No. 16Ages 11 to 12
I have a bill like a duck, a tail like a beaver and fur like an otter. I'm a mammal, but I lay eggs. What am I?
a platypus
Hard riddles for kids
Ages 11 to 12, 6th grade and middle school. Proper brain teasers: read carefully, think sideways, and the answer feels obvious once you have it.
Animal riddles
No. 17Ages 11 to 12
I'm a small animal with a long tail. Spell my name backward and you get the sticky black stuff used to build roads. What am I?
a rat
Rat spelled backward is tar.
No. 18Ages 11 to 12
I have whiskers like a cat, but I have never said meow or chased a mouse. I spend my days near the bottom of a river. What am I?
a catfish
No. 19Ages 11 to 12
I'm the fastest runner on land. Say my name out loud and it sounds like someone who breaks the rules of a game. What am I?
a cheetah
Cheetah sounds like cheater.
No. 20Ages 11 to 12
Mix up the letters of the word FLOW and you will find me. I live in a pack and howl at the moon. What am I?
a wolf
FLOW and WOLF use the same four letters.
Funny riddles
No. 36Ages 11 to 12
What has more letters than the whole alphabet?
the post office
The alphabet has 26 letters, but a post office is full of letters you mail.
No. 37Ages 11 to 12
Why was the eye the best student in the class?
it was a top pupil
The pupil is the dark center of your eye, and a pupil is also a student.
No. 38Ages 11 to 12
Why did the musician bring a pencil to the concert?
to draw a crowd
You draw with a pencil, and to draw a crowd means to bring lots of people in.
No. 39Ages 11 to 12
Why is a river always rich?
it has two banks
A river has a bank on each side, and a bank is also where money is kept.
No. 40Ages 11 to 12
Why did the math lesson last so long?
the teacher kept going off on a tangent
A tangent is a line in geometry, and going off on a tangent means wandering off the subject.
Math riddles
No. 56Ages 11 to 12
A snail is at the bottom of a well 10 feet deep. Every day it climbs up 3 feet, and every night it slides back down 2 feet. On which day does it reach the top?
on day 8
After 7 days and 7 nights it is 7 feet up, and on day 8 it climbs the last 3 feet before it can slide back.
No. 57Ages 11 to 12
What number comes next: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, ...?
13
Each number is the sum of the two before it, and 5 + 8 = 13.
No. 58Ages 11 to 12
I'm a two-digit number. My digits add up to 9. Swap my digits around and the new number is 27 bigger than me. What number am I?
36
3 + 6 = 9, and 63 - 36 = 27.
No. 59Ages 11 to 12
A brick weighs one pound plus half a brick. How much does a whole brick weigh?
2 pounds
If one pound is half the brick, the whole brick is two pounds.
No. 60Ages 11 to 12
A farmer has only chickens and cows. Together they have 10 heads and 28 legs. How many cows are there?
4 cows
4 cows have 16 legs and 6 chickens have 12 legs: 10 heads and 28 legs in all.
What am I? riddles
No. 76Ages 11 to 12
I hang on the bathroom wall and show you your face, but I swap your left and right. Wave your right hand and the you inside me waves a left one. What am I?
a mirror
No. 77Ages 11 to 12
I have six faces but not a single nose. Add up all my dots and you get 21. You roll me when you play a board game. What am I?
a die
One dice is called a die, and 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 = 21.
No. 78Ages 11 to 12
I'm full of dates, but you can't eat a single one. Turn my page and a whole new month begins. What am I?
a calendar
A date is a day of the month, and also a sweet fruit.
No. 79Ages 11 to 12
I'm full of holes, yet I can still hold water. Squeeze me over the sink and I let it all go. What am I?
a sponge
No. 80Ages 11 to 12
I tell time without numbers, hands or a battery. Turn me upside down and I start all over again. What am I?
an hourglass
Sand trickles from the top to the bottom, and flipping it starts the timer again.
Food riddles
No. 96Ages 11 to 12
I'm a soft, fuzzy fruit. Take away my first letter and I become a word that means every single one. What am I?
a peach
Peach without the P is each.
No. 97Ages 11 to 12
You throw away my outside and cook my inside. Then you eat my outside and throw away my inside. What am I?
corn on the cob
You peel off the husk, cook the ear, eat the kernels on the outside and throw away the cob in the middle.
No. 98Ages 11 to 12
I'm a little round fruit, great in muffins. My name says how you feel when you are sad. What am I?
a blueberry
Feeling blue means feeling sad.
No. 99Ages 11 to 12
I'm a tiny green vegetable that loves to roll off your plate. Add one letter to the end of my name and I turn into a fruit. What am I?
a pea
Pea plus the letter R makes pear.
No. 100Ages 11 to 12
You spread me on toast because I'm sweet and fruity. But I'm also what you call a road full of cars that can't move. What am I?
jam
Jam is a fruit spread, and a traffic jam is when cars are stuck.
Nature riddles
No. 116Ages 11 to 12
The more of me there is, the less you can see. I roll in from the sea on cool mornings and hide the whole harbor. What am I?
fog
Fog is a cloud that sits low on the ground, so thick fog hides everything.
No. 117Ages 11 to 12
Twice a day I creep up the beach, and twice a day I slide back down. The moon tugs on me, though it has no hands. What am I?
the tide
The pull of the moon makes the sea rise and fall about twice a day.
No. 118Ages 11 to 12
I tell the time with no batteries and no ticking. My pointer never moves, and I stop working when clouds roll in. What am I?
a sundial
The sun makes the pointer cast a shadow that moves around the dial, so no sun means no time.
No. 119Ages 11 to 12
You see me twinkle at night, but my light left me years ago, so you are really looking at the past. What am I?
a star
Stars are so far away that their light takes years to reach Earth.
No. 120Ages 11 to 12
Sailors see only my tip, because most of me hides under the waves. I float in the salty sea, but I am made of frozen fresh water. What am I?
an iceberg
Icebergs break off glaciers, which are made of fresh snow and ice, and most of an iceberg is under water.
School riddles
No. 136Ages 11 to 12
Which word gets shorter when you add two letters to it?
short
Add "er" to "short" and you get "shorter".
No. 137Ages 11 to 12
In the lunch line, Nora is 5th from the front and 5th from the back. How many kids are in the line?
9
There are 4 kids in front of Nora and 4 behind her, plus Nora herself.
No. 138Ages 11 to 12
I am a pupil, but I never go to class. I grow bigger in the dark and smaller in bright light. What am I?
the pupil of your eye
A pupil is a student, and it is also the dark circle in the middle of your eye.
No. 139Ages 11 to 12
The day before yesterday was Thursday. You go back to school the day after tomorrow. What day is that?
Monday
If the day before yesterday was Thursday, today is Saturday, so the day after tomorrow is Monday.
No. 140Ages 11 to 12
What starts with E, ends with E, and usually has only one letter inside?
an envelope
"Envelope" starts and ends with E, and you mail a letter inside it.
Logic riddles and brain teasers
No. 156Ages 11 to 12
A dark drawer holds 10 red socks and 10 blue socks. Without looking, how many socks must you pull out to be sure you have a matching pair?
3
The first two socks could be different colors, but the third one must match one of them.
No. 157Ages 11 to 12
Today is Wednesday. What day of the week will it be 100 days from now?
Friday
100 days is 14 full weeks plus 2 days, and 2 days after Wednesday is Friday.
No. 158Ages 11 to 12
What letter comes next: M, T, W, T, F, S, ...?
S
They are the first letters of the days of the week, Monday to Saturday, so Sunday comes next.
No. 159Ages 11 to 12
Three boxes are labeled Apples, Oranges and Mixed, but every label is wrong. You may take out one fruit from one box without looking inside. Which box should you pick from to fix all three labels?
the box labeled Mixed
It can't really be mixed, so the fruit you pull out tells you what it holds, and the other two labels then have only one way to go.
No. 160Ages 11 to 12
I am a three-digit number. My tens digit is 5 more than my ones digit, and my hundreds digit is 8 less than my tens digit. What number am I?
194
The tens digit must be 9 so the hundreds digit can be 1, and then the ones digit is 4.
Halloween riddles
No. 176Ages 11 to 12
Ava visits 9 houses and gets 3 candies at each one. She eats 3 on the way home, then shares the rest equally with her two cousins, so all three of them get the same. How many candies does each one get?
8
9 x 3 = 27, minus 3 is 24, and 24 shared by 3 people is 8 each.
No. 177Ages 11 to 12
Jo wears an all-black witch costume and crosses a street with no streetlights. The car coming has its headlights off, yet the driver sees Jo easily and stops. How?
it was daytime
Nothing in the riddle says it was night.
No. 178Ages 11 to 12
Change one letter in BAT to get what a witch wears on her head. Then change one more letter to get the pet that rides on her broom. What two words do you make?
hat, then cat
BAT becomes HAT, and HAT becomes CAT.
No. 179Ages 11 to 12
Lia, Noor and Kai dress up as a ghost, a pumpkin and a bat. Kai is not the ghost or the bat. Noor's costume has wings. Who is the ghost?
Lia
Kai must be the pumpkin and Noor is the bat, so Lia is the ghost.
No. 180Ages 11 to 12
How many candies can you put into an empty treat bag?
just one
After the first candy goes in, the bag is not empty anymore.
Christmas riddles
No. 196Ages 11 to 12
Four elves wrap gifts. Pip wraps more than Jo but fewer than Tam. Bo wraps the most of all. Who wraps the fewest?
Jo
Bo is first, then Tam, then Pip, and Jo is last.
No. 197Ages 11 to 12
On the first day of December you get 1 candy, on the second day 2, on the third day 3, and so on. How many candies do you have after 12 days?
78
1 + 2 + 3 + ... + 12 = 78. Pair them up: 1 + 12, 2 + 11 and so on make 6 pairs of 13.
No. 198Ages 11 to 12
On Christmas Day, Priya swims in the sea and builds sandcastles in the hot sun. She is not on vacation. How can that be?
she lives south of the equator
In places like Australia, South Africa or Argentina, December is summer.
No. 199Ages 11 to 12
If 3 elves can wrap 3 gifts in 3 minutes, how long will it take 9 elves to wrap 9 gifts?
3 minutes
Each elf wraps one gift in 3 minutes, so 9 elves wrap 9 gifts in the same 3 minutes.
No. 200Ages 11 to 12
What can you always find at the end of Christmas?
the letter S
The word "Christmas" ends with the letter S.
More riddles
Liked these?
Our picture-puzzle practice for ages 5 to 9 trains the same kind of thinking: patterns, numbers and shapes.
Try the practice puzzles