Classroom Ideas
Riddles are a great way to add some laughter and humor to your school day, but riddles can serve an ever bigger purpose. When students hear riddles, they will begin to make associations, link what they are learning in the classroom, and come to conclusions about things they already know. For example, a riddle about the moon might connect something your students are learning about in science class. Even if your riddles aren’t educational, the simple experience of laughter will increase joy in the classroom, and joyful students are more likely to enjoy school and become deeply engaged in their learning.
Here are 100 riddles for students to help get you started!
1. What has a face, but can’t smile. Answer: A clock.
2. There is only one word spelled wrong in the dictionary. What is it? Answer: W-R-O-N-G.
3. I can fill up a room, but take no space. What am I? Answer: Light.
4. What is a bunny’s favorite kind of music? Answer: Hip hop music.
5. What kind of room has no doors or windows? Answer: A mushroom.
6. What can you catch, but not throw? Answer: A cold.
7. What begins with T, finishes with T, and has T in it? Answer: A teapot.
8. What goes up, but never comes back down? Answer: Your age.
9. What is brown, has a head, and tails, but no legs? Answer: A penny.
10. What room do ghosts avoid? Answer: The living room.
11. What belongs to you, but other people use more? Answer: Your name.
12. What gets wetter the more it dries? Answer: A towel.
13. What is bright orange with a green top and sounds like a parrot? Answer: A carrot.
14. What two things can you never eat for breakfast? Answer: Lunch and dinner.
15. You buy me to eat, but you never eat me. What am I? Answer: A fork.
16. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I? Answer: Footprints.
17. What kind of tree can you carry in your hand? Answer: A palm.
18. What has four legs but can’t walk? Answer: A table.
19. How many months have 28 days? Answer: All of them!
20. What is full of holes but still holds water? Answer: A sponge.
21. What has an eye but can’t see anything? Answer: A needle.
22. What has a key, but can’t open a locked door? Answer: A monkey.
23. What do dogs have that no other animal has? Answer: Puppies.
24. What must be broken before you can use it? Answer: An egg.
25. I am full of keys but I can’t open any doors. What am I? Answer: A piano.
26. What kind of coat can only be put on wet? Answer: A coat of paint.
27. The more you take away, the bigger it gets. What is it? Answer: A hole.
28. What follows you everywhere but can’t be caught? Answer: Your shadow.
29. What goes up and down but never moves? Answer: A flight of stairs.
30. I have no eyes, ears, or legs, but I can help you move earth. What am I? Answer: An earthworm.
31. What is as big as an elephant but weighs nothing? Answer: An elephant’s shadow.
32. When does Friday come before Thursday? Answer: In the dictionary.
33. If an electric train is going south, what direction is the smoke going? Answer: There is no smoke – it’s an electric train.
34. Why do lions eat raw meat? Answer: Because they don’t know how to cook.
35. How can a pants pocket be empty but still have something in it? Answer: If it has a hole in it.
36. Why are teddy bears never hungry? Answer: Because they are already stuffed.
37. Why is the Mississippi such an unusual river? Answer: Because it has four “i’s” and can’t even see.
38. What bank never has any money? Answer: A riverbank.
39. Why isn’t your nose 12 inches long? Answer: Because then it would be a foot.
40. What kind of cup can’t hold anything to drink? Answer: A cupcake.
41. What goes through towns and over hills but never moves? Answer: A road.
42. What type of house weighs the least? Answer: A lighthouse.
43. What has a lot of teeth but can’t chew a thing? Answer: A comb.
44. What is the best place to grow a garden in school? Answer: In kindergarten.
45. Why did the boy bury is flashlight? Answer: Because the batteries died.
46. What building in a town has the most stories? Answer: The library.
47. What falls in winter but never gets hurt? Answer: The snow.
48. What kind of shower doesn’t need water? Answer: A baby shower.
49. What has ears but cannot hear? Answer: A field of corn.
50. A girl fell off a 25-foot ladder but didn’t get hurt. How? Answer: She fell off the bottom rung.
51. I have no legs so I never walk, but I always run. What am I? Answer: A river.
52. I am as light as a feather but even the strongest man can’t hold me for more than a minute. What am I? Answer: Breath.
53. I am not alive, but I can still die. What am I? Answer: A battery.
54. I will always come but never arrive today. What am I? Answer: Tomorrow.
55. What can you easily break without touching it? Answer: A promise.
56. What is the hardest part about skydiving? Answer: The ground.
57. A king, a queen, and two twins are in a room. How are there no adults? Answer: They are beds.
58. Every time you stand up you lose it. What is it? Answer: Your lap.
59. I am bought by the yard but worn by the foot. What am I? Answer: Carpet.
60. What kind of flower does everyone wear on their face? Answer: Tulips.
61. What can travel the world while staying in the corner? Answer: A stamp.
62. I’m tall when I’m young and short when I’m old. What am I? Answer: A candle.
63. If everything in a one-story house is yellow, what color are the stairs? Answer: There are no stairs in a one-story house.
64. I shave every day but my beard stays the same. How? Answer: I’m the barber.
65. What can’t talk but will reply when spoken to? Answer: An echo.
66. The more of me there is the less you can see. What am I? Answer: The dark.
67. What is black when it’s clean and white when it’s dirty? Answer: A chalkboard.
68. What has a lot of eyes but can’t see? Answer: A potato.
69. What has a lot of needles but can’t sew? Answer: A Christmas tree.
70. What has one head, one foot, and four legs? Answer: A bed.
71. What kind of band can’t play music? Answer: A rubber band.
72. What has a lot of words but never speaks? Answer: A book.
73. What runs around your backyard but never moves? Answer: The fence.
74. What has a thumb and four fingers but isn’t a hand? Answer: A glove.
75. What always tastes better than it smells? Answer: Your tongue.
76. What has four wheels and flies? Answer: A trash truck.
77. You see me once in June, twice in November, and not at all in May. What am I? Answer: the letter E.
78. A dog crossed a river without a bridge or a boat, but didn’t get wet. How? Answer: The river was frozen.
79. What has lakes with no water, mountains with no stones, and cities with no buildings? Answer: A map.
80. What do dogs and trees have in common? Answer: Bark.
81. I can travel up to 100 miles an hour but never leave the room. What am I? Answer: A sneeze.
82. I am always running but I never get tired. What am I? Answer: The refrigerator.
83. I have seven rings that you can’t wear on your fingers. What am I? Answer: Saturn.
84. I can be 100 yards long but you can hold me in your hand. What am I? Answer: A ball of yarn.
85. What is really easy to get into but really hard to get out of? Answer: Trouble.
86. What can be full without eating a thing? Answer: The moon.
87. What can you taste everyday but never eat? Answer: Toothpaste.
88. A boy throws a ball as far as he can and it comes back to him without anyone touching it. How? Answer: He throws the ball straight up.
89. What five letter gets shorter when you add two letters to it? Answer: Short.
90. If a rooster is sitting on top of a barn and lays an egg, which way will it roll off? Answer: Roosters don’t lay eggs!
91. Which weighs more: a pound of bricks or a pound of feathers? Answer: They both weight a pound.
92. I am an odd number, but if you take away a letter I am even. What number am I? Answer: Seven.
93. Where is the ocean the deepest? Answer: On the bottom.
94. What word has 26 letters but only three syllables? Answer: Alphabet.
95. Grandpa went for a walk in the rain with no umbrella but his hair didn’t get wet. How is that possible? Answer: Grandpa is bald.
96. I am always in front of you and never behind you. What am I? Answer: The future.
97. What starts with P, ends with E, and has over a thousand letters in it? Answer: The post office.
98. What do you find at the end of the rainbow? Answer: The letter W.
99. What has a tongue but cannot talk? Answer: A shoe.
100. I can run even though I have no legs. What am I? Answer: Your nose.
A riddle a day will keep your classroom joyful and ready to learn new things! Enjoy watching your students figure out these riddles and enjoy their laughter when they do.
Have some riddles you want to share with other educators? Come join the comversation in the Empowered Teachers community!
