Looking for fun activity ideas for your kids or ESL students? Then we strongly recommend checking out these fun and tricky riddles for kids with answers. English riddles provide a lot of fun while learning the language. It really requires creative thinking and, more importantly, thinking in English. Continue reading to find out the best riddles for ESL students!
Fun and Tricky Riddles for Kids
What are Riddles?
Riddles are word puzzles or questions that require critical and creative thinking. It will also force ESL students to think in a foreign language, as a lot of riddles questions have to do with wordplay. Riddles seem simple, but they aren’t really. The questions use wordplay, puns, and double-meaning to make the easy-looking questions less obvious.
The key to solving riddles is figuring out the hidden meaning behind the question. Because of the different problem-solving skills this type of question requires, riddles for kids are great for young ESL students!
If you are looking for more fun ESL activities like riddles, also check out tongue twisters!
30+ Riddles for ESL Students
Riddles for Kids with Answers
We’ve divided the riddles for kids into three different categories: easy, fun, and tricky. If your ESL students are new to riddles, begin with the easy questions.
Easy Riddles for Kids
- Riddle: What goes down but never goes up?
Answer: rain - Riddle: What goes up when the rain comes down?
Answer: umbrella - Riddle: If you cut me, I won’t cry, but you will! What am I?
Answer: an onion - Riddle: What goes up but never goes back down?
Answer: age - Riddle: What do you have to break before you can use it?
Answer: an egg - Riddle: What is full of holes but can still hold water?
Answer: sponge - Riddle: What starts with gas and has three letters?
Answer: car - Riddle: What does this say? HIGH HIGH HIGH HIGH HIGH
Answer: high five - Riddle: What kind of tree can you carry in your hand?
Answer: palm tree - Riddle: What two things can you never eat for breakfast?
Answer: lunch and dinner
Fun Riddles for Children
- Riddle: I’m a man, but I’ll never have a wife. Water gives me life, but the sun brings death. What am I?
Answer: snowman - Riddle: I have legs, but I can’t walk. A strong back, but I don’t do work. Two arms, but I can’t move them. What am I?
Answer: armchair - Riddle: If you have one, you want to share it. If you share it, you haven’t got it. What is it?
Answer: a secret - Riddle: 10 people are under one umbrella. But nobody gets wet. Why?
Answer: It wasn’t raining. - Riddle: You will buy me to eat but never eat me. What am I?
Answer: plate (fork or spoon also works) - Riddle: What has many keys but can’t open any doors?
Answer: a piano - Riddle: I follow you all the time and copy your every move, but you can’t touch me or catch me. Who am I?
Answer: your shadow - Riddle: I am an odd number. Take away one letter, and I become even. What number am I?
Answer: Seven - Riddle: What is once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
Answer: the letter M - Riddle: What are the next two letters? J, F, M, A, M, J, _, _
Answer: J and A (January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August)
Tricky Kids Riddles with Answers
- Riddle: What food has no beginning, middle, or end?
Answer: donut - Riddle: What can you catch but not throw?
Answer: a cold - Riddle: You have something that other people use far more often than you. What is it?
Answer: your name - Riddle: Some people think I go too slow. Others think I go too fast. Most people are always checking me. What am I?
Answer: time - Riddle: What’s something that falls but never hits the ground?
Answer: temperature - Riddle: What gets wetter the more it dries?
Answer: a towel - Riddle: What are the next letters in this and why? W, A, T, N, L, I, T, _, _
Answer: A and W (What Are The Next Letters In This And Why) - Riddle: What’s really easy to get into and hard to get out of?
Answer: trouble - Riddle: What can you hear, but not see or touch, even though you control it?
Answer: your voice - Riddle: What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it?
Answer: a promise
More Difficult Riddles for Children
- Riddle: I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I?
Answer: An echo. - Riddle: What has keys but can’t open locks?
Answer: A piano. - Riddle: I have cities but no houses, forests but no trees, and rivers but no water. What am I?
Answer: A map. - Riddle: What goes up but never comes down?
Answer: Your age. - Riddle: I am taken from a mine and shut in a wooden case, from which I am never released, yet I am used by almost every person. What am I?
Answer: Pencil lead/graphite. - Riddle: What has a face that never frowns, but can’t see?
Answer: A clock. - Riddle: The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?
Answer: Footsteps. - Riddle: I am full of holes but still holds water. What am I?
Answer: A sponge. - Riddle: What has hands but cannot clap?
Answer: A clock. - Riddle: I am always hungry, I must always be fed. The finger I touch will soon turn red. What am I?
Answer: Fire.
Riddles for Beginners
Here are some simple riddles that are suitable for beginners:
1. I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?
Answer: A candle.
2. What has keys but can’t open locks?
Answer: A piano.
3. What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
Answer: The letter “M.”
4. What has a head, a tail, is brown, and has no legs?
Answer: A penny.
5. What has a neck but no head?
Answer: A bottle.
6. What has hands but cannot clap?
Answer: A clock.
7. What has eyes but can’t see?
Answer: A potato.
8. What has a mouth but doesn’t eat?
Answer: A river.
These riddles are simple enough for beginners but still fun and engaging!
Riddles for Students
Here are some riddles that are suitable for students:
1. I have keys but can’t open locks. I have a space but no room. You can enter, but can’t go outside. What am I?
Answer: A keyboard.
2. I’m light as a feather, yet the strongest man can’t hold me for much longer than a minute. What am I?
Answer: Breath.
3. What has a head, a tail, is brown, and has no legs?
Answer: A penny.
4. What has a heart that doesn’t beat?
Answer: An artichoke.
5. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?
Answer: Footsteps.
6. I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with the wind. What am I?
Answer: An echo.
7. I am taken from a mine, and shut up in a wooden case, from which I am never released, and yet I am used by almost every person. What am I?
Answer: A pencil lead.
8. I am full of holes, but I can still hold a lot of water. What am I?
Answer: A sponge.
These riddles can be a fun way to challenge students’ critical thinking skills and creativity.
FAQs About Fun and Tricky Riddles for Kids with Answers
Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about ESL riddles for children.
What are some famous riddles?
Here are some famous riddles:
- What can run but cannot walk? (answer: river)
- What can fly but has no wings? (answer: time)
- What flower has two lips? (answer: tulips)
Why are riddles good for kids?
Riddles are good for kids because they help develop the following skills: critical thinking skills, language skills, memory skills, social skills, and problem-solving skills.
How do you use riddles in the classroom?
Have your students sit in groups. Present the riddle, and give some time for students to talk amongst themselves to figure out the answer. Encourage your students to come up with silly answers and more logical answers. Riddles can sometimes have more than one answer. After the given time, let students share the answer they came up with.
ESL Riddles for Kids with Answers: Join the Conversation
What are your thoughts on these riddles for kids that are great for ESL classrooms? Did you find any of the questions tricky? Try solving these fun and challenging riddles with your students, and let us know how it went! If there is another type of language activity you are looking for, let us know in the comments. We’d love to hear from you.
