Are you looking for ways to keep your kids busy? And do you want to do that while making them work their brain? How about a quick game of riddles and brain teasers for kids?
Riddles or brain teasers are perfect for keeping your kids’ minds busy. It can provide your kids with educational entertainment for hours!
These short puzzles make your kids think outside of the box. They can grab your kidsā complete attention when they are solving one.
And they are great for testing how smart your kids are. Doesnāt it sound fun?
Most of these brain teasers have simple and not-so-complicated answers most of the time. But it is not that easy to solve them.
They brilliantly trick your kids’ brains while hiding the actually simple answer.
And did I tell you how good of an exercise these teasers are for your kidsā brains?
I loved solving puzzles when I was a kid. It was a staple game on any occasion we celebrated, whether our birthday parties or Christmas. My siblings and I used to have a gala time back then.
Puzzles boost your kidsā brains while keeping your little ones entertained.
Here I have come up with some brain teasers that are perfect for kids and let them have a wonderful, fun-filled time.
So, are you ready to fire those neurons of your kids?
Read on.
Riddles and Brain Teasers for Kids
Your kids are at their development stage, where their brain requires many fun and engaging activities. And brain teasers, along with riddles, are a great way for them to engage.
Brain teasers and riddles will not only help your kids to develop but also make their memory sharp.
These brain teasers are all you need to keep your kids engaged and entertained!
So ask them to your kids NOW!
1. Language Riddles for Kids
Language riddles help you to be conscious and think about what is happening in your surrounding.
How? Well, it lets your kid put his/her focus on solving what the language riddles mean and how far they go, making it interesting and challenging at the same time. These language riddles are very enigmatic, making the solving experience super fun and logically problematic.
Letās see how good your kids are at finding answers to these easy language brain teasers!
Q. How far can you walk into a forest?
A. One step. Then you’re walking through the forest.
Q. What is the next letter in the following sequence? M A M J J A S O
A. N for November
Q. A criminal has to carry a sack of stones from one side of the prison to another. What can he put in the sack that will make it lighter?
A. A hole
Q. What is the next letter in the following sequence? O T T F F S S
A. E for Eight
Q. Take a 3 letter, 1 syllable word. Add a single letter to the end of the word and it becomes a 4 letter, 3 syllable word. What is the word?
A. Ore, Oreo – Are, Area
Q. Which three words in the English language are all of the following? Four letters long; start with t, c or b; and have the same last three letters yet do not rhyme
A. Tomb, comb, bomb
Q. I am a message, I am a stand, and I am a station. What am I?
A. Post
Q. What starts and ends with āe,ā has only one letter in the middle, but still contains hundreds of words?
A. Envelope
Q. Find a word that the first 2 letters are a male, the first 3 letters are a female, the first 4 letters are a great male, and the whole word is a great female.
A. Heroine
Q. Take away the whole and some still remains. What is it?
A. Wholesome
Q. Which word has the most letters in it?
A. Mailbox
Q. Which word is pronounced wrong by all the smartest and wisest sages and scholars in the land?
A. Wrong
Q. What is the only word in the English language that ends in mt?
A. Dreamt
Q. What do a racecar and a kayak have in common?
A. They are both spelled the same forward and backward
Q. When is this sentence true? There are eleven letters in the alphabet.
A. When āthe alphabetā is in quotation marks (count the letters)
Q. What kind of clothes do lawyers wear?
A. Lawsuits
Q. Which five letter word has six left after you take two letters away?
A. Sixty
Q. Which letter of the English language has the most water?
A. C
Q. What starts with p, ends with e and contains thousands of letters?
A. Post office.
Q. What letters we find every single day of the week?
A. D-A-Y
Q. You will find me everywhere on Mars, Earth, Jupiter, and Mercury. But you won’t find me on Neptune or Venus. Who am I?
A. Letter R.
Q. This is the only place where you will find today and tomorrow before yesterday. Can you tell me where this place is?
A. Itās the dictionary.
Q. It starts with a āTā, ends with a āTā, and thereās a āTā in it as well. Name it.
A. Itās a teapot. Thereās a T at the beginning and end, and a teapot contains tea.
Q. Which is considered the longest word in the English language having miles in between?
A. Smiles; there is a mile in between both āSā.
Q. Youāll find me in centuries, seconds, minutes, and seasons. But you wonāt find me in years, days, and decades. Who am I?
A. Letter āNā.
Q. Everything starts with me. Everywhere starts and ends with me. Eternity commences with me while time and space finish with me. What am I?
A. Letter āEā.
Q. Which is that one word in English having three consecutive double letters?
A. Bookkeeper.
2. Math Riddles and Brain Teasers for Kids
There are many who are not maths lovers due to its complexity, but for your kids, there are some thrilling and entertaining maths questions your kids can solve and learn and have fun all together at the same time!
They are growing, so let them grow. Your kids can always have a choice to leave maths when they grow up, but they do not have to do it now.
Encourage your kids to think mathematically about these easy math brain teasers!
Q: If you multiply me by any other number, the answer will always remain the same. What number am I?
A. Zero
Q: If four people can repair four bicycles in four hours, how many bicycles can eight people repair in eight hours?
A. 16 bicycles
Q: Is an older one-hundred dollar bill worth more than a newer one?
A. Yes. A $100 bill is worth more than a $1 bill (newer one).
Q: Tara has $30.00 dollars. She bought 5 coloring books that cost $3.00 each, 4 boxes of Crayola crayons that cost $2.00 each. She spends the rest of her money on markers. How much money did she spend on markers?
A. She spent $7 on markers
Q: I am a three-digit number. My second digit is four times bigger than the third digit. My first digit is 3 less than my second digit. What number am I?
A. 141
Q: Adored by few, feared and hated by many. Mistress of the entire universal reason, master in the art of numbers. Some may have solved many of your mysteries, but there still much of them to find. What are they?
A. Mathematics
Q: Which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks?
A. Neither. They both weigh one pound.
Q: How many months have 28 days?
A. All 12 months.
Q: What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
A. The letter M.
Q: Two mothers and two daughters went out to eat. Everyone ate one burger, yet only three burgers were eaten in all. How is this possible?
A. They were a grandmother, mother, and daughter.
Q: Using only addition, how do you add eight 8s and get the number 1,000?
A. 888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1000.
Q: If there are three apples and you take away two, how many do you have?
A. If you take two apples, then, of course, you have two.
Q: What do the numbers 11, 69, and 88 all have in common?
A. The read the same right side up and upside down.
Q: I am an odd number. Take away one letter and I become even. What number am I?
A: Seven (take away the āsāāand it becomes āevenā).
Q: I have a large money box, 10 inches wide and 5 inches tall. Roughly how many coins can I place in my empty money box?
A. Just one, after which it will no longer be empty.
Q: Mrs. Black has two children. If the oldest child is a girl, what are the odds that the other child is also a girl?
A. 50 percent.
Q: If twosā company and threeās a crowd, what are five and six?
A. Eleven.
Q: What time did the tooth fairy show up to get a kidās tooth and leave a dollar under the pillow?
A. Exactly TWOoth oā clock.
Q.If twoās company, and threeās a crowd, what are four and five?
A. Nine!
Q. After a train crashed, every single person died. Who survived?
A. All of the couples.
Q. Four legs up, four legs down, soft in the middle, hard all around. What am I?
A. A bed.
Q. A word I know, six letters it contains, remove one letter and 12 remains, what is it?
A. Dozens.
Q. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?
A. Footsteps.
Q: The one who made it didnāt want it. The one who bought it didnāt need it. The one who used it never saw it. What is it?
A: A coffin
Q: What needs an answer but doesnāt ask a question?
A. A telephone.
Q: If I have it, I donāt share it. If I share it, I donāt have it. What is it?
A. A secret.
Q: Forward I am heavy, but backward I am not. What am I?
A. Ton.
Q: What is always late and never present now?
A. Later.
Q: How many letters are there in the alphabet?
A. Eleven: T-H-E-A-L-P-H-A-B-E-T.
Q: Whatās full of holes but still holds water?
A. A sponge.
Q: What has one eye but canāt see?
A. A needle.
Q: What word looks the same backward and upside down?
A. SWIMS.
Q: What does this mean? āI RIGHT Iā
A. Right between the eyes.
Q: A boy fell off a 20-foot ladder but did not get hurt. Why not?
A. He fell off the bottom step.
Q: What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
A. Short.
Q: If you are running in a race and you pass the person in second place, what place are you in?
A: Second place.
Q: A man was taking a walk outside when it started to rain. The man didnāt have an umbrella, and he wasnāt wearing a hat. His clothes got soaked, yet not a single hair on his head got wet. How could this happen?
A: The man was bald.
Q: How many seconds are there in a year?
A. Twelve. January 2nd, February 2nd, March 2ndā¦
Q: Name four days of the week that start with the letter āT.ā
A. Tuesday, Thursday, today, and tomorrow.
Q: A boy was rushed to the hospital emergency room. The ER doctor saw the boy and said, āI cannot operate on this boy. He is my son.ā But the doctor was not the boyās father. How could that be?
A. The doctor was his mom.
Q: What can run but canāt walk?
A. A drop of water.
Q: You walk into a room with a match, a kerosene lamp, a candle, and a fireplace. Which do you light first?
A. The match.
Q: What word begins and ends with an E but only has one letter?
A. Envelope.
Q. Jenny has 7 daughters. All seven of them have a brother. So, how many children does Jenny have in all?
A. Eight – a son and seven daughters.
Q. Marthaās family is pretty big with 10 uncles, 10 aunts, and 30 cousins. Each of the 30 cousins has an aunt, who however isnāt Marthaās aunt. Can you tell who that aunt is?
A. Itās Marthaās mother.
Q. Tom was 6 and Mary was half her brotherās age. So, when Tom is 40, how old would Mary be?
A. Sheāll be 37.
3. Visual Brain Teasers for Kids
Who doesnāt love pictures? We all. And visual brain teasers simply make it more stimulating and mindful.
This is why visual brain teasers are something your kids’ needs! A fantastic way to keep them engaged, entertained, and happy! Plus, you get to spend time with your little ones.
How good are your kids at unlocking visual clues? Letās test them with these fun picture puzzles!
A Missing Part
This visual brain teaser trains childrenās attention. To solve it, you need to find a part that fell off the honeycombs.
Answer. 13
Count The Triangles
This geometrical brain teaser offers you to count how many triangles are there in the bigger triangle. It trains your concrete thinking and analytical skills.
Answer: 16
Finish Building the Houses
In this 3D puzzle, your purpose is to help the worker finish building the houses. You do it by finding the missing part for each house.
Answer: 1 ā C, 2 ā E, 3 ā A, 4 ā B, 5 ā D
Maths Crossword
In this brain teaser, you have to find a mathematical pattern and complete a crossword. It effectively upgrades your analytical skills.
Answer. The sums of the numbers in the rows are part of the multiplication table by 6: the first row ā 6 (6*1), the second row ā 12 (6*2) the fourth ā 24 (6*4). So, the third row might be 18 (6*3). How can we get 18 in this row? Right, it is 18 ā 11 ā 3 = 4. So, the answer is 4.
Double Calculation
Here your task is to analyze an example and solve a mathematical puzzle by analogy. It is a great training of logical thinking skills.
Answer. Here is the pattern in the first picture: 14 / 7 = 2 ā 8 * 2 = 16. Let’s solve the second one the same way: 8 / 4 = 2 ā 10 * 2 = 20. So, the answer is 20
What Comes Next?
This is another brain teaser where you have to find a pattern. However, this time, you are dealing with the position of the object, not numbers.
Answer. 1.
The Next Element
This brain teaser is very similar to the previous one. The difference is that here you also have to deal with colors which make this riddle a bit more complicated.
Answer. 2.
Which Way Is the Bus Going? (This Is a Bus in the US.)
Answer: The bus is traveling left.
Look at the bus ā the doors are not visible. This means the passengers would get on the bus from the opposite side. And since the bus is in the US ā where they drive on the right side ā the bus is traveling left.
Find Which Glass Will Fill up First? (Tip: Look at the Pipes Carefully.)
If you thought it was 6, itās wrong. Look at the pipes connected to beakers. The lower pipe connected with the first beaker is closed ā the water wonāt go through it. So now eliminating options with closed pipes, itās the beaker number 5 thatāll fill up first.
Answer. 5
Guess the Carās Parking Spot Number
To solve this youāll need to look at the puzzle from a different angle. What you see are inverted numbers, the actual sequence is 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91.
Answer: 87
Can You Guess the Total Number of Blocks?
Did you count the blocks that are hidden behind? The bottom layer has 5 blocks, the second layer has 3 and the top layer has 1 block.
Answer: 9
Guess the Correct Shadow
Answer: C
Quick ā Can You Find the Mistake?
Itās funny how our mind fails to recognize the simple mistake. This phenomenon is called intentional blindness in which we fail to notice other things while focusing on one particular object. Here, you were focusing on numbers and missed the word.
Answer: āMitsakeā is the mistake.
4. Logical Brain Teasers for Kids
Logical teasers are most common type of brain teasers we have been dealing with.
To be honest, they are way more fun than any other riddles. They raise awareness of our surroundings and make us think by looking at reality.
These brain teasers are excellent for your kids because they get to expose themselves to the surroundings where they must have never taken part or were a part of. Because kids are kids. Playful and impatient.
Letās boost your kidsā logical thinking skills with these awesome riddles!
Q. What never gets any wetter, no matter how hard it rains?
A. Water
Q. How many men were born last year?
A. No one, only babies were born.
Q. How long is the answer to this question?
A. How long
Q. What can you keep but cannot share and once you share it, you canāt keep it anymore?
A. A secret.
Q. What always ends everything?
A. The alphabet “g”
Q. What are two things you cannot eat for supper?
A. Breakfast and Lunch.
Q. What does a snowman eat for breakfast?
A. Snowflakes
Q. What always goes to bed with its shoes on?
A. A horse.
What Are the Benefits of Riddles and Brain Teasers for Kids
Are you ready to know about all the fantastic benefits brain teasers offer your kids?
Well, they are many! Compared to brain teasers for adults, brain teasers for kids fall more on the straightforward side. However, they quickly grab your kids’ attention and keep them focused.
Scroll down to know more.
1. It Makes Your Kids’ Mind Work
Let me tell you, brain teasers exercise your childrenās mind in a different way than it does in a conventional learning process.
As with any other muscle in your body, you must try to boost your mental strength and keep your brain in good condition. And this becomes easy when you do this from a very early age. So, why not introduce puzzles to your kids?
When your kids get to use their brains to solve puzzles, it will help them do perform better in not only physical activities but also in doing their homework.
And did I tell you that your kids will learn and adapt to new things more quickly?
Introduce different types of brain teasers to your kids. It can be riddles, solitaire, crosswords, or sudoku. Also, you can give them a Rubikās cube to solve.
After all, a mixture of different types of puzzles is always better than solving only one kind, right?
2. It Makes Your Kids Better at Thinking
What is precisely a brain teaser? It’s a kind of thinking puzzle, right?
So, give your kids sudoku or riddles to solve. It may not be so complicated, but it will make your kids think of multiple ways to solve it.
They will use lateral thinking and try to solve problems with a creative or indirect approach. This will lead them to find a solution using a different thinking process.
To make you understand in a simple way, brain teasers stretch your kidsā minds. They feel encouraged and motivated to find a solution or answer to the puzzle. And when they cannot find the answer by thinking in a particular way, they think in other ways until they find a solution or come to an answer.
This practice can help your kids greatly when they grow up, as they will have different approaches to a problem.
Isnāt that great?
3. It Boosts Your Kidsā Creativity
Donāt you want your kids to have creative minds?
A great way to do that is by introducing brain teasers to them!
When you give a puzzle to your kids to solve, they think laterally and try to find creative solutions.
And you know, as a parent, you should always make it a point to encourage creativity in your kids. Letting them solve brain teasers is one way to do that.
Your kids don’t think conventionally when they try to find an answer to a puzzle. Instead, they think outside of the box. Going forward, they can also apply this practice to other fields of learning.
For example, your kids can use their creativity in arts and crafts, creative writing, storytelling, and even playing games with other kids.
Also, if you want your kids to be good at math, try giving them brain teasers to solve from an early age. This will help them a lot.
4. It Increases Your Kidsā Concentration
Do you struggle to keep your kids busy with something? Do they divert their attention very quickly? Do you want to improve your kidsā concentration power?
Introduce brain teasers to them!
We all struggle to concentrate on a single thing in this fast-paced world. Donāt you agree?
And kids are no exception to it. They find it hard to concentrate on a single thing as their mind diverts from one thing to another.
Iām a mother of a toddler and dealing with the same issue. Whatever toy I give my daughter to play with, she loses interest in it very soon and wants something else. She now has her own wardrobe full of different stuffed toys, electronics, and books, because you never know when she wants what!
Keeping up with the kids has become so tough these days!
But you know, you can deal with your kids’ short attention span by giving them puzzles to solve. Puzzles are fun and can keep your kids glued to them until they find the correct answers.
Of course, you must be very careful when choosing kids’ riddles and brain teasers. If the puzzles you choose are too easy, your kids will find no interest in them. On the other hand, if the puzzles you select are too tricky, your kids will be angry and may not try them again.
So, you need to maintain a balance between easy and challenging puzzles. They should perfectly match your kids’ abilities and ages. And when the puzzles are just for them, it will help improve their concentration level to a great extent!
5. It Enhances Your Kidsā Memory
Do you want to enhance your kidsā memory?
Play brain teasers with them! And start from an early age.
This will give your kids a sharp memory, which they can use in other parts of their learning process, such as tests, school work, and quizzes in their schools.
My toddler has learned to speak now and is always curious about everything she sees. So, I use it as an opportunity to teach her things in fun ways.
She knows the name of the primary colors. So, I quiz her about the color of things we see around. I ask her what color the sky is, the TV, the door, her hair, her stuffed toys, and whatever I find around.
This makes her think and then match and memorize the colors. Sometimes, she also quizzes me about the colors, pointing at specific objects.
Seeing her eager to learn and play along makes me happy. If you have a toddler, you can introduce puzzles to them like this too!
And do you know what the best part of puzzles is?
Your kids will not even realize that they are boosting their memory with that. This will make the entire process fun and entertaining.
6. It Increases Your Kidsā IQ
Who doesnāt want to raise a smart kid? And what if you can do that by asking your kids to solve puzzles?
Well, yes, that is possible.
And did you know that according to a study by the University of Michigan, if you let your kids solve riddles and puzzles at least twenty-five minutes a day, it can increase their IQ by four points?
7. It Improves Your Kidsā Reflexes
You can solve puzzles in many ways, right? What matters the most is the Reaction Time.
What exactly is this?
Well, itās the time that your kids take to answer a brain teaser after they hear it.
Make it a regular session for your kids to solve riddles. Their bodies will get familiar with the movement or technique they are using. This, in turn, can make them quicker in solving riddles over time.
Conclusion
So, are you ready to tickle your kidsā brains? Try these riddles and brain teasers for kids today.
And donāt forget to share your experience with me in the comments!
Hi, I am Claudia, I run TheQueenMomma’s content creation team, personally focusing on topics which add joy to people’s life. You would usually see me writing on topics like Jokes, Riddles, Truth & Dare as well as Baby Names etc.
In my professional career, I have a Bachelor’s and Master’s in sociology and specialize in media and crime. Once I finished my education, I began my career working as a journalist, reporting on various topics like crime, justice and family law. Even though I valued journalism, I came to the realization that I wanted to have a more immediate impact in people’s lives as well as bring joy to them.