Brain Teasers For Kids and Adults
Brain teasers exist to challenge, intrigue, and amuse. They stump many people because, most of the time, the puzzles don’t follow typical protocol. Brain teasers encourage critical thinking.
Frequently, these mind teasers encourage a false assumption. When the answer is revealed, it’s not uncommon to hear a groan or two.
Riddles challenge people to stretch their brains and think outside the box, making them so beneficial to our minds. Not only can they improve our mental state in more ways than you may expect, but of course, they provoke a ton of “aha” moments!
Challenge yourself with our collection of riddles with answers to solve and share.
Riddles Brain Teasers
1.) What word starts with IS, ends with AND, and has LA in the middle?
Answer: Island.
2.) Four brothers in this world were all born together. The first runs and never wearies. The second eats and is never complete. The third drinks and is always thirsty. The fourth sings a song that is never good.
Answer: Water, fire, earth, and wind.
3.) What do you call a man in a hole?
Answer: Doug.
Take the 55 Difficult Riddles Challenge and see how you do.
Brain Teasers for Adults
4.) What’s an excellent name for a female lawyer?
Answer: Sue. Check out our funny puns.
5.) Do you want to hear a joke about potassium?
Answer: K! (K is the symbol for potassium.)
6.) What should one do with a dead chemist?
Answer: Barium.
7.) I am the beginning of the end and the end of time and space. I am essential to creation, and I surround every place. What am I?
Answer: The letter “E.” End, time, space, and Every place.
8.) Which is the fastest country in the world?
Answer: Russia.
See 63 Best Scavenger Hunt Riddles.
9.) What do you get if you throw a million books into the ocean?
Answer: A title wave.
10.) What is the coldest country in the world?
Answer: Chili.
11.) Why did the lumberjack cut down the tree?
Answer: Because he said that he wood.
12.) What do volleyball players wear on their skin when playing outside?
Answer: Sun-Block.
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Riddles For Kids
13.) Why did the house go to the doctor?
Answer: Because it had a windowpane.
14.) On which roads do ghosts linger?
Answer: Dead ends.
15.) What is round and extremely violent?
Answer: A vicious circle.
16.) Why did the fan get dizzy?
Answer: Because it said it had the spins.
17.) What happened when the magician got angry?
Answer: He pulled his hare out.
18.) Why do jalapenos love the sun?
Answer: Because they are hot peppers.
You might like 185 funny tongue twisters.
Brain Teaser Puzzles
19.) What kind of kitten works for the Red Cross?
Answer: A first-aid kit.
Check out some more animal puns.
20.) I go around all the places, cities, towns, and villages but never come inside. What am I?
Answer: A street.
21.) I never was, am always to be. No one ever saw me, nor ever will. And yet, I am the confidence of all to live and breathe on this terrestrial ball. What am I?
Answer: Tomorrow or the future.
See 117 hilarious birthday puns for kids.
22.) What did the sign read at the post office when a tiny fortuneteller escaped jail?
Answer: Small, medium at large.
23.) What goes into the water black and comes out red?
Answer: A lobster.
24.) Smell me, buy me, and deliver me. I won’t change. What am I?
Answer: Cent, scent, and sent.
Check out: Who is Most Likely To Questions
Mind Teasers
25.) Who spends the day at the window, goes to the table for meals, and hides at night?
Answer: The fly.
26.) There was a greenhouse. Inside the greenhouse, there was a white house. Inside the white house, there was a red house. And, inside the red house, there were lots of babies. What is it?
Answer: A watermelon.
27.) What common eleven-letter word is always spelled incorrectly?
Answer: Incorrectly.
See 63 Best Scavenger Hunt Riddles.
28.) What did the person who invented the door-knocker win?
Answer: The No-bell prize.
29.) What happened to the woman who fell into the upholstery machine?
Answer: She was fully recovered. Check out our Puns for Children.
30.) Did you hear what happened to the origami store?
Answer: It folded.
31.) Why did the vegetable get booed off stage at the comedy show?
Answer: Because he had too many corny jokes.
32.) I am taken from a mine and shut up in a wooden case, from which I am never released, yet almost everybody uses me.
Answer: A lead pencil.
33.) Why did the banker quit his job?
Answer: He lost interest.
Tip: These brain teasers are great for teachers looking to spend a few minutes before the next major time block. Or, include one or two on a test to show the fun of learning.
Brain Teasers With Answers
34.) What do you find in the middle of nowhere?
Answer: The letter H.
35.) Why was everyone so tired on April 1?
Answer: Because they just completed a March of 31 days.
36.) What did one commode say to the other commode?
Answer: You look flushed.
37.) What is it that stands up but grows down?
Answer: A candle.
38.) What happened to the human cannonball?
Answer: He got fired.
39.) How can you go for eight days without sleep?
Answer: Sleep at night.
See 23 World’s Hardest Riddles.
Brain Games for Adults
40.) There are three stoves: a glass stove, a brick stove, and a wood stove. You only have 1 match. Which do you light up first?
Answer: You will light the match stick first.
41.) What goes up and down but never moves?
Answer: Stairs.
42.) What happened to the lion when he ate the clown?
Answer: He felt a little funny.
Tip: Brain teasers are fun to solve in small groups. If you work with kids, form small teams and see if better solutions exist.
Mind Puzzles and Challenging Brain Teasers
43.) What did the quilt say to the bed?
Answer: Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.
44.) Two fathers and two sons went duck hunting. Each shot a duck, but they shot only three ducks in all. How come?
Answer: The hunters were a man, his son, and his grandson.
45.) If you have two bills in your hand that add up to $25, and one isn’t a $5 bill, what bills do you have?
Answer: One twenty and one five-dollar bill — One isn’t a five-dollar bill, but one is!
46.) Which would you rather have: a piggy bank full of nickels or the same piggy bank half-full of dimes?
Answer: The piggy bank is half-full of dimes. Dimes are smaller in size, so you’d have more money.
47.) If Megan had four piles of sand and Molly had five, and they put them all together, how many piles would there be?
Answer: One! Duh, they put them all together.
48.) Brenna walked down a street with no street lights dressed in a black dress, with a black hat and black shoes. A black car approached her with its lights off, yet she was able to stop before hitting her. How did the driver see Brenna?
Answer: It was daylight.
Hard Brain Teasers
49.) Two boys played seven games of checkers. Each wins five games, and yet there were no ties or draws. How can this be?
Answer: They didn’t play with each other. (False assumptions make for a good brainteaser.)
50.) The teacher asked the two girls who looked exactly like the following questions: a.) Are you from the same family? b.) Do you have the same parents? c.) Were you born on the same day? They answered truthfully “yes” to those questions and yet told the truth when they indicated they were not twins. How can this be?
Answer: They were triplets.
51.) Four football linebackers could stay dry while standing under one umbrella. How could this be?
Answer: It wasn’t raining.
52.) If you’re running a marathon and pass the person in 2nd place, what place are you in?
Answer: 2nd place. If you pass the person in the first place, you’ll be in the first place.
53.) A rope tied around a dog’s neck is 10 feet long. His food dish is 15 feet away. How did the dog eat his dinner without cutting the rope or help?
Answer: He just walked right over. (The rope wasn’t tied to anything but the dog.)
Super Hard Brain Teasers
54.) Bennett left home sprinting. He ran away and then turned left, ran the same distance, turned left again, ran the same distance, and turned left again. When he got home, there were two masked men. Who were they?
Answer: The catcher and umpire. Bennett was playing baseball.
55.) Bennett is standing next to three switches. The switches belong to three bulbs in a room behind a closed door – the door is tightly closed and heavy, which means it’s impossible to see if any bulb is on. All three switches are now in the off position. Bennett can do whatever you want with the switches, and when finished, open the door and go into the room. While in there, Bennett has to tell which switch belongs to which bulb. How will he do that?
Answer: Bennet must turn on the first switch and wait awhile. Then, he must turn off the first one and turn on the second. Then, he goes into the room. One bulb is shining, the second bulb is hot, and the third one is nothing. He knows which switch is tied to which bulb. Elementary.
56.) Jonathan is 6’2” tall and works as an assistant at the butcher shop in town. He wears size 11 shoes. What does he weigh?
Answer: Meat.
57.) A man stands on one side of a river, his dog Barney on the other. The man calls Barney, who immediately crosses the river without getting wet without using a bridge or a boat. How did Barney do it?
Answer: Barney did it in the winter when the river was frozen.
Challenging Brain Teasers
58.) How long is the answer to this question?
Answer: How long?
59.) Turn me on my side, and I’m everything. Cut me in half, and I’m nothing. What am I?
Answer: The number 8 (eight).
60.) I am heavy and hard to lift, but backward I am not. What am I?
Answer: A ton.
61.) Michael’s father had three sons: Snap, crackle, and …. who?
Answer: Michael (Please tell me you didn’t say “pop.”)
62.) There are three light bulbs up in your attic. All of them are turned off, and their switches are installed downstairs. You can play with the switches as much as you want; after that, you can visit the attic above once. How can you find out the correct switch for the bulb?
Answer: You turn the first switch on, then wait for 30 minutes and turn the second switch. After that, you go upstairs and examine the bulbs. The one which is turned off corresponds to the third switch. The one turned on and still cold corresponds to the second switch. And the one which is turned on and is hot corresponds to the first switch.
Fun Brain Teasers
63.) What did the mom tomato say to the dawdling baby tomato?
Ketchup.
64.) I exist only when there is light, but direct light kills me. What am I?
A shadow.
65.) You walk into a room with a match, a kerosene lamp, a candle, and a fireplace. Which do you light first?
The match.
66.) A man went outside in the pouring rain without an umbrella. While he got soaked in the rain, not a single hair on his head got wet. How is this possible? The man was bald!
67.) What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Short.
68.) What came first, the chicken or the egg?
The egg. Dinosaurs laid eggs long before there were chickens.
Easy Riddles
69.) I am full of holes, but I can still hold a lot of water. What am I?
A sponge.
70.) When does today come before yesterday?
In a dictionary.
71.) What has a thumb and four fingers but is not alive?
A glove.
72.) What has 88 keys but can’t open a single lock?
A piano.
73.) You can find me in Mercury, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, but not in Venus or Neptune. What am I?
The letter R.
Math Brain Teasers
74.) You are driving a city bus. At the first stop, three women get on. At the second stop, one woman gets off, and a man gets on. Third stop, two children get on. The bus is blue, and it’s snowing outside in December. What color is the bus driver’s hair?
The same color as your hair — you are the bus driver.
75.) A farmer has 19 sheep on his land. A big storm hits one day, and all but seven run away. How many sheep does the farmer have left?
Seven.
76.) How many letters are there in the English alphabet?
18. (3 in the, 7 in English, and 8 in the alphabet).
77.) What is the highest number you can make with only two digits?
99.
Problem-Solving Skills
78.) There are three houses. One is red, one is blue, and one is white. If the red house is to the left of the house in the middle, and the blue house is to the right of the house in the middle, where is the white house?
In Washington DC.
79.) In a one-story pink house, there was a pink person, a pink cat, a pink fish, a pink computer, a pink chair, a pink table, a pink telephone, a pink shower — everything was pink! What color were the stairs?
There weren’t any stairs; it was a one-story house.
80.) If tomorrow I said, “The day before yesterday was Saturday,” which day is today?
Sunday.
81.) There’s an elevator on the ground floor. There are five people in it, including me. The elevator goes up to the second floor; three people get out, and five people get in. It then goes up to the next floor up, and no one gets out, but 12 people get in. Halfway up to the next floor up, the elevator cable snaps, and it crashes to the floor. Everyone else dies in the elevator except me. How did I survive?
I got off on the first floor.
82.) Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world?
Still Mt. Everest.
83.) Together, they total 30 cents. One isn’t a nickel. What are the coins?
A quarter and a nickel.
84.) What is special about these words: job, polish, herb?
They are pronounced differently when the first letter is capitalized.
85.) Two fathers and two sons eat exactly one sandwich each, but they eat three sandwiches altogether. How can this be?
Three people across three generations: a man, his son, and his son’s son.
Conclusion
Though riddles are ambiguous, no matter if you’re a kid or an adult, they are a ton of fun and provide an opportunity to learn, and it’s important to spend more time doing things that you find fun.
Stay alert and exercise your brain by resolving our collection of riddles onsite at our site!
By Michael O’Halloran
Michael is the founder and editor of Greeting Card Poet.
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