Packet no. 196
I am the biggest organ of your body. I cover all of you and protect you from dirt and cold. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: your skin
Your skin is always renewing itself: old cells flake off and new ones grow underneath.
Riddles about the human body
From eyes and ears to the diaphragm and kidneys. Every riddle explains how your body works and how to look after it.
Collected0 of 60 stickers
Name: Date:
You have two of them and you look at the world with them. When you sleep, you close them. What are they?
Answer:
You have two of them, one on each side of your head, and with them you hear music and birdsong. What are they?
Answer:
They are white, they stand in a row and they help you bite into an apple. What are they?
Answer:
I sit in the middle of your face, and with me you can smell a cake baking. What am I?
Answer:
I beat inside you day and night, and when you run, I beat faster. What am I?
Answer:
They carry you to school every day, and at the end each one has five toes inside a shoe. What are they?
Answer:
You eat, talk and sing with it, and when you smile, it gets wider. What is it?
Answer:
You use me with toothpaste in the morning and at night, so your teeth stay clean and white. What am I?
Answer:
I make bubbles in your hands and wash all the dirt away. What am I?
Answer:
It is white, you drink it from a glass, and it helps your bones and teeth grow strong. What is it?
Answer:
When you are tired, you lie down in bed and close your eyes. What are you doing?
Answer:
There are five on each hand, and you use them to grab, draw and wave. What are they?
Answer:
I drip from your eye when you cry, and I am salty like the sea. What am I?
Answer:
I am at the top of your body, and your eyes, nose and mouth are on me. What am I?
Answer:
It grows on your head, you brush it in the morning, and sometimes you tie it in a ponytail. What is it?
Answer:
Answers (turn the page round) 1. your eyes · 2. your ears · 3. your teeth · 4. your nose · 5. your heart · 6. your feet · 7. your mouth · 8. a toothbrush · 9. soap · 10. milk · 11. sleeping · 12. your fingers · 13. a tear · 14. your head · 15. your hair
Name: Date:
I am the biggest organ of your body. I cover all of you and protect you from dirt and cold. What am I?
Answer:
When you breathe in, we fill with air like two balloons in your chest. What are we?
Answer:
Inside you I am like the frame of a building: I hold you upright and protect your heart and brain. What am I?
Answer:
You have five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Which sense tells you that a cat's fur is soft?
Answer:
Before you eat, you wash them with soap so germs do not get into your mouth. What are they?
Answer:
I live inside your head, and right now I am working out the answer to this riddle. What am I?
Answer:
I am in the middle of your arm, and your arm bends at me. What am I?
Answer:
I am in the middle of your leg, and your leg bends at me when you squat. What am I?
Answer:
We grow above your eyes and stop sweat from your forehead running into them. What are we?
Answer:
We grow on the tips of your fingers and toes, we are hard, and we get trimmed with little scissors. What are we?
Answer:
How many times a day should you brush your teeth?
Answer:
When you run in hot weather, your skin gets wet with salty drops. What are they?
Answer:
How many baby teeth does a child have before they start falling out?
Answer:
The doctor puts me in their ears and presses my other end to your chest to listen to your heart. What am I?
Answer:
How many fingers and toes do you have altogether?
Answer:
Answers (turn the page round) 1. your skin · 2. your lungs · 3. your skeleton · 4. touch · 5. your hands · 6. your brain · 7. your elbow · 8. your knee · 9. your eyebrows · 10. your nails · 11. twice (2) · 12. sweat · 13. twenty (20) · 14. a stethoscope · 15. twenty (20)
Name: Date:
Without us you could neither walk nor smile. There are more than six hundred of us in your body. What are we?
Answer:
A grown-up has two hundred and six of us, and a baby has even more. We are hard and white. What are we?
Answer:
When you swallow food, it arrives in me. I am like a bag, and inside me the food is churned and broken down. What am I?
Answer:
I am a red liquid that travels through your whole body and carries oxygen to every cell. What am I?
Answer:
It grows on your head, yet it does not hurt when the hairdresser cuts it. What is it?
Answer:
I am the black circle in the middle of your eye. In bright light I shrink, and in the dark I grow wide. What am I?
Answer:
I am the biggest organ in your tummy. I clean your blood and make bile, which helps digestion. What am I?
Answer:
I am the coloured ring in your eye: blue, brown or green. What am I called?
Answer:
Messages from your brain to your muscles travel along thin threads all over your body. What are they called?
Answer:
Sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. How many senses is that?
Answer:
I join your hand to your arm, and you wear a watch on me. What am I?
Answer:
I am a small injection that teaches your body in advance how to fight off an illness. What am I?
Answer:
I am a row of small bones down your back, and I hold you upright. What am I?
Answer:
When you are in the sun, your skin makes a vitamin by itself. Which one?
Answer:
On your fingertips you have tiny lines that nobody else in the world has the same. What are they called?
Answer:
Answers (turn the page round) 1. muscles · 2. bones · 3. your stomach · 4. blood · 5. your hair · 6. the pupil · 7. the liver · 8. the iris · 9. nerves · 10. five (5) · 11. your wrist · 12. a vaccine · 13. your spine · 14. vitamin D · 15. fingerprints
Name: Date:
I have no bones at all, yet I am always moving. I help you speak, swallow and taste. What am I?
Answer:
You have two of us, we look like beans, and we clean waste out of your blood. What are we?
Answer:
Five children sit together. How many fingers and toes do they have altogether?
Answer:
I live in your ear, but I hear nothing. I help you stay up when you stand on one leg. What am I?
Answer:
I keep the songs, numbers and friends' names you know, yet I am neither a drawer nor a notebook. The more you train me, the stronger I get. What am I?
Answer:
I am a muscle under your lungs. When I move down, air rushes into the lungs, and when I get the hiccups, you hear hic! What am I?
Answer:
Which is the longest and strongest bone in your body? It is in your upper leg.
Answer:
We are tiny cells in your blood, we carry oxygen and we make blood red. What are we?
Answer:
I am a soldier in your blood, fighting bacteria and viruses. What am I?
Answer:
How many bones are there in one hand together with the wrist: 5, 14 or 27?
Answer:
A heart beats seventy times a minute. How many times does it beat in half an hour?
Answer:
When the doctor gently taps below your knee with a little hammer, your leg kicks by itself. What is that kind of movement called?
Answer:
I am a long, coiled tube in your tummy where food goes after the stomach. What am I?
Answer:
These teeth come in last, only in adults, and they are named after being clever. What are they called?
Answer:
When you are cold or scared, tiny bumps appear on your skin and the little hairs stand up. What do we call that?
Answer:
Answers (turn the page round) 1. your tongue · 2. your kidneys · 3. a hundred (100) · 4. your sense of balance · 5. your memory · 6. the diaphragm · 7. the thigh bone (femur) · 8. red blood cells · 9. white blood cells · 10. twenty-seven (27) · 11. 2,100 · 12. a reflex · 13. the intestine · 14. wisdom teeth · 15. goosebumps
Get to know your body through riddles
Body riddles start with what a child can see and touch, eyes, ears and hands, and move on to organs we cannot see: the heart, lungs, kidneys and diaphragm. Each one explains how that part of the body works.
Healthy habits
Some riddles are about brushing teeth, washing hands, sleep and food that keeps bones strong. Children learn healthy habits through play rather than rules.
For parents and teachers
Body riddles suit a science lesson or a chat in the doctor's waiting room. The explanations are short and checked, but they are not medical advice.
The human body: every riddle with its answer
For reading aloud, in class or at home. The answer is hidden under each riddle.
4 to 6 Pick the picture
You have two of them and you look at the world with them. When you sleep, you close them. What are they?
Show the answer
Answer: your eyes
Did you know? Your eyes blink many times every minute. That keeps them clean and wet.
You have two of them, one on each side of your head, and with them you hear music and birdsong. What are they?
Show the answer
Answer: your ears
Did you know? The smallest bone in your body is inside your ear. It is smaller than a grain of rice.
They are white, they stand in a row and they help you bite into an apple. What are they?
Show the answer
Answer: your teeth
Did you know? Baby teeth fall out and grown-up teeth take their place. Look after them, because there is no third set.
I sit in the middle of your face, and with me you can smell a cake baking. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: your nose
Did you know? Your nose helps you taste too. When you have a cold, food tastes weaker.
I beat inside you day and night, and when you run, I beat faster. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: your heart
Did you know? Your heart is a muscle about the size of your fist, and it pumps blood all around your body.
They carry you to school every day, and at the end each one has five toes inside a shoe. What are they?
Show the answer
Answer: your feet
Did you know? Each foot has lots of small bones. That is why we can walk, jump and keep our balance.
You eat, talk and sing with it, and when you smile, it gets wider. What is it?
Show the answer
Answer: your mouth
Did you know? Your lips move when you talk, and your tongue and teeth help make every sound clear.
You use me with toothpaste in the morning and at night, so your teeth stay clean and white. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: a toothbrush
Did you know? Brush your teeth twice a day for two minutes, in the morning and before bed.
I make bubbles in your hands and wash all the dirt away. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: soap
Did you know? Soap grabs dirt and germs, and then water rinses them off your hands.
It is white, you drink it from a glass, and it helps your bones and teeth grow strong. What is it?
Show the answer
Answer: milk
Did you know? Milk contains calcium, and calcium builds strong bones and teeth.
When you are tired, you lie down in bed and close your eyes. What are you doing?
Show the answer
Answer: sleeping
Did you know? While you sleep, your body grows and rests, and your brain sorts out everything you learned that day.
There are five on each hand, and you use them to grab, draw and wave. What are they?
Show the answer
Answer: your fingers
Did you know? Your thumb can touch every other finger on the same hand, which makes it easy to hold things.
I drip from your eye when you cry, and I am salty like the sea. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: a tear
Did you know? Tears are not only for sadness. They keep your eyes wet and clean all the time.
I am at the top of your body, and your eyes, nose and mouth are on me. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: your head
Did you know? Your brain is inside your head, protected by a hard bone called the skull.
It grows on your head, you brush it in the morning, and sometimes you tie it in a ponytail. What is it?
Show the answer
Answer: your hair
Did you know? Hair grows a little every day, so it needs a trim now and then.
7 to 9 Choose or type
I am the biggest organ of your body. I cover all of you and protect you from dirt and cold. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: your skin
Did you know? Your skin is always renewing itself: old cells flake off and new ones grow underneath.
When you breathe in, we fill with air like two balloons in your chest. What are we?
Show the answer
Answer: your lungs
Did you know? Your lungs take oxygen from the air, and your blood carries it to every part of your body.
Inside you I am like the frame of a building: I hold you upright and protect your heart and brain. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: your skeleton
Did you know? Your skull guards your brain, and your ribs protect your heart and lungs.
You have five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Which sense tells you that a cat's fur is soft?
Show the answer
Answer: touch
Did you know? Your fingertips, lips and tongue are the most sensitive to touch.
Before you eat, you wash them with soap so germs do not get into your mouth. What are they?
Show the answer
Answer: your hands
Did you know? Wash your hands with soap for as long as it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice.
I live inside your head, and right now I am working out the answer to this riddle. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: your brain
Did you know? Your brain runs your whole body: breathing, moving, remembering and dreaming.
I am in the middle of your arm, and your arm bends at me. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: your elbow
Did you know? When you bang your elbow in one spot, it tingles, because a nerve runs close to the skin there.
I am in the middle of your leg, and your leg bends at me when you squat. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: your knee
Did you know? Your knee has a small round bone at the front, the kneecap, which protects it.
We grow above your eyes and stop sweat from your forehead running into them. What are we?
Show the answer
Answer: your eyebrows
Did you know? Eyebrows steer sweat and rain to the side so they do not get into your eyes.
We grow on the tips of your fingers and toes, we are hard, and we get trimmed with little scissors. What are we?
Show the answer
Answer: your nails
Did you know? Fingernails grow faster than toenails.
How many times a day should you brush your teeth?
Show the answer
Answer: twice (2)
Did you know? Brush your teeth in the morning and at night, for two minutes each time.
When you run in hot weather, your skin gets wet with salty drops. What are they?
Show the answer
Answer: sweat
Did you know? Sweat cools your body. As it dries on your skin, it carries extra heat away.
How many baby teeth does a child have before they start falling out?
Show the answer
Answer: twenty (20)
Did you know? Children have twenty baby teeth, and adults have thirty-two grown-up teeth.
The doctor puts me in their ears and presses my other end to your chest to listen to your heart. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: a stethoscope
Did you know? A stethoscope makes quiet body sounds louder, so the doctor hears your heartbeat clearly.
How many fingers and toes do you have altogether?
Show the answer
Answer: twenty (20)
Did you know? Your toes help you keep your balance when you walk and run.
10 and 11 Type the answer
Without us you could neither walk nor smile. There are more than six hundred of us in your body. What are we?
Show the answer
Answer: muscles
Did you know? Muscles work in pairs: one bends your arm and the other straightens it.
A grown-up has two hundred and six of us, and a baby has even more. We are hard and white. What are we?
Show the answer
Answer: bones
Did you know? A baby has more bones than an adult, because some of them join together as you grow. Calcium from milk and cheese keeps them strong.
When you swallow food, it arrives in me. I am like a bag, and inside me the food is churned and broken down. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: your stomach
Did you know? From the stomach, food moves on to the intestines, where your body takes what it needs.
I am a red liquid that travels through your whole body and carries oxygen to every cell. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: blood
Did you know? Blood travels around your whole body in about one minute.
It grows on your head, yet it does not hurt when the hairdresser cuts it. What is it?
Show the answer
Answer: your hair
Did you know? Hair and nails have no nerves, so it does not hurt when they are cut.
I am the black circle in the middle of your eye. In bright light I shrink, and in the dark I grow wide. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: the pupil
Did you know? The pupil is the opening that lets light into your eye. That is why it changes when the light changes.
I am the biggest organ in your tummy. I clean your blood and make bile, which helps digestion. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: the liver
Did you know? The liver can grow back even when part of it is lost.
I am the coloured ring in your eye: blue, brown or green. What am I called?
Show the answer
Answer: the iris
Did you know? Every iris is different, just like a fingerprint.
Messages from your brain to your muscles travel along thin threads all over your body. What are they called?
Show the answer
Answer: nerves
Did you know? A message travels along your nerves so fast that you pull your hand away from something hot at once.
Sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. How many senses is that?
Show the answer
Answer: five (5)
Did you know? Each sense has its own organ: eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin.
I join your hand to your arm, and you wear a watch on me. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: your wrist
Did you know? Joints are where bones meet and move: shoulder, elbow, knee and wrist.
I am a small injection that teaches your body in advance how to fight off an illness. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: a vaccine
Did you know? A vaccine shows your body what an invader looks like, so it can recognise and beat it quickly later.
I am a row of small bones down your back, and I hold you upright. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: your spine
Did you know? Your spine is made of thirty-three small bones called vertebrae.
When you are in the sun, your skin makes a vitamin by itself. Which one?
Show the answer
Answer: vitamin D
Did you know? Vitamin D helps your bones take in calcium, which is why time outdoors is healthy.
On your fingertips you have tiny lines that nobody else in the world has the same. What are they called?
Show the answer
Answer: fingerprints
Did you know? Even identical twins have different fingerprints.
12+ Hard riddles
I have no bones at all, yet I am always moving. I help you speak, swallow and taste. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: your tongue
Did you know? Your tongue has thousands of tiny taste buds. They tell sweet, salty, sour and bitter apart.
You have two of us, we look like beans, and we clean waste out of your blood. What are we?
Show the answer
Answer: your kidneys
Did you know? Your kidneys clean all of your blood many times every day.
Five children sit together. How many fingers and toes do they have altogether?
Show the answer
Answer: a hundred (100)
Did you know? We count in tens, probably because we have ten fingers.
I live in your ear, but I hear nothing. I help you stay up when you stand on one leg. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: your sense of balance
Did you know? When you spin round and round, the liquid in your ear keeps moving, so you feel dizzy even after you stop.
I keep the songs, numbers and friends' names you know, yet I am neither a drawer nor a notebook. The more you train me, the stronger I get. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: your memory
Did you know? Your memory gets stronger when you go over things a few times and get a good night's sleep.
I am a muscle under your lungs. When I move down, air rushes into the lungs, and when I get the hiccups, you hear hic! What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: the diaphragm
Did you know? Hiccups happen when the diaphragm suddenly tightens and the vocal cords snap shut, making a hic sound.
Which is the longest and strongest bone in your body? It is in your upper leg.
Show the answer
Answer: the thigh bone (femur)
Did you know? Your thigh bone is about a quarter of your height.
We are tiny cells in your blood, we carry oxygen and we make blood red. What are we?
Show the answer
Answer: red blood cells
Did you know? Red blood cells are so tiny that millions of them fit in a single drop of blood.
I am a soldier in your blood, fighting bacteria and viruses. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: white blood cells
Did you know? When you are ill, you make more white blood cells to fight the invaders.
How many bones are there in one hand together with the wrist: 5, 14 or 27?
Show the answer
Answer: twenty-seven (27)
Did you know? A hand with its wrist has 27 bones, which is why fingers can make such precise movements.
A heart beats seventy times a minute. How many times does it beat in half an hour?
Show the answer
Answer: 2,100
Did you know? Your heart beats your whole life without a rest, more than a hundred thousand times a day.
When the doctor gently taps below your knee with a little hammer, your leg kicks by itself. What is that kind of movement called?
Show the answer
Answer: a reflex
Did you know? In a reflex the message does not wait for the brain, so the movement is very fast.
I am a long, coiled tube in your tummy where food goes after the stomach. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: the intestine
Did you know? Your small intestine is longer than three grown-ups lying head to toe.
These teeth come in last, only in adults, and they are named after being clever. What are they called?
Show the answer
Answer: wisdom teeth
Did you know? Wisdom teeth usually come through between the ages of seventeen and twenty-five, and some people never get them.
When you are cold or scared, tiny bumps appear on your skin and the little hairs stand up. What do we call that?
Show the answer
Answer: goosebumps
Did you know? Each little hair has a tiny muscle that lifts it. In animals this makes fur thicker and warmer.
What we practise
- 4 to 6
- parts of the face, the heart, hands and feet
- 7 to 9
- skin, lungs, the skeleton, the senses, washing hands, the brain
- 10 and 11
- muscles, bones, the stomach, blood, hair, the pupil
- 12+
- the tongue and taste, kidneys, counting fingers, balance, memory, hiccups