40 Tricky Math Riddles for Kids

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We love to have fun in our house and one of the ways we have fun is by telling jokes and some good brain teasers. More recently we have started introducing tricky math riddles for kids to our family.

The kids love trying to solve math riddles and if I am being honest I love them too because it introduces so many great life long skills into their lives.

Math riddles for kids are not only fun, but they also help challenge lateral thinking, teach problem-solving skills, develop creative problem solving, and also help teach math skills.

No matter what age your kids are, there are tricky math riddles that are just right for them.

Here are some of our favorite tricky math riddles for kids!

Math Riddles for Kids

Question: X is an odd number. Take an alphabet away from X and it becomes even. Which is that number?

Answer: Seven (Seven-S=Even)

Question: A grandmother, two mothers, and two daughters went to a baseball game together and bought one ticket each. How many tickets did they buy in total?

Answer: 3 tickets (the grandmother is also a mother and the mother is also a daughter)

Question: At the time of shipping, Tom can place 10 small boxes or 8 large boxes into a carton. A total of 96 boxes were sent in one shipment. The number of small boxes was less than large boxes. What is the total number of cartons he shipped?

Answer: 11 cartons
4 small boxes (410 = 40 boxes) 7 large boxes (78 = 56 boxes)
So 96 boxes and 11 total cartons

Question: When Miguel was 6 years old, his little sister, Leila, was half is age. If Miguel is 40 years old today, how old is Leila?

Answer: She is 37 years old.

Question: You are given 3 positive numbers. You can add these numbers and multiply them together. The result you get will be the same. Which are the numbers?

Answer: 1, 2 and 3

Question:What can you put between a 7 and an 8 so that the result is greater than a seven, but less than an eight?

Answer: A decimal. 7.8 is greater than 7, but less than 8

Question: Tom was asked to paint the number of plates on 100 apartments which means he will have to paint numbers 1 through 100. Can you figure out the number of times he will have to paint the number 8?

Answer: 20 times. (8, 18, 28, 38, 48, 58, 68, 78, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 98)

Question: What did the triangle say to the circle?

Answer: You’re pointless

Question: If two’s company and three’s a crowd, what are four and five?

Answer: 9

Question: What is the maximum possible number of times you can subtract number 5 from number 25?

Answer: Only once.  This is because when you subtract 5 from 25 for the first time, it becomes number 20, then 15 and so on

Question: Leon works at the aquarium. When he tries to put each turtle in its own tank, he has one turtle too many. But if he puts two turtles per tank, he has on tank too many. How many turtles and how many tanks does Leon have?

Answer: He has 3 tanks and 4 turtles

Question: A 300 ft. train is traveling 300 ft. per minute must travel through a 300 ft. long tunnel.  How long will it take the train to travel through the tunnel?

Answer: Two minutes. It takes the front of the train one minute and the rest of the train will take two minutes to clear the tunnel

Question: I am a three-digit number. My second digit is 4 times bigger than the third digit. My first digit is 3 less than my second digit. Who am I?

Answer: 141

Question: I add five to nine, and get two. The answer is correct, but how?

Answer: When it is 9am, add 5 hours to it and you will get 2pm

Question: Place three matches on a table. Tell a friend to add two more matches to make eight.

Answer: Add two matches to make a roman numeral eight

Question: Using only addition, how can you add eight 8’s to get the number 1,000?

Answer: 888 +88 +8 +8 +8 =1,000

Question: There are 100 pairs of dogs in a zoo. Two pairs of babiesp are born for every dog. Unfortunately, 23 of the dogs have not survived. How many dogs would be left in total?

Answer: 977 dogs (100 x 2 = 200; 200 + 800 = 1000; 1000 – 23 = 977)

Question: A group of students were standing in the blazing sun facing due west on a march past event. The leader shouted at them: Right turn! About turn! Left turn! At the end of these commands, in which direction is the students facing now?

Answer: East. They will turn 90 degrees in a right turn, and they turn180 degrees in an about-turn, and finally they turn 90 degrees in a left turn. Therefore, the students are now facing east.

Question: How can you take 2 from 5 and leave 4?

Answer: F I V E
Remove the 2 letters F and E from five and you have IV

Question: Eggs are $0.12 a dozen. How many eggs can you get for a dollar?

Answer: 100 eggs, at one penny each

Question: I am a three-digit number. My tens digit is six more than my ones digit. My hundreds digit is eight less than my tens digit. What number am I?

Answer: 193

Question: In an odd little town, there was an odd little stream, WIth odd little fish in an odd little team. A stranger approached a local fisherman, And asked him how much his odd little fish weighed. The odd little man replied: All the fish in this stream weigh exactly 1/2 of a pound plus 1/2 of a fish. Isn’t that odd? How many pounds does an odd little fish weigh?

Answer: One

Question: How many sides does a circle have?

Answer: Two. The inside and the outside

Question: A man is twice as old as his little sister. He is also half as old as their dad. Over a period of 50 years, the age of the sister will become half of their dad’s age. What is the age of the man now?

Answer: He is 50 years old

Question: How did the soccer fan know before the game that the score would be 0-0?

Answer: The score is always 0-0 before the game

Question: What is the difference between a dollar and a half and thirty five-cents.

Answer: Nothing

Question: If you multiply this number by any other number, the answer will always be the same. What number is this?

Answer: Zero

Question: What did one math book say to the other math book?

Answer: Do you want to hear my problems?

Question: There is a clothing store in Bartlesville. The owner has devised his own method of pricing items. A vest costs $20, socks cost $25, a tie costs $15 and a blouse costs $30. Using the method, how much would a pair of underwear cost?

Answer: $45. The pricing method consists of charging $5 for each letter required to spell the item.

Question: If seven people meet each other and each shakes hands only once with each of the others, how many handshakes will there have been?

Answer: Twenty One

Question: What number comes next in the sequence: 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, __?

Answer: 21 (adding the consecutive numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on)

Question: I have four sides, all of equal length. What am I?

Answer: A Square

Question: If you have three apples and you take away two, how many apples do you have?

Answer: Two, because you took two apples

Question: I am a shape with no corners. What am I?

Answer: A Circle

Question: I am a number. When you reverse my digits, I become twice as large. What number am I?

Answer: 12 (21 is twice as large as 12)

Question: I am a shape with no equal sides or angles. What am I?

Answer: An Irregular Polygon

Question: I am a fraction that is equivalent to 3/4 but not written as 3/4. What fraction am I?

Answer: 6/8

Question: I am a shape with eight equal sides. What am I?

Answer: An Octagon

Question: I am the opposite of subtraction. What am I?

Answer: Addition

Question: I am a shape with six equal sides. What am I?

Answer: A Hexagon

There you have it, 40 tricky math riddles for kids!

What math riddles for kids would you add to the list? Be sure to share in the comments!

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