ABC School Riddles

Ideas for Parents and Teachers

As a young child, I had dyslexia and had a difficult time reading, writing, and speaking words. Fortunately, my parents believed that children could learn language lessons and be entertained at the same time. So, as a family, we played a word game we called Alphabet Riddles. We would make up rhyming-word riddles whenever we had a few minutes to spare. It made learning words and creating rhyming riddles fun!In writing workshops across the United States, I have introduced children to the alphabet riddle format. Like magic, it works! Kids love playing with words and making up their own rhyming riddles.Peel Productions invited students to participate in a nationwide contest to create riddles on the subject of school. 1,368 entries were received from 32 states. 27 winners were chosen representing 17 different states.As parents and teachers, you can join the fun of making up riddles, too.

~ Encourage children to create their own school riddles. Let them choose subjects they like. Begin with letter and word clues. Start with a simple riddle such as:

I start with a B and end with a D.
Teachers are always writing on me.

~ Stretch the exercise. Look up definitions in the dictionary. Find pictures of the subjects or objects. Add more lines with more clues to the riddle. End each riddle with a question, inviting others to answer the riddle.~ Share riddles! Most written riddles can be solved independently, but it's always more fun to try them out on other people. So, write down the riddles and see if others can figure them out.~ Instruct children to wait until all clues have been given before guessing the riddle. Have the child who guesses the answer first say the correct word, spell it out, and then make up a new school riddle.~ As an extended activity, encourage children to draw the subjects of their riddles.

Have fun with school riddles!