most people build their riddle-solving skill by beginning with easier riddles and working their way to those that are real stumpers. Our easy riddles work well for children and those not acquainted with riddle solving. They provide a perfect, fun introduction to the art of riddling.
Easy Riddles for Kids
Not only are riddles fun, they also provide many advantages for kids, such as:
- Riddles help improve thinking ability and creativity.
- Sharing riddles helps kids break out of their comfort zone, mingle, and bond with others.
- Looking at and interpreting riddles can help increase vocabulary.
- Riddle solving develops critical reasoning and problem-solving skills.
- Easy riddles for kids help kids understand and interpreting language, leading to better reading comprehension.
Our riddles for kids are short, precise, and easy to read and understand. Solve them yourself, or share them with friends and family.
- What has to be broken before you can use it?
- What goes up but never comes down?
- The more of this there is, the less you see. What is it?
- What has many keys but can’t open a single lock?
- What gets bigger when more is taken away?
- Where does today come before yesterday?
- What can’t be put in a saucepan?
- It belongs to you, but other people use it more than you do. What is it?
- What has lots of eyes, but can’t see?
- What has one eye, but can’t see?
- What is cut on a table, but is never eaten?
- What has words, but never speaks?
- Where does one wall meet the other wall?
- What building has the most stories?
- What tastes better than it smells?
- What has four wheels and flies?
- What 4-letter word can be written forward, backward or upside down, and can still be read from left to right?
- What word of five letters has one left when two are removed?
- What is the end of everything?
- What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?
- A man calls his dog from the opposite side of the river. The dog crosses the river without getting wet, and without using a bridge or boat. How?
- The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they?
- What goes through cities and fields, but never moves?
- What can fill a room but takes up no space?
Simple Riddles
What is it that makes a riddle simple? Well, for one thing, it is usually not very long. Also, it can be solved relatively easily if one simply takes a moment to think. Some of our simple riddles are old standards, but you will find some new ones as well. See how many you can get right the first time through.
Simple riddles work for everyone. Even the youngest kid will love these super-simple riddles.
- What has a head and a tail, but no body?
- How many bricks does it take to complete a brick building?
- What is at the end of a rainbow?
- What two things can you never eat for breakfast?
- What runs around the whole yard without moving?
- In what year did Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall in the same year?
- Why were outlaws the strongest men in the Old West?
- How do you make a strawberry shake?
- What can you catch but never throw?
- What is black and white and is red all over?
- On which side of a church is the graveyard always situated?
- How do vampires like their food served?
- When is the best time to have lunch?
- What has hands and a face, but can’t hold anything or smile?
- What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
- 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?
- Why is the moon like a dollar?
- What begins with an ‘E’ and ends with an ‘E’ but only has one letter?
- What has many rings, but no fingers?
- If you drop a yellow hat in the Red Sea, what does it become?
- Where can you find cities, towns, shops, and streets but no people?
- What is that which never uses its teeth for eating purposes?
- You draw a line. Without touching it, how do you make it a longer line?
- A rooster lays an egg at the top of a slanted roof. Which side is the egg going to roll off?
- What is full of holes but still holds water?
- What question can you never answer yes to?
- A man who was outside in the rain without an umbrella or hat didn’t get a single hair on his head wet. Why?
- What always ends everything?
- What goes all the way around the world but stays in a corner?
- What gets bigger the more you take away?
- What has four fingers and a thumb, but isn’t alive?
- What gets wet when drying?
Easy Riddles with Answers
In this section, we have listed riddles and answers separately. This means you cannot see the answer immediately, but need to stop and think for a few minutes. One way to use this list is to write down numbered answers and then check and see how many you actually solved. Don’t cheat!
- You hear me once, you heard me again, and then I die until I am called again.
- A box without hinges, key or lid; inside, a golden treasure is hid.
- I know a word of letters three, add two and less there will be.
- Give me food and I will live, give me water, and I will die.
- What is easy to get into but hard to get out of?
- What is always in front of you but cannot be seen?
- What begins with T, finishes with T, and has T in it?
- If a brother, his sister, and their dog weren’t under an umbrella, why didn’t they get wet?
- I am so simple, that I can only point, yet I guide men all over the world.
- How many letters are there in the English alphabet?
- If a red house is made of red bricks, and a yellow house is made of yellow bricks, what is a greenhouse made of?
- What do the letter T and an island have in common?
- If you have me, you will want to share me. If you share me, you will no longer have me.
- What two words, added together, contain the most letters?
- The man who invented it doesn’t need it. The man who bought it doesn’t want it. The man who needs it doesn’t know. What is it?
- You see a boat filled with people, yet there isn’t a single person on board. How is that possible?
- What can you hold in your left hand but not your right?
- It stalks the countryside with ears that can’t hear. What is it?
- What has a bottom at the top?
- I am always hungry and will die if not fed, but whatever I touch will soon turn red. What am I?
- It cannot be seen, it weighs nothing, but when put into a barrel, it makes it lighter. What is it?
- A bus driver goes the wrong way down a one-way street. He passes the cops, but they don’t stop him. Why?
- What is as big as an elephant, but weighs nothing at all?
- Walk on the living, they don’t even mumble. Walk on the dead, they mutter and grumble. What are they?
- What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees. Up, up, up it goes, and yet never grows?
- The answer I give is yes, but what I mean is no. What was the question?
Short Easy Riddles
It can be difficult to remember longer riddles so that we can share them with others. Our short, easy riddles have less than ten words, making them perfect for kids to memorize and share with their friends.
- David’s parents have three sons: Snap, Crackle and…?
- What has 13 hearts, but no other organs?
- What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?
- What is black and white and blue?
- What are moving left to right at this very minute?
- What has four eyes but can’t see?
- How can a leopard change its spots?
- What is full of holes but still holds water?
- What goes up but never comes back down?
- What can you catch but not throw?
- What has to be broken before you can use it?
- What can’t be put in a saucepan?
- What kind of band never plays music?
- What has a neck but no head?
- What word is spelled wrong in the dictionary?
- What has hands but doesn’t clap?
- What kind of coat is best put on wet?
- What fruit can you never cheer up?
- How many months have 28 days?
- What did one potato chip say to the other?
- What kind of room has no doors or windows?
- Come up and we go,
Go down and we stay. - It goes up and down the stairs without moving.
- The more there is the less you see.
- The more you take away, the bigger it gets.
- What is the capital of France?
- What can jump higher than a building?
- Where would you take a sick boat?
- What is the last thing you take off before bed?
- What is something you will never see again?
- What kind of cup can’t hold water?
- What invention lets you look right through a wall?
- What can you hold without touching it?
- What bird can lift the most?
- Why can’t you play basketball with pigs?
- What has four legs, but can’t walk?
- What has an eye but cannot see?
- What word looks the same upside down and backward?
There you have it; over 100 easy riddles to challenge you, your friends, and family. Use our easy riddles in the classroom, at camp, in Bible class, anywhere kids gather for fun. Once you build your confidence with our easy riddles, try some that are more difficult, like our math or “What am I?” riddles. Have fun and riddle on!
Susan majored in English with a double minor in Humanities and Business at Arizona State University and earned a Master’s degree in Educational Administration from Liberty University. She taught grades four through twelve in both public and private schools. Subjects included English, U.S. and world history and geography, math, earth and physical science, Bible, information technologies, and creative writing.
Susan has been freelance writing for over ten years, during which time she has written and edited books, newspaper articles, biographies, book reviews, guidelines, neighborhood descriptions for realtors, Power Point presentations, resumes, and numerous other projects.
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