Around this time every year I begin to itch for spring. I know it’s not far away now, but I’ve grown tired of sitting here in my sleeping bag. (It’s true! Throughout the winter, I look like a giant red worm!)
To stir a springtime mood, at breakfast this morning I tried spinning some “ridiculous riddles” for my kids. Many of them were met with shrugs or groans, but a few seemed to strike their funny bone. These are the ones I’ve assembled below—maybe you and your children would enjoy them, too. (Though feel free to shrug or groan, I won’t mind.)
If you’re unfamiliar with my ridiculous riddles, you might view those posts first or click open the box below for more information on the serious merits of this silly strategy.
Children love riddles. And for parents, riddles can be a fun and versatile way to promote language development.
I began making up my own “ridiculous riddles” a few years ago and I’ve used them in these ways:
- To nurture speaking and listening skills. For me, riddles are especially handy at mealtimes. Plus, after hearing my riddles, Lulu and Roy are often eager to exercise their imagination and make up riddles of their own.
- To increase exposure to reading material. Riddles can be used as captive reading material in the home (see Why You Must Put a Whiteboard in the Bathroom) or as lunchtime notes when away at school. (Just pose the question and let them ponder the answer until you meet.)
- To encourage creativity and writing. In addition to using them orally, riddles are a great way to practice writing. Parent and child invent a few riddles for each other and then swap papers to guess the answers. (The guesses need to be written as well.)
Each “Ridiculous Riddles” post features a few silly riddles that I made up for my kids. Feel free to try them with your own children in the ways I’ve described, and give a go at creating new riddles, too. I think you’ll find that “ridiculous riddles” can be an entertaining and effective addition to your bag of tricks!
Make a guess before clicking the “plus sign” to reveal the answer!
(Have you read the true story of me and my baby chicks in the bathtub?)
You’ll find my growing collection of “ridiculous riddles” right here.
P.S. Get my list of funny tongue twisters for kids!
2 Responses
Hi, Adam!
Thanx for such a great resource for bilingual families. We are also one of those. My husband and I are Russians and together with our small daughter of 1.5 we are living in Netherlands. I totally share your views on raising bilingual child and I borrowed a lot of your ideas already. As a grateful visitor I would like to share with you also some tips and tricks that I partially invented myself, partially found in internet.
We did not however try any of these things yet with Marie, since she is too small but I can’t help waiting her to start talking to play these games.
1) Guess what: this game we often play with my husband during long car trips or just when it is boring. A person think of something. This can be anything, a person, a thing, an animal, but something very concrete. Other people involved in the game must guess what it is. They need to ask questions to come up to the answer. For example, I think of a garlic.
My husband: Is it an animated object or no?
Me: No
MH: Can you eat it?
Me: Yes
MH: Should you cook it to eat?
Me: Not necessarily
MH: Do we have it in our fridge?
Me: yes
…
And so on. This game can be really funny.
2) Another game is to describe the object with one word. For example, a table is wooden, round, old, smooth, polished, coloured, favourite, dining-, office, etc. It is fun to play this game with children, since they are keen on inventing new words.
Hope you like these. 🙂
Best regards,
Julia
Julia, thank you for your comment. I’m really glad to hear that Bilingual Monkeys is helpful to your family.
Thanks, too, for sharing these fun games. We do something similar to the first game, particularly on long drives in the car. Generally, one person thinks of an animal and the other players must ask yes or no questions to eventually zero in on the right animal. (It’s a form of the traditional “20 Questions” game.)
I haven’t tried your second suggestion, though, and I’ll give it a go with my kids! Arigato!