Riddles · page 1 of 3 · cut along the dashed lines

Hard Riddles for Kids

  1. Two fathers and two sons share three sandwiches, one sandwich each. How can there be only three people?

    One person can be a father and a son at the same time, and the three people are from one family.

  2. In a race, you pass the runner who is in second place. What place are you in now?

    You pass only that one runner, and nobody passes you at the same time.

  3. Five apples are on the table. You take two. How many apples did you take?

    The question asks how many apples you took, not how many are left on the table.

  4. A ball is in one of three boxes: red, blue, or green. It is not in red or green. Where is it?

    There is exactly one ball, and it is certainly in one of the three boxes.

  5. In a pretend game, every red block is a cube, and no cube can roll. Can any red block roll in that game?

    Inside the pretend game, both rules are always true, even if real blocks could tumble. We use only the rules, not real life.

  6. Ali is ahead of Bo in a three-person line. Bo is ahead of Cam. Who is in the middle?

    The three people stand in one straight line, and "ahead" means closer to the front.

  7. Each number after the first two is the sum of the two before it: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. What comes next?

  8. Today is Monday. What day will it be three days from today?

    "Three days from today" means you start counting with tomorrow.

Riddles · page 2 of 3 · cut along the dashed lines

Hard Riddles for Kids

  1. I am a whole number greater than 20 and less than 30. I divide exactly by both 3 and 4. What am I?

  2. I am a solid shape with exactly six faces, all squares. What am I?

  3. With one straight cut, snip a small triangle off one corner of a square. The cut crosses the two sides that meet at that corner. How many corners does the bigger piece have now?

    The cut crosses each of the two sides partway along, not through another corner, and only the bigger piece's corners are counted.

  4. A snail climbs 3 meters each day and slips 2 meters each night. Starting at the bottom, on which day does it first reach the top of a 10-meter wall?

    The snail starts at the bottom in the morning, climbs 3 meters every day and slips 2 meters every night. Once it reaches the top, it stops and does not slip.

  5. Two US coins total 30 cents. One of them is not a nickel. Which coins are they?

    Only real US coins count. "One of them is not a nickel" is true of the quarter; it does not mean the other coin cannot be a nickel.

  6. A bat and a ball cost $1.10 altogether. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. What does the ball cost?

    The bat and the ball are the only two things, and the prices are in whole cents.

  7. A farmer must take a fox, a chicken, and grain across a river. The boat carries the farmer and one item. Without the farmer, the fox cannot stay with the chicken, or the chicken with the grain. How can everything cross?

    Only the farmer can row the boat, and it holds the farmer plus at most one item. Trouble happens only on a bank the farmer has left, never during a crossing.

  8. Anna, Beth, and Cara each have a different pet: cat, dog, or fish. Anna has neither cat nor dog. Beth does not have the dog. Who has each pet?

    Each girl has exactly one pet, and no two girls have the same kind of pet.

Riddles · page 3 of 3 · cut along the dashed lines

Hard Riddles for Kids

  1. Eight balls look identical, but one is heavier. Using a balance scale, how can you always find it in no more than two weighings?

    Exactly one ball is heavier, and the other seven weigh the same. The balance scale only shows which side is heavier, or that the two sides are equal.

  2. In a three-digit number, the tens digit is two more than the ones digit. The hundreds digit is one less than the tens digit. The digits add to 12. What is the number?

  3. A drawer has three red socks and three blue socks. Without looking, how many socks must you take out to be sure of getting two of the same color?

    You take socks out one at a time without looking, and any two socks of the same color count as a pair.

  4. A pen holds only chickens and rabbits. There are 20 heads and 56 legs. How many rabbits are there?

    Every chicken has 2 legs, every rabbit has 4 legs, and each animal has one head.