Emoji Riddles: 30 Emoji Puzzles with Answers for Kids and Families on Riddlepedia
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Emoji Riddles: 30 Emoji Puzzles with Answers for Kids and Families

30 riddles · tap Hint or Answer to reveal

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Emoji riddles are picture puzzles for the phone age. Each one is a short row of emojis that spells out a word, a story or a saying, the way an old-fashioned rebus does with drawings. Sometimes you read the pictures as sounds (🌧️ + 🎀 = rain + bow), and sometimes you have to picture the scene they describe.

This collection has 30 emoji riddles in three rounds. The easy round is compound words, so even early readers can play. The medium round hides fairy tales, fables and nursery rhymes that are hundreds of years old, and the tricky round is everyday sayings, the kind grown-ups use without noticing how strange they sound. Each one tells you what kind of answer to look for, and there’s a hint if you need it.

Easy Emoji Riddles: Compound Words

⭐ + 🐟 (an animal that lives in the sea)

Hint
It usually has five arms, but it isn’t really a fish.
Answer
Starfish

🐱 + 🐟 (an animal that lives in rivers)

Hint
This fish has long “whiskers” around its mouth.
Answer
Catfish

☀️ + 🌸 (a plant)

Hint
It grows very tall, and its seeds make a crunchy snack.
Answer
Sunflower

🧈 + 🪰 (an insect)

Hint
It starts life as a caterpillar.
Answer
Butterfly

🌧️ + 🎀 (something in the sky)

Hint
It has seven colors and shows up when the sun comes out after a shower.
Answer
Rainbow

🌊 + 🐴 (an animal that lives in the sea)

Hint
In this animal, the dad carries the babies in a pouch.
Answer
Seahorse

☕ + 🎂 (a snack)

Hint
It’s a small treat, often with frosting and sprinkles on top.
Answer
Cupcake

❄️ + ⚽ (something you make in winter)

Hint
You pack it in your mittens and throw it.
Answer
Snowball

🌲 + 🍎 (a fruit)

Hint
It’s spiky on the outside, sweet and yellow on the inside.
Answer
Pineapple. A pine tree plus an apple.

🦶 + 🖨️ (something you leave behind)

Hint
Look behind you after walking across wet sand.
Answer
Footprint. A foot plus a printer, for “print.”

Medium Emoji Riddles: Stories and Nursery Rhymes

🥚 + 🧱 + 💥 (a nursery rhyme)

Hint
He sat on a wall and had a great fall.
Answer
Humpty Dumpty

🐄 + ⬆️ + 🌙 (a nursery rhyme)

Hint
In this rhyme, a dish runs away with a spoon.
Answer
Hey Diddle Diddle. The cow jumped over the moon.

🕷️ + 🌧️ + ☀️ (a song)

Hint
The rain washes this little climber out of the waterspout.
Answer
The Itsy Bitsy Spider

🛞 + 🚌 + 🔄 (a song)

Hint
They go round and round, all through the town.
Answer
The Wheels on the Bus

✨ + ✨ + 🤏 + ⭐ (a lullaby)

Hint
“How I wonder what you are…”
Answer
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. The pinching hand means “little.”

3️⃣ + 🐷 + 🐺 + 🏠 (a fairy tale)

Hint
Straw, sticks and bricks.
Answer
The Three Little Pigs

👧 + 🥣 + 🐻 + 🐻 + 🐻 (a fairy tale)

Hint
One bowl was too hot, one too cold, and one just right.
Answer
Goldilocks and the Three Bears

🐢 + 🐇 + 🏁 (a fable)

Hint
Slow and steady wins the race.
Answer
The Tortoise and the Hare

👦 + 🫘 + 🌱 + ☁️ (a fairy tale)

Hint
A boy trades a cow for some magic seeds and climbs to a giant’s castle.
Answer
Jack and the Beanstalk

👧 + 🔴 + 🧺 + 👵 + 🐺 (a fairy tale)

Hint
“Grandma, what big teeth you have!”
Answer
Little Red Riding Hood

Tricky Emoji Riddles: Everyday Sayings

🌧️ + 🐱 + 🐶 (a saying about the weather)

Hint
You’d say this when it’s pouring really hard.
Answer
It’s raining cats and dogs.

🧩 + 🍰 (a saying)

Hint
You’d say this about a test that was super easy.
Answer
A piece of cake. The puzzle piece stands for “piece.”

⏰ + ✈️ (a saying)

Hint
People say it when a fun afternoon seems to be over in no time.
Answer
Time flies.

🥶 + 🦶 (a saying)

Hint
It’s how you feel when you get nervous just before something big and want to back out.
Answer
Cold feet

1️⃣ + 💙 + 🌙 (a saying)

Hint
You’d use it for something that almost never happens.
Answer
Once in a blue moon

🔨 + 🧊 (a saying)

Hint
It’s what you do with a fun game on the first day of camp, when nobody knows each other yet.
Answer
Break the ice

🐱 + 👜 + 🏃 (a saying)

Hint
It means telling a secret, often by accident.
Answer
Let the cat out of the bag

🛋️ + 🥔 (a saying about a person)

Hint
This person would rather watch TV all day than go outside.
Answer
Couch potato

🫗 + 🫘 (a saying)

Hint
It also means giving away a secret, but this time on purpose.
Answer
Spill the beans

🍎 + 👁️ (a saying)

Hint
Grandparents often say it about a grandchild they adore.
Answer
The apple of my eye

How to Play Emoji Riddles

  • Phone or whiteboard relay: one player texts or draws an emoji riddle, and the first person to shout the answer writes the next one. Great for long car rides and rainy afternoons.
  • Classroom compound words: after the easy round, give students a list of compound words (sunflower, cupcake, football, rainbow) and ask them to build emoji riddles for each other. It’s a sneaky phonics lesson.
  • Party teams: split into two teams. Each team gets 60 seconds per riddle, with a point taken off for using the hint. The tricky round is perfect for mixed ages: kids often know the pictures, and grown-ups know the sayings.
  • Make your own: stick to emojis most phones show, and give a category (animal, food, saying) so there’s only one fair answer.

Love word puzzles? Try our riddles about words, these opposite riddles or the full list of riddles for kids.