Packet no. 256
I am round like a ball, I spin on a stand, and every country in the world is on me. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: a globe
A globe is a small model of the Earth, with the continents, seas and oceans in their real places.
Riddles from geography, history, music, art and science
From rainbows and drums to the Charter of Ban Kulin and the equator. Riddles that revise lessons from several subjects at once.
Collected0 of 60 stickers
Name: Date:
I have seven colours, and I appear in the sky when the sun comes out after rain. What am I?
Answer:
When you mix yellow and blue paint, you get the colour of grass. Which colour is it?
Answer:
I am round, you kick me with your foot and I fly into the goal. What am I?
Answer:
You hit me with sticks and I go boom, boom. I am a musical instrument. What am I?
Answer:
I have two blades and two holes for your fingers, and in art class you cut paper with me. What am I?
Answer:
On a map I am coloured blue. Fish swim in me and ships sail on me, and my water is salty. What am I?
Answer:
You dip me in paint and paint on paper, and my tip is made of soft bristles. What am I?
Answer:
You carry me on your back to school, and inside me are books, notebooks and a pencil case. What am I?
Answer:
When I ring, a lesson starts or ends. What am I?
Answer:
I have six strings and I play when you pluck me with your fingers. What am I?
Answer:
I am the colour of strawberries, tomatoes and fire engines. Which colour am I?
Answer:
I am flat, I have lines and numbers, and I help you draw a straight line. What am I?
Answer:
When you mix red and yellow paint, you get the colour of a tangerine. Which colour is it?
Answer:
In PE you swing me round and round, and you jump every time I reach your feet. What am I?
Answer:
The flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina has a yellow triangle and a row of white stars. What colour is the background?
Answer:
Answers (turn the page round) 1. a rainbow · 2. green · 3. a ball · 4. a drum · 5. scissors · 6. the sea · 7. a paintbrush · 8. a school bag · 9. the school bell · 10. a guitar · 11. red · 12. a ruler · 13. orange · 14. a skipping rope · 15. blue
Name: Date:
I am round like a ball, I spin on a stand, and every country in the world is on me. What am I?
Answer:
I show where north is, and my needle always turns the same way. What am I?
Answer:
I am the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Miljacka river flows through me. What is my name?
Answer:
I am a river, and a whole country carries my name. My spring is at Ilidža, below Mount Igman. What is my name?
Answer:
I have black and white keys, and I play when you press them. What am I?
Answer:
When you drop an apple, it falls to the ground because the Earth pulls it. What is that pull called?
Answer:
I am a book full of maps. What am I?
Answer:
I have four strings, I play when a bow slides across me, and I am held under the chin. What am I?
Answer:
In this sport you throw the ball into a hoop high up on a board. Which sport is it?
Answer:
On which continent is Bosnia and Herzegovina?
Answer:
I am the river that flows through Mostar, with the Old Bridge across me. What is my name?
Answer:
I pull nails, paper clips and the fridge door towards me, but I cannot pull paper or wood. What am I?
Answer:
What do we call a picture in which the painter paints themself?
Answer:
How many different notes are in the scale: do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti?
Answer:
We are large carved stone tombstones from medieval Bosnia, decorated with figures and patterns. What are we called?
Answer:
Answers (turn the page round) 1. a globe · 2. a compass · 3. Sarajevo · 4. the Bosna · 5. a piano · 6. gravity · 7. an atlas · 8. a violin · 9. basketball · 10. Europe · 11. the Neretva · 12. a magnet · 13. a self-portrait · 14. seven (7) · 15. stećci
Name: Date:
I was written in 1189 and I mention Ban Kulin. I am one of the oldest documents about Bosnia. What am I?
Answer:
I am the highest mountain in Bosnia and Herzegovina, standing on the border with Montenegro. What is my name?
Answer:
A painter mixes red and white. Which light colour do they get?
Answer:
Musical notes sit on me like birds on wires. I have five lines. What am I called?
Answer:
When you heat water until it boils, I rise above the pan like a little white cloud. What am I?
Answer:
In a competition, first place gets gold and second place gets silver. Which medal does third place get?
Answer:
What is the highest mountain in the world?
Answer:
Who painted the Mona Lisa, the woman with the mysterious smile?
Answer:
What is a scientist who studies the stars and planets called?
Answer:
Two teams play on a basketball court. If there are ten players on the court, how many play for one team?
Answer:
What is the capital of France, famous for the Eiffel Tower?
Answer:
What is the direction exactly halfway between north and east called?
Answer:
What is it called when the water in a puddle slowly turns into vapour in the sun and disappears?
Answer:
I have keys and bellows that stretch and squeeze, and I play while you hold me against your chest. What am I?
Answer:
On most maps, which direction is at the top?
Answer:
Answers (turn the page round) 1. the Charter of Ban Kulin · 2. Maglić · 3. pink · 4. the staff (stave) · 5. steam · 6. bronze · 7. Mount Everest · 8. Leonardo da Vinci · 9. an astronomer · 10. five (5) · 11. Paris · 12. north-east · 13. evaporation · 14. an accordion · 15. north
Name: Date:
I am an imaginary line that splits the Earth into a northern half and a southern half. What am I called?
Answer:
Before people could write, they painted animals on cave walls. What do we call that time before writing?
Answer:
I flow through wires, but I am not water. I light up a bulb, but you cannot see me. What am I?
Answer:
Mixing red, green and blue paint on paper makes a dark, muddy colour. But which colour do you get when red, green and blue light are mixed?
Answer:
I am the biggest ocean on Earth, and my name says I am peaceful. What am I called?
Answer:
Which star is closest to the Earth? Careful, the answer is easier than you think.
Answer:
I am a continent and a country at the same time. What is my name?
Answer:
Which is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature?
Answer:
This Greek mathematician is famous for a rule about the sides of a right-angled triangle. Who is it?
Answer:
Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?
Answer:
Which is the biggest planet in the Solar System?
Answer:
What is a poem of exactly fourteen lines called?
Answer:
Which writer born in Bosnia wrote the novel The Bridge on the Drina and won the Nobel Prize?
Answer:
How is water written as a chemical formula?
Answer:
How many degrees do the three angles of any triangle add up to?
Answer:
Answers (turn the page round) 1. the equator · 2. prehistory · 3. electricity · 4. white · 5. the Pacific Ocean · 6. the Sun · 7. Australia · 8. mercury · 9. Pythagoras · 10. Neil Armstrong · 11. Jupiter · 12. a sonnet · 13. Ivo Andrić · 14. H₂O · 15. a hundred and eighty degrees (180°)
Revising lessons through riddles
These riddles cover several subjects at once: geography, history, music, art, PE and science. Children revise colours and instruments, the rivers and mountains of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Charter of Ban Kulin, the stećci and big science ideas.
How to play
Choose an age, then play in order or tap a number in the album. Every right answer sticks in a sticker, and the explanation links the riddle to the lesson.
For teachers
School subject riddles make a good end-of-week quiz. Classroom mode shows one riddle on a big screen and keeps score for two teams.
School subjects: 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
I have seven colours, and I appear in the sky when the sun comes out after rain. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: a rainbow
Did you know? A rainbow appears when sunlight passes through raindrops and splits into colours.
When you mix yellow and blue paint, you get the colour of grass. Which colour is it?
Show the answer
Answer: green
Did you know? Yellow, blue and red are the primary colours. Mixing them makes almost every other colour.
I am round, you kick me with your foot and I fly into the goal. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: a ball
Did you know? A football team has eleven players, and only the goalkeeper may catch the ball.
You hit me with sticks and I go boom, boom. I am a musical instrument. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: a drum
Did you know? A drum is a percussion instrument. The sound comes from the tight skin shaking.
I have two blades and two holes for your fingers, and in art class you cut paper with me. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: scissors
Did you know? Pass scissors to someone handles first, so nobody gets poked.
On a map I am coloured blue. Fish swim in me and ships sail on me, and my water is salty. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: the sea
Did you know? On a map, seas and rivers are drawn in blue, and mountains in brown.
You dip me in paint and paint on paper, and my tip is made of soft bristles. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: a paintbrush
Did you know? Painters use brushes of different sizes: thin ones for small details and thick ones for big areas.
You carry me on your back to school, and inside me are books, notebooks and a pencil case. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: a school bag
Did you know? Carry your bag on both shoulders to keep your back straight.
When I ring, a lesson starts or ends. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: the school bell
Did you know? The school bell tells everyone at the same moment that a lesson has started or finished.
I have six strings and I play when you pluck me with your fingers. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: a guitar
Did you know? A guitar's sound comes from a shaking string, and the hollow body makes it louder.
I am the colour of strawberries, tomatoes and fire engines. Which colour am I?
Show the answer
Answer: red
Did you know? Red is one of the three primary colours, together with yellow and blue.
I am flat, I have lines and numbers, and I help you draw a straight line. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: a ruler
Did you know? The marks on a ruler help you measure how long something is.
When you mix red and yellow paint, you get the colour of a tangerine. Which colour is it?
Show the answer
Answer: orange
Did you know? The colour orange is named after the fruit of the same colour.
In PE you swing me round and round, and you jump every time I reach your feet. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: a skipping rope
Did you know? Skipping makes your heart and legs stronger and helps your sense of rhythm.
The flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina has a yellow triangle and a row of white stars. What colour is the background?
Show the answer
Answer: blue
Did you know? The yellow triangle on the flag recalls the shape of Bosnia and Herzegovina on a map.
7 to 9 Choose or type
I am round like a ball, I spin on a stand, and every country in the world is on me. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: a globe
Did you know? A globe is a small model of the Earth, with the continents, seas and oceans in their real places.
I show where north is, and my needle always turns the same way. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: a compass
Did you know? A compass needle is a small magnet that turns towards the Earth's north.
I am the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Miljacka river flows through me. What is my name?
Show the answer
Answer: Sarajevo
Did you know? Sarajevo hosted the Winter Olympic Games in 1984.
I am a river, and a whole country carries my name. My spring is at Ilidža, below Mount Igman. What is my name?
Show the answer
Answer: the Bosna
Did you know? Vrelo Bosne is a nature park near Sarajevo, full of springs, streams and swans.
I have black and white keys, and I play when you press them. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: a piano
Did you know? A piano has eighty-eight keys: fifty-two white and thirty-six black.
When you drop an apple, it falls to the ground because the Earth pulls it. What is that pull called?
Show the answer
Answer: gravity
Did you know? Gravity keeps the Moon going round the Earth and the Earth going round the Sun.
I am a book full of maps. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: an atlas
Did you know? The atlas is named after a giant in Greek stories who held up the sky on his shoulders.
I have four strings, I play when a bow slides across me, and I am held under the chin. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: a violin
Did you know? The hairs on a violin bow are made from a horse's tail.
In this sport you throw the ball into a hoop high up on a board. Which sport is it?
Show the answer
Answer: basketball
Did you know? In basketball each team has five players on the court.
On which continent is Bosnia and Herzegovina?
Show the answer
Answer: Europe
Did you know? There are seven continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Antarctica.
I am the river that flows through Mostar, with the Old Bridge across me. What is my name?
Show the answer
Answer: the Neretva
Did you know? The Old Bridge in Mostar was built in the sixteenth century and is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
I pull nails, paper clips and the fridge door towards me, but I cannot pull paper or wood. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: a magnet
Did you know? A magnet has two poles. Like poles push apart and opposite poles pull together.
What do we call a picture in which the painter paints themself?
Show the answer
Answer: a self-portrait
Did you know? Painters often made self-portraits by looking at themselves in a mirror.
How many different notes are in the scale: do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti?
Show the answer
Answer: seven (7)
Did you know? After ti comes do again, only higher. That is why the scale repeats.
We are large carved stone tombstones from medieval Bosnia, decorated with figures and patterns. What are we called?
Show the answer
Answer: stećci
Did you know? The stećci are on the UNESCO World Heritage List and are carved with people, animals and patterns.
10 and 11 Type the answer
I was written in 1189 and I mention Ban Kulin. I am one of the oldest documents about Bosnia. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: the Charter of Ban Kulin
Did you know? The Charter of Ban Kulin was written in Bosnian Cyrillic and promised Dubrovnik's merchants free trade in Bosnia.
I am the highest mountain in Bosnia and Herzegovina, standing on the border with Montenegro. What is my name?
Show the answer
Answer: Maglić
Did you know? Maglić is in Sutjeska National Park, the oldest national park in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
A painter mixes red and white. Which light colour do they get?
Show the answer
Answer: pink
Did you know? Adding white to any colour makes it lighter. Soft colours like that are called pastels.
Musical notes sit on me like birds on wires. I have five lines. What am I called?
Show the answer
Answer: the staff (stave)
Did you know? Notes are written on five lines and in the four spaces between them. A clef stands at the start.
When you heat water until it boils, I rise above the pan like a little white cloud. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: steam
Did you know? Water can be a liquid, a solid like ice, or a gas like steam. These are the three states of water.
In a competition, first place gets gold and second place gets silver. Which medal does third place get?
Show the answer
Answer: bronze
Did you know? The Olympic Games began in ancient Greece. The five rings on the Olympic flag stand for five inhabited continents.
What is the highest mountain in the world?
Show the answer
Answer: Mount Everest
Did you know? Mount Everest lies on the border of Nepal and China, and it was first climbed in 1953.
Who painted the Mona Lisa, the woman with the mysterious smile?
Show the answer
Answer: Leonardo da Vinci
Did you know? Leonardo drew flying machines hundreds of years before the first aeroplane was built.
What is a scientist who studies the stars and planets called?
Show the answer
Answer: an astronomer
Did you know? Some telescopes orbit the Earth high above the clouds, so they can see further into space.
Two teams play on a basketball court. If there are ten players on the court, how many play for one team?
Show the answer
Answer: five (5)
Did you know? In football each team has eleven players, in volleyball six, and in basketball five.
What is the capital of France, famous for the Eiffel Tower?
Show the answer
Answer: Paris
Did you know? The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889 for a great world fair.
What is the direction exactly halfway between north and east called?
Show the answer
Answer: north-east
Did you know? Between the four main directions there are four more: north-east, south-east, south-west and north-west.
What is it called when the water in a puddle slowly turns into vapour in the sun and disappears?
Show the answer
Answer: evaporation
Did you know? Evaporation is part of the water cycle: water evaporates, forms clouds and falls again as rain.
I have keys and bellows that stretch and squeeze, and I play while you hold me against your chest. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: an accordion
Did you know? An accordion plays when the bellows push air past small metal reeds that vibrate.
On most maps, which direction is at the top?
Show the answer
Answer: north
Did you know? Maps are usually drawn with north at the top, which is why we say up north.
12+ Hard riddles
I am an imaginary line that splits the Earth into a northern half and a southern half. What am I called?
Show the answer
Answer: the equator
Did you know? On the equator, day and night last almost the same length all year.
Before people could write, they painted animals on cave walls. What do we call that time before writing?
Show the answer
Answer: prehistory
Did you know? History begins when people start writing events down. Everything before that is called prehistory.
I flow through wires, but I am not water. I light up a bulb, but you cannot see me. What am I?
Show the answer
Answer: electricity
Did you know? Electricity flows easily through metal. That is why wires are copper, wrapped in plastic to keep us safe.
Mixing red, green and blue paint on paper makes a dark, muddy colour. But which colour do you get when red, green and blue light are mixed?
Show the answer
Answer: white
Did you know? A phone screen makes every colour from tiny red, green and blue dots of light.
I am the biggest ocean on Earth, and my name says I am peaceful. What am I called?
Show the answer
Answer: the Pacific Ocean
Did you know? The Pacific Ocean is so big that all the continents together would fit inside it.
Which star is closest to the Earth? Careful, the answer is easier than you think.
Show the answer
Answer: the Sun
Did you know? Sunlight takes about eight minutes to reach the Earth.
I am a continent and a country at the same time. What is my name?
Show the answer
Answer: Australia
Did you know? Australia is the only country that covers a whole continent.
Which is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature?
Show the answer
Answer: mercury
Did you know? Mercury was once used in thermometers, but it is avoided today because it is poisonous.
This Greek mathematician is famous for a rule about the sides of a right-angled triangle. Who is it?
Show the answer
Answer: Pythagoras
Did you know? Pythagoras's theorem says the square of the longest side equals the squares of the other two added together.
Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?
Show the answer
Answer: Neil Armstrong
Did you know? Armstrong stepped onto the Moon in 1969, and Buzz Aldrin joined him a few minutes later.
Which is the biggest planet in the Solar System?
Show the answer
Answer: Jupiter
Did you know? Jupiter is so big that all the other planets together would fit inside it.
What is a poem of exactly fourteen lines called?
Show the answer
Answer: a sonnet
Did you know? A sonnet has fourteen lines, often split into groups of four, four, three and three, or three groups of four and a closing pair.
Which writer born in Bosnia wrote the novel The Bridge on the Drina and won the Nobel Prize?
Show the answer
Answer: Ivo Andrić
Did you know? Ivo Andrić won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961.
How is water written as a chemical formula?
Show the answer
Answer: H₂O
Did you know? A water molecule has two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.
How many degrees do the three angles of any triangle add up to?
Show the answer
Answer: a hundred and eighty degrees (180°)
Did you know? The angles in every triangle add up to 180 degrees, whatever the triangle looks like.
What we practise
- 4 to 6
- colours and rainbows, balls and drums, scissors, the sea on a map
- 7 to 9
- globes and compasses, a capital city, the river Bosna, the piano, gravity
- 10 and 11
- the Charter of Ban Kulin, Maglić, mixing colours, notes, states of water, medals
- 12+
- the equator, prehistory, electricity, colours of light, oceans, the nearest star