60 Christmas Riddles for Kids With Answers

My red nose lights the way, and the other reindeer once laughed at me. Who am I?

Then ask: Why did the others laugh, and what changed their minds?

Answer: Rudolph.

Why it works: In the song, Rudolph's shiny red nose guides Santa's sleigh through the fog.

I am small, I wear pointy shoes, and I work all year so that one night goes right. Who am I?

Then ask: What job would you want in the workshop?

Answer: An elf.

Why it works: In the stories, Santa's elves spend the whole year making toys at the North Pole.

Santa makes me and checks me twice. What am I?

Then ask: Is anybody all naughty or all nice?

Answer: The naughty and nice list.

Why it works: In the song, Santa makes a list and checks it twice to find out who's been naughty or nice.

Every direction from me is south. Where am I?

Then ask: What would a compass do there?

Answer: The North Pole.

Why it works: At the North Pole there is no farther north to go, so any step you take is south.

Eight of us pull the sleigh, and one more leads on a foggy night. What are we?

Then ask: How many of the reindeer names can you remember?

Answer: Santa's reindeer.

Why it works: The old poem names eight reindeer, and in the song Rudolph is the ninth, who leads on a foggy night.

I leave the North Pole full and come back empty. What am I?

Then ask: What else starts out full and ends up empty?

Answer: Santa's sack.

Why it works: Santa's sack is full of presents at the start of the night and empty once they're all delivered.

Santa says me three times, and I'm the sound of him laughing. What am I?

Then ask: How would you laugh if you were Santa?

Answer: "Ho ho ho."

Why it works: "Ho ho ho" is how Santa laughs in the stories and songs.

Santa uses me instead of the front door. What am I?

Then ask: How would Santa get into a home with no chimney?

Answer: A chimney.

Why it works: In the stories, Santa slides down the chimney instead of knocking at the door.

I am the night before the big day, when kids try hardest to fall asleep. What am I?

Then ask: Why is it so hard to fall asleep that night?

Answer: Christmas Eve.

Why it works: Christmas Eve is December 24, the night Santa comes in the stories.

I am wrapped up tight with a bow on top, and the best part of me is what I'm hiding. What am I?

Then ask: Is the unwrapping part of the fun? Why?

Answer: A present.

Why it works: Paper and a bow hide what is inside a present until someone opens it.

I get torn up the moment my job is done, and nobody is sad about it. What am I?

Then ask: What could you wrap a present in instead of paper?

Answer: Wrapping paper.

Why it works: Wrapping paper hides the present, then gets ripped off when someone opens it.

I am tied around a present, but I am not a shoelace. What am I?

Then ask: Can you tie a bow? Who taught you?

Answer: A ribbon.

Why it works: A ribbon is tied around a present to make it look nice, the way a lace is tied on a shoe.

I am a small card with no number and no suit, and I tell you who a present is from. What am I?

Then ask: What would you write on a tag for someone you love?

Answer: A gift tag.

Why it works: A gift tag is a little card on a present with the name of who it's for and who it's from.

You pull a name from a hat and give that person something without saying it was you. What game am I?

Then ask: Would you rather give in secret or let them know it was you?

Answer: Secret Santa.

Why it works: In Secret Santa, everyone draws a name and gives that person a present in secret.

I come in a big box on Christmas morning, and sometimes kids play with the box more than with me. What am I?

Then ask: What would you build out of a really big box?

Answer: A toy.

Why it works: A big empty box is great for climbing into and building with, so sometimes it wins over the toy.

You say me after you open a present, even one you don't love. What am I?

Then ask: Why say it for something you don't like?

Answer: "Thank you."

Why it works: Saying thank you tells someone you're glad they thought of you, whatever the present is.

You open one of my little doors every day from December 1. What am I?

Then ask: What would you hide behind the doors of your own?

Answer: An Advent calendar.

Why it works: An Advent calendar counts down to Christmas with one small door to open each day.

Kids shake me, weigh me and press their ears to me, and I still won't tell. What am I?

Then ask: What is the best way to guess what's inside without opening it?

Answer: A wrapped box under the tree.

Why it works: A wrapped box keeps its secret until Christmas morning, no matter how hard you shake it.

I am shaped like a hook, I'm striped red and white, and I taste like mint. What am I?

Then ask: Turn me upside down. What letter do I look like?

Answer: A candy cane.

Why it works: Candy canes are hard mint candies bent into a hook, so they can hang on the tree.

I am a house you can eat, with candy on my roof. What am I?

Then ask: Which part would you eat first?

Answer: A gingerbread house.

Why it works: A gingerbread house is built from cookie walls and decorated with frosting and candy.

I am hot and brown, and I wear little white marshmallows on top. What am I?

Then ask: What else would you float on top?

Answer: Hot chocolate.

Why it works: Hot chocolate is a warm drink, and marshmallows float on top of it.

I wait out on a plate on Christmas Eve, next to a glass of milk, for a visitor. What am I?

Then ask: What would you leave out for the reindeer?

Answer: Cookies for Santa.

Why it works: In many homes, kids leave cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas Eve.

I am a big bird in the middle of many holiday dinners. What am I?

Then ask: Which dish can your family not have a holiday without?

Answer: A turkey.

Why it works: Turkey is one of the most common main dishes at holiday dinners in the United States.

I am a heavy cake full of dried fruit, and people joke that I get passed from house to house. What am I?

Then ask: Is there a food you'd happily pass along?

Answer: A fruitcake.

Why it works: Fruitcake is a dense cake packed with dried fruit and nuts, and people joke that nobody eats it, they just give it away again.

I get cut into stars, trees and bells, then covered in sprinkles. What am I?

Then ask: What shape would you cut out?

Answer: A sugar cookie.

Why it works: Sugar cookie dough is rolled flat, cut with shaped cutters and decorated after baking.

I am made of milk, eggs and nutmeg, and I only show up in winter. What am I?

Then ask: Would you try it? Why or why not?

Answer: Eggnog.

Why it works: Eggnog is a sweet, creamy holiday drink made with milk, eggs and spices.

I roast on an open fire in a famous Christmas song. What am I?

Then ask: What song do you hear every December?

Answer: A chestnut.

Why it works: "The Christmas Song" starts with chestnuts roasting on an open fire.

I sit at the very top of the tree and shine. What am I?

Then ask: Which does your family put up there, and why?

Answer: A star, or an angel.

Why it works: Many families top the Christmas tree with a star, and others use an angel.

I hang from a branch, I'm round and shiny, and if I fall I might break. What am I?

Then ask: Do you have one with a story behind it?

Answer: An ornament.

Why it works: Ornaments are decorations hung on the tree, and the glass ones break easily.

I am a ring of green branches that hangs on the front door. What am I?

Then ask: Why might a circle be a good shape for it?

Answer: A wreath.

Why it works: A wreath is a circle of evergreen branches, often with a bow, hung on doors at Christmas.

My red parts look like petals, but they're really leaves. What am I?

Then ask: What else looks like one thing but is really another?

Answer: A poinsettia.

Why it works: The red parts of a poinsettia are leaves, and the tiny flowers sit in the middle.

We blink on the tree and on the roof, and we come out of the box tangled every year. What are we?

Then ask: How would you put them away so they don't tangle?

Answer: Christmas lights.

Why it works: Strings of lights decorate trees and houses, and long strings tangle easily in storage.

I am shiny and stringy, and I hang on the tree like icicles. What am I?

Then ask: What else could you hang to look like ice?

Answer: Tinsel.

Why it works: Tinsel is thin, shiny strips draped over the branches to sparkle like icicles.

I'm folded and cut from paper, and when you open me up, I'm a pattern nobody else has. What am I?

Then ask: What happens if you fold the paper one more time before you cut?

Answer: A paper snowflake.

Why it works: Folding the paper and cutting it makes a pattern that repeats all the way around when you unfold it.

I ring all the way in a song about a one-horse open sleigh. What am I?

Then ask: How many Christmas songs can you name?

Answer: Jingle bells.

Why it works: "Jingle Bells" is the song about dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh.

I travel in an envelope in December with a picture and a few kind words. What am I?

Then ask: Who would you send one to this year?

Answer: A Christmas card.

Why it works: People send Christmas cards to friends and family with greetings for the holidays.

I hang from the roof, I'm made of water, and I melt from the tip. What am I?

Then ask: Why do you think icicles end in a point?

Answer: An icicle.

Why it works: Icicles form when melting snow drips off a roof and freezes again on the way down.

I keep your neck warm and get wrapped around twice. What am I?

Then ask: What is the warmest thing you own?

Answer: A scarf.

Why it works: A scarf is a long strip of warm cloth you wrap around your neck.

You lie down in the snow and flap your arms and legs, and I'm the shape you leave. What am I?

Then ask: What other shapes could you make in snow?

Answer: A snow angel.

Why it works: Moving your arms and legs while lying in snow leaves a shape like an angel with wings and a long robe.

I'm a battle where nobody gets hurt and everybody gets cold. What am I?

Then ask: What rules make it fair?

Answer: A snowball fight.

Why it works: In a snowball fight, people throw soft balls of snow at each other for fun.

I'm a day off from school that the weather gives you. What am I?

Then ask: What would your perfect one look like?

Answer: A snow day.

Why it works: Schools close when snow makes the roads unsafe, and kids get the day off.

I'm a shoe for walking on top of deep snow. What am I?

Then ask: Why would a wider shoe sink less?

Answer: A snowshoe.

Why it works: Snowshoes are wide frames strapped to your boots, so your weight spreads out and you don't sink.

I have runners, but I never run. What am I?

Then ask: What else has a part named after something people do?

Answer: A sled.

Why it works: The long blades under a sled are called runners.

I'm the shortest day of the year, and I come just before Christmas. What am I?

Then ask: After that day, do the days get longer or shorter?

Answer: The winter solstice.

Why it works: Around December 21, the northern half of the Earth has its shortest day and longest night.

I'm where the fire lives inside the house, with a chimney to carry the smoke away. What am I?

Then ask: Why do people like to gather around a fire?

Answer: A fireplace.

Why it works: A fireplace holds a fire inside a home, and the chimney above it lets the smoke out.

What does a snowman eat for breakfast?

Then ask: What would a snowman have for dessert?

Answer: Frosted Flakes.

Why it works: Frosted Flakes is a cereal, and a snowman is covered in frost and made of flakes.

What do elves learn in school?

Then ask: What other subjects could an elf study?

Answer: The elf-abet.

Why it works: Elf-abet sounds like alphabet.

Why was the snowman looking through the bag of carrots?

Then ask: Is that joke gross, funny or both?

Answer: He was picking his nose.

Why it works: A snowman's nose is a carrot, so picking a carrot means picking a nose.

What's every parent's favorite Christmas carol?

Then ask: What would kids pick as their favorite?

Answer: "Silent Night."

Why it works: "Silent Night" is a real carol, and a silent night is what tired parents wish for.

What do you call a cat on the beach at Christmas?

Then ask: Can you make a Santa name for another animal?

Answer: Sandy Claws.

Why it works: Sandy Claws sounds like Santa Claus, and a cat on a beach gets sand on its claws.

How does a snowman get around town?

Then ask: How would a reindeer get around?

Answer: On an icicle.

Why it works: Icicle sounds like bicycle, with ice in it.

What do you get if you cross a snowman and a vampire?

Then ask: What would you get if you crossed a reindeer and a ghost?

Answer: Frostbite.

Why it works: Frostbite is what cold does to skin, and vampires bite.

Why does Santa have three gardens?

Then ask: Do you know what a hoe is?

Answer: So he can hoe, hoe, hoe.

Why it works: To hoe is to dig a garden with a tool called a hoe, and it sounds like Santa's "ho ho ho".

What's red, white and blue at Christmas?

Then ask: What would a happy candy cane be?

Answer: A sad candy cane.

Why it works: Feeling blue means feeling sad, so a red and white candy cane that is blue is a sad one.