Many of them are fun to solve like a game, and they’re sure to train the brain and boost kids’ thinking skills!
There are also some riddles that turn out to be surprisingly tricky once you start thinking about them, so adults should give them a try too.
Riddles full of mysteries that you can solve from a child’s perspective. The more flexible your mind, the higher your chances of getting them right! (1–10)
Riddles and quiz for children
Riddle Quiz for Kids (up to Lower Elementary Grades)
These riddles are perfect for young children in the lower grades of elementary school and younger.
Since they use only hiragana, even small children can enjoy them safely.
The questions are simple, so this video is recommended when trying riddles for the first time.
It seems like a question that would trip up adults more than children.
When you read the problem statement, you instinctively want to treat it like an arithmetic problem and think, “5 – 1 = 4, so the answer is 4!” But remember, it’s a trick question.
The hint to solving it is that the candy wasn’t given to someone else, nor did it disappear.
If you think about how many candies you have after you lick one, you should arrive at the correct answer.
An elementary school student with a flexible mind might solve it right away!
What vehicle do you pedal and pedal but end up going back and forth in the same place?
When you row a boat or pedal a bicycle, you move forward, right? But the answer to this riddle seems to be something that goes back and forth in the same place no matter how much you push.
The key to solving it is to focus on “going back and forth.” If you’re an elementary school student, that phrase might make something click.
Here’s a hint: the park.
Think back to your time playing at the park—there was a fun piece of playground equipment that goes back and forth! That’s right, the answer is a swing.
Something you “hold” while eating… A busy mother might hold her child while eating something safe even if it’s dropped, but normally you don’t hold anything in your arms during a meal, right? So no matter how much you think about what you could hold while eating, you won’t reach the answer.
The key to solving this riddle is to recall what you always do during a meal, and to try expressing “dakko” (to hold/hug) with a different word.
The correct answer is “ita” (board)! Because you say “ita, dakimasu”—a pun on “Itadakimasu.”
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.
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.
