Sharpening listening skills and searching for clues
through riddles
💡 Goal : Every riddle holds a mystery to explore, requiring us to go beyond our first intuitions and eventually find the right path.
👦🏻 Target age: 5–12 years
⏰ Duration: 5 to 15 minutes
👉 This is an oral, playful group activity. Children learn to listen, create mental images, and look at a situation from different angles. With regular practice, they become familiar with how riddles work.
👉 Skills developed: listening / imagination / exploring possibilities / concentration / social skills.
🟡 Introduction. “Good listening”
One of the strengths of this activity is that it requires active listening from the children. They quickly realize it on their own without being told! During a session, if some repeat questions already asked, the group reacts: “Weren’t you listening? We already said that!”. That’s the perfect moment to highlight the importance of listening carefully to move forward in the search.
🟢 Exercise 1. Simple riddles (ages 5–6)
“You have to break me before using me. What am I?”
This example is interesting because it contains a contradiction: what can be used only after being broken? Children are invited to go beyond their first associations with the word “break.”
1. Introduction by the game leader
- Explain during the first session that a riddle is a mystery question. It’s up to the students to find the answer.
- Ask the riddle.
2. Children’s search for the answer
- At first, children usually suggest intuitive answers naturally linked with the verb “break,” such as: “A glass!”
- Does this answer fit the riddle? The leader reformulates and examines it with the group:
— Do we break a glass before using it?
— No!
— Then the glass is not the answer… - Continue the search by giving hints and repeating the riddle’s wording:
— I’m made by an animal (or — You can eat me…)
3. End of the game
- When the right answer comes up, check with the group that it matches the clues before validating it.
— An egg!
— An egg is made by an animal, the hen. And yes, you can eat it: the egg is the right answer. - Repeat the riddle and its answer. Tell the children it now belongs to them — they can share it with family and friends!
🟢 Exercise 2. Riddles with more clues (ages 7–12)
“I have teeth but I don’t bite. What am I?”
This riddle encourages children to think beyond the animal or human images the word “teeth” suggests.
It can have several answers: a comb, a fork, or a rake. Pick just one before starting!
1. Introduction by the game leader
- At the first session, ask: “Do you know what a riddle is?” and build a definition together based on the children’s answers.
- Ask the riddle.
- Set the rules of the game:
- Those who know the answer wait until the end to reveal it — to make the game last!
- Raise your hand to speak, either to:
- ask a question
- suggest a clue, which becomes a game in itself.
For those frustrated at not being able to give the answer, encourage them to come up with clues:
“If you think you know the answer, don’t say it! But you can help the others by giving them a clue. Based on your clue, I’ll know if you’ve got it. A clue shouldn’t be too easy — it should help a little, but not too much. Sometimes the best clue even confuses others a bit, and that’s great!”
- Explain it’s an investigation solved through a series of questions (from the children) and answers (from the leader).
— Is it an animal?
— No, it’s not an animal.
— Is it blue?
— It can be.
— Does it breathe?
— No, it doesn’t breathe.
— Do you find it in the sea?
— Normally no, not in the sea.
2. Children’s search for the answer
- Keep the discussion playful so that even shy children feel comfortable participating. Only those who want to speak need to — those who stay silent are still thinking and may contribute later.
- If children ignore already-given information, you can respond in a way that reinforces logic and listening:
— Is it a mammal?
— I already said it’s not an animal. Are mammals animals?
— Yes.
— Then can it be a mammal? … - If answers become inconsistent or a long silence sets in (which can also be productive), summarize what’s known so far: “It’s not an animal, it can be blue, it doesn’t breathe, it’s not in the sea… So? What else can we ask?”
- If the search stalls, drop hints:
“You surely have one at home”, “It fits in your hand…”
- Unexpected answers that still work (like “fork”) should be welcomed:
“That answer works, but we’re looking for another one! Hold onto it, you can share it at the end.” - Sometimes children’s suggestions inspire funny or poetic images that can be recalled at the end: — Does it climb trees?
— Keep that thought, it’s a funny image! (when the answer is a comb). - Once some have guessed, hints flow quickly and get sharper:
— You find it in the bathroom.
— That’s a good hint, sounds like you’ve got it.
— We mostly use it in the morning.
— Yes.
— It can hurt when you use it.
— True.
3. End of the game
- When the group seems to have the right answer, allow one child to say it and check together that it matches the clues.
— A comb?
— A comb has teeth, doesn’t bite, isn’t alive, doesn’t breathe, isn’t found in the sea. We have them at home, they fit in the hand, they’re in the bathroom, we mostly use them in the morning… - Repeat the riddle and answer. Tell the children it now belongs to them — to share with family and friends!
Once the group gets comfortable with riddles, children can become the game leaders. They pose riddles and manage the group discussion.
🟢 Exercise 3: Animal riddle workshop (ages 9–12)
Create a riddle inspired by an animal’s body parts or characteristics.
1. Choose an animal that intrigues or fascinates you.
2. Find clues
Look for images or metaphors that can serve as clues without being too obvious.
3. Play with words
If possible, add rhymes to make the riddle playful and rhythmic.
4. Share
In class, with family…
Example: the cat.
Characteristics: — Its fur is very soft — It can scratch — It hunts at night.
From that we create a riddle:
Affectionate, gentle, yet fierce,
In the dark of night,
Beware my claws!
Who am I?
BONUS
Some riddles
What is, among all the birds of the world,
The swiftest and most alive?
(a thought)
I’m a man or a woman
But I have no flesh of man or woman.
Who am I?
(their shadow)
I come from water, and return to water,
Who am I, tell me?
(a cloud)
It only takes a yes or a no,
For us to part ways.
Who are we?
(the lips)
Neither trunk, nor branches, nor roots,
But leaves by the thousand!
(books)
Who can carry an entire oak tree
But not the tiniest grain of sand?
(the river)
You say its name and it disappears.
What am I?
(silence)
It belongs to me, yet
It’s others who use it.
What is it?
(my name)
Little fellow and big hat?
(a mushroom)
Too close to me, you burn,
Too far from me, you die.
Who am I?
(the sun)