Digital and Printable: Christmas Riddles

Christmas riddles for preschool and kindergarten give kids a festive way to listen carefully, think about clues and make a smart guess.

Each “Who am I?” riddle has 3 clues and 3 Christmas pictures to choose from. Kids hear or read clues like “I taste like peppermint” or “I hang by the fireplace,” then figure out which picture matches every clue. The answers include a reindeer, a gingerbread house, a Christmas tree, a stocking, a gingerbread man, a candy cane, an ornament, a present, a wreath, a sleigh and an elf.

The picture choices keep kids thinking. On the gingerbread house riddle, the gingerbread girl also fits the first two clues because you can decorate her and eat her. Only the third clue gives the answer away. That is the heart of inferencing: using every clue to land on the answer, not just the first one.

Use the Google Slides or Seesaw version on a tablet, Chromebook or interactive whiteboard, or print the riddle pages for morning meeting and literacy centers. Slide the printables into sheet protectors and they are ready for dry-erase practice all December long.

How to Use Digital and Printable: Christmas Riddles

1. Choose the Google Slides version, the Seesaw version or the printable riddle pages.
2. Read the 3 clues aloud one at a time or let early readers read them on their own.
3. Pause after each clue and ask, “What could it be?”
4. Kids pick the Christmas picture that matches all 3 clues. On the printable, they circle it.
5. Have kids say the answer in a full sentence, like “You are a sleigh!” and share which clue helped them most.

Morning Meeting: Share one riddle a day. With 11 riddles, there is one for almost every school day leading up to winter break.

Whole Group: Project the Google Slides version and have kids hold up 1, 2 or 3 fingers to show which picture they think is the answer.

Literacy Center: Add the printable pages in sheet protectors with a dry-erase marker for independent practice.

Home or Homeschool: Assign the Seesaw activity or read a riddle at breakfast and see who solves it first.

---

Easy Ways to Differentiate These Christmas Riddles

Some kids in your group are still learning Christmas words like wreath and sleigh, some can use one clue but lose track of the others and some are ready to explain exactly why the other two pictures don’t fit. Every riddle has 3 clues and 3 picture choices, which makes it easy to meet each child where they are.

For Children Who Need More Support:

• Name all 3 pictures together before reading any clues. Words like ornament, wreath and sleigh may be brand new for some kids.
• Read one clue, then have kids point to every picture that could still be the answer. Watching the choices shrink makes each clue feel concrete.
• Start with the most familiar answers, like the Christmas tree, candy cane and reindeer, before moving to the ornament and wreath riddles.
• Act out the clues together. Pretend to pull a sleigh, hang an ornament on a tree or open a present.

For On-Level Practice:

• Read all 3 clues before kids choose, then have them check that their picture matches every clue, not only the last one.
• After each clue, ask kids which picture they can rule out and why, like “It can’t be the present because presents don’t taste like peppermint.”
• Have kids answer in a full sentence, like “You are a wreath!” and tell which clue gave it away.
• Pair kids up so one partner reads or plays the clues while the other solves. Then they switch.

For an Extra Challenge:

• Cover the picture choices and have kids solve the riddle from the clues alone.
• Have kids put the 3 clues in order from least helpful to most helpful and explain their thinking.
• Ask kids to name something else that fits the first two clues of a riddle, like a sugar cookie for “You can decorate me” and “You can eat me.”
• Have kids write or dictate their own Christmas “Who am I?” riddle about something not in the set, like a snowman, a mitten or hot cocoa, then draw 3 picture choices for a friend to solve.

For Speech, OT, ELL or Special Education Support:

• Speech: use the clues as a describing model. Have kids describe one of the leftover pictures with the same pattern: what it looks like, where you find it and what it does.
• ELL: pair each new word with a real object or gesture, like holding up a real ornament or bow, and have kids say the name before solving.
• OT: on the printable, have kids circle their answer with a dry-erase marker, starting at the top. Circling builds the pre-writing circle stroke.
• Special Education: cover two clues with sticky notes and reveal them one at a time, or cover one picture to reduce the choices to two.

---

Digital and Printable: Christmas Riddles Are Perfect For:

• Preschool and pre-K
• Kindergarten
• Christmas and winter themes
• Morning meeting and circle time
• Literacy centers and small groups
• Distance learning with Google Slides or Seesaw
• Speech therapy sessions
• ELL and multilingual learners
• Homeschool

---