Math Puzzles and Math Riddles can be a great source of learning and provide a

better understanding to the kids.

It helps a kid in a number of ways:

• Mathematical puzzles help kids to think differently

• It helps students to visualize the problem set and then arrive at a solution

• It helps students to follow a step by step approach

• It will make the mind of a kid sharper which helps them to solve the
maths problems more efficiently

• It ensures a daily practice and improves the accuracy of a child

• It improves the concentration and the determination of a child to solve a

• Lastly, it is a great way to stand out from your peers and friends

Check out this Emoji Puzzle posted by NASA STEM Engagement for World
Emoji Day.
To help our students with developing their skill set, we have brought a set of 30
math puzzles for kids. Not only this, but we have also stated elaborated
answers for the question set which will help our students at each and every
step which they take.

Therefore, some of the maths puzzles with answers are as follows:

1. Suppose, you have 10 apples and 10 friends. You give each of your friends
one apple. Now all your friends have one apple each. But there is still an apple
left in the basket. How is this possible?

Answer:
The question is actually very simple but makes us think in complicated ways.
After giving 9 apples to 9 friends, give the 10th friend the basket along with the
10th apple in it. This is all that it takes to think differently.

2. Find a 10-digit number where the first digit is how many zeros are in the
number, the second digit is how many 1s are in the number, etc. until the tenth
digit which is how many 9s are in the number.

Answer:
6210001000
3. What is the following number? 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36, ______________

Answer:
We have an arithmetic series over here in which every successive number is
greater by 3. So the sequence will be: 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36, 39, 42, 45, 48,
and so on.

4. Hari had 6 siblings who were all born 2 years apart. The youngest is Richa
who is only 7 years old while Hari is the oldest. What is Hari’s age?

Answer:
Richa, the youngest sibling is 7 years old. Each sibling was born 2 years apart,
and there are a total of seven children (Hari and his 6 siblings). Therefore, Hari’s
age is: 7 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 19.

5. Ravi lives in a village that is next to a forest. One day he met with a genie.
The genie granted Ravi one wish. Ravi wished for 100 grams of gold. The genie
agreed and offered Ravi 100 grams of gold. Shocked and feeling upset that he
asked for so little, Ravi requested the genie for another wish. The genie agreed
on one condition that he would come back the next month on any date and Ravi
would need to present him with gold rings. However, the gold rings have to be
of the same weight as on the date on which the genie arrived. This means that
if the genie came on the 20th, he would need 20 grams of gold. What did Ravi
do next?

Answer:
This is a challenging maths riddle because the date is unknown. If Ravi decided
to make a different gold ring for each day, it will be a problem because he has
only 100 grams of gold. So, if he made a gold ring of 31 grams, 30 grams, 29
grams, and 27 grams, he would run out of gold. So what should he do? The
solution is to make 5 rings of weight 1 gram, 2 grams, 4 grams, 8 grams, and
16 grams. These numbers can be used to reach any combination up till the
number 31. For example: 24th day: 16+8, 13th day: 8+4+1, 31st day:
16+8+4+2+1 etc.
6. If Radha is the 50th fastest and slowest runner in her school, how many
students are there in her school?

Answer:
99 students.

50th Fastest when you count in sequence from 1, Radha comes on 50.

50th Slowest when you count in sequence from 99, Radha is again on 50.

7. Six Wolves can catch six lambs in six minutes. So how many wolves will
catch 60 lambs in sixty minutes?

Answer:
1 wolf can catch 1 lamb in six minutes. In 60 minutes, each wolf can catch 10
lambs. So, 6 wolves can catch 60 lambs in 60 minutes.

8. What weighs more – A kilo of apples or a kilo of iron?

Answer:
They weigh the same. Each weighs exactly a kilo.

9. Last weekend, Jack went to play in the park near his house. He rode the new
bicycle gifted by his grandma. After reaching the park, Jack saw that there were
14 tricycles and bicycles. If there were 38 wheels in total, how many tricycles
were there in the park?

Answer:
There were 10 tricycles which will make up 10*3 = 30 wheels and 4 bicycles
which will make up 4*2 = 8 wheels. In total, there were 30+8 = 38 wheels.
10. If there are five monkeys and each one takes 5 minutes to eat 5 bananas.
How many minutes would 4 monkeys take to eat 4 bananas?

Answer:
Each monkey eats 5 bananas in 5 minutes, so 1 banana in 1 minute. So, if there
are 4 monkeys and 4 bananas, they will take 1 minute only.

11. The age of a father and a son add up to 66. The age of the dad is the age of
the son reversed. How old could they be?

Answer:
There are three different answers for this: the father and son could be 51 and
15 years or 42 and 24 years old or 60 and 06 years old. Each of these
combinations would add up to give 66 as a total.

12. A scientist engineered a new plant that could double its size every day. He
made it grow in a circular pond with a circumference of 600 meters. If he
planted it in the southern part of the pond, and the plant-covered half the pond
in 28 days, how many days would it take to cover the full pond?

Answer:

29 days.

As mentioned in the beginning, the plant doubles in size every day. So if it

13. There are 2 buckets, a 5 liter, and a 3-liter bucket. Fill the 5-liter bucket with
4 liters of water using just these two buckets to measure.

Answer:
Fill the 3-liter bucket fully. Pour it into the 5-liter bucket. Again fill the 3-liter
bucket. Pour the remaining 2 liters into the 5-liter bucket. Pour the 5-liter bucket
completely and fill it with the 1 liter remaining in the 3-liter bucket. Again fill the
3-liter bucket and pour it into the 5-liter bucket.
14. Two fathers and two sons go fishing. Each of them catches one fish. So
why do they bring home only three fish?

Answer:
The fishing group comprises a grandfather, his son, and his son’s son. So, there
are just three people.

15. 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 (4*10 = 40 boxes)

7 large boxes (7*8 = 56 boxes)

So 96 boxes and 11 total cartons

Answer:
3 minutes! First of all, he can put two pieces of bread in the toaster. After 1
minute, one side of each of the 2 loaves of bread gets toasted. He can then flip
one bread and take the other one out and replace it with the 3rd bread. After
the second minute, 1 bread is completely toasted and 2 loaves of bread are half
toasted. After 3 minutes, all 3 pieces of bread get toasted.

17. You are given a telephone and asked to multiply all the numbers on the
device’s number pad. What will be the answer?

Answer:
Zero (The number pad contains number 0. When you multiply any number by
zero, the answer will be zero)

18. Tom and Peter live in different parts of the city but study in the same high
school. Tom left for school 10 minutes before Peter started and they happened
to meet at a park. At the time of their meeting, who was closer to the school?

Answer:
They are both at the same distance from school as they met in the same place.
19. Amir has 2 buckets with him. The first bucket had only red marbles and the
other one had only brown marbles. The 2 of these buckets have an equal
number of marbles. What type of arrangement can he make to increase the
possibility of grabbing a red marble from each of the buckets?

Answer:
Keep only a single red marble in one bucket and the remaining red and brown
marbles in the other bucket. This increases his chances of grabbing a red marble
from each of the buckets which is not possible with any other arrangement.

20. A group of students was 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:
They will turn 90 degrees in a right turn and face north. Then, they turn 180
degrees in an about-turn to face south, and finally, they turn 90 degrees in a left
turn. Therefore, the students are now facing east.

21. Tom weighs half as much as Peter and Jerry weigh 3 times the weight of
Tom. Their total weight is 720 pounds. Can you figure out the individual
weights of each man?

Answer:
Let Peter’s weight be 2x. Then Tom’s weight is x and Jerry’s weights 3x.

x + 2x + 3x = 720

6x = 720

x = 120 pounds

So, Tom weighs 120 pounds, Peter weighs 240 pounds and Jerry weighs 360
pounds.

22. There is an empty basket that is one foot in diameter. Can you tell me the
total number of eggs that you can put in this empty basket?

Answer:
Only One Egg! Once you put an egg into the basket, it doesn’t remain empty
anymore.
23. There is a golf club that is formed for men only. The club comprises a total
of 600. 5% of the total men in the club have one tattoo. By taking into account
the other 95% members, half of them have two tattoos and the remaining men
have no tattoos. What is the total number of tattoos that you can see in the
club?

Answer:
According to the information, 5% or 30 of them are having one tattoo. Among
the other 95% or 570 men, half of them have two tattoos and the rest half have
none. This is equivalent to all of them having a tattoo. So the total number of
tattoos is 600.

24. X is a three-digit number. The tens digit is 5 more than the ones digit. The
hundreds digit is 8 less than the tens digit. What is X?

Answer:
Number 194.

25. When you add eight 8’s, the result you get will be number 1,000. How is it
possible? You are permitted to use only addition to solve the problem.

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

26. I am an odd number; take away an alphabet and I become even. What
number am I?

Answer:
Seven (SEVEN-S=EVEN)
27. A man works on the 10th floor and always takes the elevator down to
ground level at the end of the day. Yet every morning, he only takes the
elevator to the 7th floor and then walks up the stairs to the 10th floor, even
when in a hurry. But he will go all the way to the 10th floor when others are in
the elevator with him or on a rainy day. Why?

Answer:
He is too short to reach the "10" button. But when others are with him, he can
ask them to push the button for the 10th floor. And on a rainy day, he has an
umbrella, so he can push the button using that.

28. Tom asked his Granny how old she was. Rather than giving him a straight
answer, she replied: "I have 6 children, and there are 4 years between each one
and the next. I had my first child (your Uncle Peter) when I was 19. Now the
youngest one (Your Auntie Jane) is 19 herself. That's all I'm telling you!" How
old is Tom's Granny?

Answer:
Tom's Granny is 58 years old. Let's see why: First child born: Granny is 19,
Second child born: Granny is 23 (19 + 4), Third child born: Granny is 27 (23 + 4),
Fourth child born: Granny is 31 (27 + 4), Fifth child born: Granny is 35 (31 + 4),
Sixth child born: Granny is 39 (35 + 4), Sixth child is 19: Granny is 58 (39 + 19)
29. When asked about his birthday, a man said: "The day before yesterday I was
only 25 and next year I will turn 28." This is true only one day in a year - when
was he born?

Answer:
He was born on December 31st and spoke about it on January 1st. `The day
before yesterday I was only 25...'

Dec 30: 25

Dec 31: 26

Jan 1 (this year): 26

'...next year I will turn 28'

Dec 31 (this year): 27

Dec 31 (next year): 28

30. Find a number with its letters in alphabetical order. Example: "five" has "fiv"
in alphabetical order, but not "e".

Answer:
Forty. It is the only number we know of in English with its letters in alphabetical
order. And that is the correct spelling.

So, these were some basic maths puzzles for kids along with their answers for
our readers. We have tried to provide an explanatory answer for the same. This
will help our readers to understand these puzzles in a better and simplified
way.
Puzzle play was found to be a significant predictor of spatial skill after
controlling for differences in parents’ income, education, and the overall amount
of parent language input. Activities such as early puzzle play may lay the
groundwork for the development of this ability. The best way to make it happen
is through Mathematics.

Cuemath has always believed in the development of mental skills and abilities
amongst its students. We understand that maths could be boring at times,
especially when you are stuck somewhere in the middle of a process. But, there
are ways to make it fun. We can visualize or draw imaginary pictures related to
what is stated in the maths problem.