The benefits of riddles for children | riddles in literature & learning

A brief history of riddles: from Sumerians to sphinxes

Riddles have been feeding our minds for thousands of years — long before Fortnite, FIFA and bingeworthy TV shows. They’re one of the earliest forms of brain-teasing fun, and they’ve popped up all over the world throughout history, like a trail of mysterious mental treasures connecting humans together through time and space. In all countries and all eras, people have used riddles to entertain, to challenge and to unravel’s life’s inner meaning. I believe that long before the written word evolved, riddles were dreamed up by our ancestors and told around camp fires by wise women and men.

Let’s start in ancient Sumer, around 2350 BCE, where some of the earliest known riddles were carved into clay tablets in cuneiform script. These weren’t just for fun — they were used to teach, to test wisdom, and to play with words. They are not easy to understand and sound strange to our modern ears, but those that have been discovered and translated are still about subjects we can easily recognise, like a school, an axe, or a mouse.

Fast forward nearly 1,500 years to 5th-century BCE Greece, and we meet the Sphinx. Her famous riddle — “What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon and three in the evening?” — appears in Sophocles’ tragic play Oedipus Rex and is still being retold today. (Scroll to the end of the article to find the answer.)

Skip ahead another thousand years, and we find riddles at the heart of Norse legends. King Heidrek’s riddle contest is a highlight of the Icelandic Hervarar saga, from around the 13th century in which the king is tested by none other than Odin. Like the Sumerian riddles, they don’t all make sense in modern times, but I do like to challenge students with one of these riddles when I visit schools: Eight feet it has and four eyes, and its knees are above its belly. (Scroll to the end of the article to find the answer.)

Even Charlemagne — ruling the Franks in the 8th century — enjoyed riddling games at court. He persuaded a brilliant mathematician, cleric and scholar called Alcuin of York to join his court. Alciun created riddles and logic problems for Charlemagne, including the infamous river puzzle, which is still enjoyed today.

A traveller arrives at the edge of a river, accompanied by a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage. Fortunately, he finds a small boat nearby, just big enough to carry himself and one other item—either the wolf, the goat, or the cabbage. However, he quickly realises there’s a problem: if he leaves the goat alone with the cabbage, the goat will eat it; and if he leaves the wolf alone with the goat, the wolf will eat the goat. The wolf, however, has no interest in the cabbage. How can the traveller get all three—wolf, goat, and cabbage—safely across the river without anything being eaten, using the fewest trips possible?

Riddles in literature: books full of brain-bending fun

If you’re a fan of riddles, you’ve probably read The Hobbit and know the tense riddle battle in the goblin tunnels between Bilbo and Gollum in the chapter named Riddles in the Dark. It’s one of the best examples of how riddles in stories aren’t just decoration — they can be key to the plot, character development, and magical tension.

Here’s one of the riddles from Tolkein’s classic magical adventure (one of my favourite books of all time):

Thirty white horses on a red hill,
First they champ,
Then they stamp,
Then they stand still.

Riddles crop up again and again in children’s books and I’m always amazed at just how inventive authors are, in finding new and exciting angles to this age-old storytelling technique:

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin – Full of puzzles and secrets, this classic has kept kids guessing for decades.
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart – A brainy series that celebrates riddles, logic, and teamwork.
Wonderscape by Jennifer Bell – An abandoned house leads to the Wonderscape—a futuristic, in-game world with fantastical realms inspired by historical figures.
The Riddle of the Runes by Janina Ramirez – A historical mystery set in Viking times, perfect for young riddle-solvers.
The 39 Clues series by various authors – A globe-trotting adventure packed with codes, puzzles and sibling rivalry.
The Book with a Hole by Hervé Tullet – Quirky, creative and interactive — this is riddling in visual form.
The Quicksmiths Series by Loris Owen (ahem) – Naturally, riddles run riot in these science-fantasy adventures filled with puzzles, codes, and curious contraptions.

📚 You can find more recommendations on the Quicksmiths Riddle Book Recommendations Page.

How riddles enhance storytelling

Riddles aren’t just fun add-ons in stories — they can function as plot-twisting levers, diverting the tracks at just the right moment. They can slow the pace, add tension and mystery, and give characters something clever to tackle beyond battles or broomsticks.

A well-placed riddle can:

Force a character to think their way out of trouble
Reveal hidden truths or secret knowledge
Deepen world-building
Add rhythm, playfulness and intrigue to the narrative

When readers solve riddles alongside characters, they feel like part of the adventure. The best kind of riddles turn reading into an interactive game of wits. There’s a lot to be said for that in a world where books are competing for children’s attention alongside quick-hit comics and visually stunning games.

The benefits of riddles for children’s development

From learning patience to building confidence, from making connections to critical analysis, riddles give children a meaningful advantage in a world where short-cuts are the new normality.

Build patience and focus with riddles

In a world where everything’s instant (snacks, scores, answers), riddles ask us to pause. To wait. To wonder. When a child sticks with a riddle, even when it’s tricky, they’re learning to be patient — and to trust their brain to get there in the end.

There’s something very satisfying about working on a puzzle overnight, then waking up with a new idea. I often do this when a puzzle game or a crossword clue has me stuck, and nearly always I find that I see something new with fresh eyes. Riddles reward concentration and help children slow down and sharpen their focus — a great skill for school and for life too. Riddles aren’t just for kids!

Boost language and wordplay skills

Riddles often use puns, metaphors and unexpected wordplay. That makes them brilliant sneaky language lessons wrapped up in a delicious game. Kids learn new words and meanings without even noticing — and pick up the rhythm and rhyme of language at the same time.

See the funny side of life

Riddles can be suddenly obvious. They can be infuriating. But some of the best ones make us laugh out loud — or groan like we’ve just heard the world’s worst (and therefore best) dad joke. Riddles and jokes have different characteristics but, for my money, the best riddles mimic jokes (and the other way around).

Laughter helps reduce stress, boosts endorphins and is crucial to making friends. It’s even been shown to help learning stick. So when your child lets out a giggle because a riddle’s got them good (or they got you good), their brain is working on several important levels.

Encourage creative and critical thinking

Solving riddles means thinking in a new way. You’ve got to spot patterns, shift perspective, and sometimes even make wild guesses. That’s fantastic for developing both logical reasoning and creativity — a rare double act. When children learn that the answer isn’t obvious — and might need a leap of imagination — they become more confident thinkers in all sorts of situations.

Solving riddles together builds connection

Sharing riddles is a joyful way to spend time with others, and I’ve included some suggestions later in this article for how to make them part of everyday life. Whether you’re shouting guesses in the car, making up clues on a rainy afternoon, or puzzling out a birthday treasure trail, riddles create mini adventures.

Kids love sharing riddles they’ve mastered (I always get attacked with riddle challenges when I visit schools). And when they teach them to others, they’re reinforcing knowledge, building confidence, and showing off their smarts. The riddle tribe is a great tribe to be in.

Physical and psychological benefits: mindset, memory and more

Something fascinating happens in the brain when we solve riddles. Scientists have found that riddles light up several important parts of the brain at once, especially the prefrontal cortex — the area just behind the forehead that helps us to plan, focus, and solve problems. It’s like the brain’s control room, and it’s especially busy when we’re working through tricky puzzles.

Riddles help us practise what researchers call productive struggle — the sweet spot where a task is just difficult enough to make the brain work hard, but not so difficult that it becomes overwhelming. This is where real learning happens. The brain starts testing new ideas, switching strategies, and looking at the problem from different angles – or what I like to call sideways thinking. A study from the University of Washington showed that when the brain realises one strategy isn’t working, it automatically tries to shift gears and come up with a new plan. That moment of rethinking — often right before giving up — is actually a sign that you’re getting close to the answer.

Solving riddles also strengthens working memory, which is the ability to hold and use information in your mind. It’s like a mental notepad. It’s good for our brains to have to remember clues, test ideas, and sometimes go back and change a way of thinking. This juggling act improves memory and helps build problem-solving skills we’ll use in everyday life.

Even better, riddles help grow what’s known as a growth mindset — the belief that intelligence isn’t fixed and that you can improve with effort. Every time we stick with a riddle and figure it out, even after being stuck, it sends a message: “I can do hard things.” That moment of success triggers a little burst of dopamine, a brain chemical linked to reward and motivation. It feels good — and it makes us want to persevere and resist checking for a quick answer next time.

But in all of this, confidence is the real treasure. Solving a tricky riddle can make us feel clever, capable, and proud. It’s more than just getting the answer — it’s about making time and space to expand the mind, learning to enjoy the challenge and trusting in your own thinking. That’s a powerful mindset to carry with us through our lives.

Six things children have told me about riddles

“Riddles are like treasure maps, but the treasure is in your brain.” – Sam, age 9
“I like when I get it wrong and then go OH WAIT and suddenly get it.” – Asha, age 10
“They’re like lemonade in my brain.” – Leo, age 8
“Everyone in my family has a riddle face – when they finally get the answer.” – Ruby, age 11
“Sometimes I cheat and look at the answer but only after I’ve tried at least three guesses.” – Owen, age 10
“I want to write a riddle that nobody can solve. Not even my teacher.” – Isla, age 9

First easy steps to writing your own riddles

Once kids (and grown-ups!) have solved a few riddles, they’re often keen to learn how to make their own. Here are a few highlights from the riddles workshops I do when I visit schools and bookshops.

1. Pick something simple.

Most riddles are about something ordinary and simple — like a toothbrush, a cloud, or a shoelace. It helps if you can use words in your riddle that have two meanings – like orange (the fruit) and orange (the colour).

2. Describe it in a tricky way.

What does it do? Where do you find it? Who uses it? How can you surprise people and make them think you’re talking about something else?

3. Use all your senses

Sometimes when you think about how something sounds, smells, or feels, you might stumble across a good idea for your riddle. If you are writing about a household item, putting it on the table in front of you and shutting off the other senses can help you to hone in on your riddle subject.

4. Use rhythm or rhyme to add sparkle

This is harder than it sounds, but once you have a blackbelt in writing riddles, give this a go! Having a doodle page for rhyming words can loosen up the brain and might help you to think of a new angle for your riddle.

5. Always room for improvement

Finally, test your riddle out on friends and family and use their feedback to make improvements.

For lots of free riddles, head over to the puzzles, games and riddles pages. You can also find more riddles on the Quicksmiths YouTube channel. If you still can’t get enough riddles, then you’ll find more human-written, completely original riddles in my books, starting with the first in the series, The Ten Riddles of Eartha Quicksmith.

If you enjoyed this article, I’d love to hear your riddles in the content, via the contact form, or tag me in your social posts @writingloris.

Answers:

“What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon and three in the evening?”
A human being — crawling baby, walking adult, old person with a cane.

Eight feet it has and four eyes, and its knees are above its belly.
A spider (some species of spiders, including jumping spiders, have 8 eyes).

The traveller can’t take the wolf first, or the goat would eat the cabbage. So he takes the goat across the river first and leaves it on the other side.

Then he rows back alone and takes the wolf next. But he doesn’t leave the wolf with the goat—he brings the goat back with him!

Back on the first side, he leaves the goat and takes the cabbage across. Now the wolf and cabbage are safe together.

Finally, he rows back one last time to get the goat. Now all three—the goat, the wolf, and the cabbage—are safely on the other side!

There’s another way to do it, where he takes the cabbage second instead of the wolf. But he still has to do the same number of trips to keep everyone safe.