Looking for something fun to tease your kids with? Riddles and brain teasers have long been the ultimate Dad trick. They’re right up there with dad jokes — frustrating yet surprisingly simple (once you’re told the answer) and always worth a (very, very small) laugh. When was the last time you quizzed your kids? These brain teasers won’t teach them anything… except for a little logic. Think of each teaser as a very simple prep for your future lawyer’s attempt to take the LSATs. It’s certainly cheaper than hiring a tutor. Sit back, read through, and enjoy a laugh, Dad. Those burgers were perfect and you’ve earned this.
1. I left my campsite and hiked south for 3 miles. Then I turned east and hiked for 3 miles. I then turned north and hiked for 3 miles, at which time I came upon a bear inside my tent eating my food! What color was the bear?
White. The only place you can hike 3 miles south, then east for 3 miles, then north for 3 miles, and end up back at your starting point is the North Pole, where only polar bears live.
2. If you drop me I’m sure to crack, but give me a smile and I’ll always smile back. What am I?
A mirror.
3. Always in you, Sometimes on you; If I surround you, I can kill you. What am I?
Water.
4. How can a man who shaves several times a day still sport a long beard?
He’s a barber.
5. I’m not clothes, but I cover your body; The more I’m used, the thinner I grow. What am I?
Bar of soap.
6. What has cities, but no houses; forests, but no trees; and water, but no fish?
A map.
7. When may a man’s coat pocket be empty, and yet have something in it?
When it has a hole in it.
8. What is cut on a table, but is never eaten?
A deck of cards.
9. What building has the most stories?
The library.
10. A man is looking at a photograph of someone. His friend asks who it is. The man replies, “Brothers and sisters, I have none. But that man’s father is my father’s son.” Who was in the photograph?
His son.
11. What coat goes on wet?
A coat of paint.
12. A sundial has the fewest moving parts of any timepiece. Which has the most?
An hourglass — it has thousands of grains of sand.
13. Take off my skin and I won’t cry, but you will! What am I?
An onion.
14. Five apples are in a basket. How do you divide them among five girls so that each girl gets an apple, but one apple remains in the basket?
Give the fifth girl her apple in the basket.
15. What goes through cities and fields, but never moves?
A road.
16. A man stands on one side of a river, his dog on the other. The man calls his dog, who immediately crosses the river without getting wet and without using a bridge or a boat. How did the dog do it?
The river was frozen.
17. You live in a one-story house made entirely of redwood. What color would the stairs be?
What stairs? You live in a one-story house.
18. When will water stop running downhill?
When it reaches the bottom.
19. What tastes better than it smells?
A tongue.
20. What day would yesterday be if Thursday was four days before the day after tomorrow?
Friday.
21. What is made of water but if you put it into water it will die?
An ice cube.
22. Sometimes I am born in silence, Other times, no. I am unseen, But I make my presence known. In time, I fade without a trace. I harm no one, but I am unpopular with all. What am I?
A fart.
23. On which side of a chicken are there more feathers?
The outside.
24. What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Short.
25. Turn me on my side and I am everything. Cut me in half and I am nothing. What am I?
The number 8.
26. I can’t be bought, but I can be stolen with a glance. I’m worthless to one, but priceless to two. What am I?
Love.
27. I am the beginning of sorrow and the end of sickness. You cannot express happiness without me yet I am in the midst of crosses. I am always at risk yet never in danger. You may find me in the sun, but I am never out of darkness.
The letter S.
28. Your parents have six sons including you, and each son has one sister. How many people are in the family?
Nine — two parents, six sons, and one daughter.
29. The ages of a father and son add up to 55. If you reverse the digits of the son’s age, you get the father’s age. How old is the father?
The father is 41. His son is 14.
30. What word looks the same upside down and backward?
SWIMS.
31. There is only one time in your life when you’re twice as old as your child. When is it?
When they reach the age you were when they were born.
32. You throw a baseball as hard as you can, and it comes back to you. It doesn’t bounce off anything, nothing is attached to it, and no one else catches it or throws it back to you. How?
Throw the baseball in the air.
33. A man, woman, and child go for a walk when it starts to rain. They aren’t carrying umbrellas and don’t have hats, but only two return with wet hair. Why?
The man is bald!
34. What is special about these words: job, polish, herb?
They are all pronounced differently when the first letter is capitalized.
35. I am taken from a mine and shut up in a wooden case, from which I am never released. And yet I am used by almost everybody. What am I?
Pencil lead.
36. No matter how little or how much you use me, you change me every month. What am I?
A calendar.
37. A red house is made from red bricks. A blue house is made from blue bricks. A yellow house is made from yellow bricks. What is a greenhouse made from?
Glass.
38. In my hand, I have two coins that are newly minted. Together, they total 30 cents. One isn’t a nickel. What are the coins?
A quarter and a nickel — one isn’t a nickel but the other is.
39. What kind of running means walking?
Running out of gas.
40. What can be swallowed, but can also swallow you?
Pride.
