Let's Think Outside the Box! A Collection of Challenging Riddles for Kids
“Huh? The kids solved this problem faster than the adults!” That’s the magic of riddles—you can have those surprising experiences.
Adults tend to be bound by fixed ideas, while children tackle problems with flexible thinking, don’t they?
In this article, we’ll introduce challenging riddles for kids that parents and children can enjoy together.
They don’t just foster thinking and concentration—thanks to those eye-opening “Aha!” answers, they might boost your knowledge and spark of insight, too.
Try them for your own skill-building, or as a fun activity with family and friends!
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Let's think outside the box! A collection of tricky riddles for kids (31–40)
Even though it was taken, everyone’s laughing. I wonder why.
I ended up fighting after my friend and I both tried to take it… It’s something every elementary schooler has probably experienced at least once.
Having something taken from you feels awful and makes you sad, right? So let’s try this puzzle.
Why is everyone smiling even though something was ‘taken’? The first thing to think about when solving this is the meaning of the word ‘taken’ (torareta).
It’s deliberately written in hiragana, so try converting it to kanji and imagining what situation it might describe.
The answer is: because it was a photograph.
What animal gets lighter when you flip it over?
An animal that gets lighter when flipped over… Just imagining various animals flipping over makes you feel warm and fuzzy, doesn’t it? But no matter how many real animals you flip, you won’t reach the answer! And since there are so many animals, guessing at random won’t help much either.
The key to solving this riddle is to focus on the crucial word “karui” (軽い), meaning “light.”
When written in katakana, it’s “カルイ” (karui).
If you flip it—i.e., read it backward—it becomes “イルカ” (iruka), which means “dolphin.” So the answer is “dolphin.”
No matter how many times you call it, it never answers—what is it?
If you call your dad or mom, your teacher or your friends, they all answer you, right? But in this world, there are things that won’t respond no matter how much you call them… What are they? The answer is something you all know well.
The key to solving this riddle is to focus on the hiragana word yondemo.
First, try converting it to kanji.
If you try different options like 呼んでも (even if you call) and 読んでも (even if you read), you’ll arrive at the answer.
By the way, the correct answer is “a book.”
What is something that won’t break no matter how much you try to break it?
Have you ever had the experience of dropping something and breaking it? As the saying goes, “Anything with form will eventually break,” and glass or pottery will most likely shatter if you drop it.
But there are things in this world that don’t break even when you split them! In fact, they aren’t objects.
If you’re an elementary school student, isn’t there something you split during class? With that hint, you’ve probably figured it out.
The answer is “division.”
A turtle, a camel, and a rhinoceros are shopping. What will they buy?
A turtle, a camel, and a rhino go shopping…
When you imagine it, you can’t help but wonder what on earth is going on—sounds like a riddle, right? But let’s set that aside for now! Since they’re shopping, they must each have something they want to buy.
Still, thinking about items related to each animal won’t solve this puzzle.
You need to approach it from a completely different angle.
The key is to read the question repeatedly.
If you connect ‘kame’ (turtle), ‘rakuda’ (camel), and ‘sai’ (rhino), you get ‘kamera kudasai’ (which means ‘a camera, please’ in Japanese).
So the answer is ‘camera’!
Let’s Think Outside the Box! A Collection of Challenging Riddles for Kids (41–50)
What is a ball that’s square, even though it’s still a ball?
Speaking of balls, they’re one of the tools used in ball sports, right? When you picture a ball, most of you probably imagine a round sphere.
However, since the question in this quiz says “square,” we need to look for a square ball.
Let’s forget about balls used in sports for a moment and think of something square that includes the word “ball” (booru) in Japanese.
If you’re an elementary school student, you’ve probably seen it at home or used it for crafts.
The correct answer is “danbooru” (cardboard).
What kind of neck comes out of a mouth?
A neck coming out of your mouth…
It sounds a bit scary if you imagine it, but don’t worry—it’s just a riddle, not a scary story.
With that in mind, let’s solve it! The key to this puzzle is to convert the keyword “首” (kubi, neck) into hiragana and think of it that way.
Then, associate things that include “kubi” which come out of the mouth.
Everyone has put this out of their mouth at least once.
It’s an easy answer, so if you get the hint, you’ll solve it right away.
The answer is “akubi” (a yawn)!