What is the difference between a riddle and a puzzle?
I was asked this question at a recent workshop and, I have to admit, it did make me stop and think if there really was a difference. I knew that puzzles were brain teasers, and so too, I thought were riddles.
And then, I typed the question into to my go-to search engine: 'what is a riddle' (sorry, I did not use punctuation). As results would have it, the definition was the first thing to show up. :) I learned that a riddle is a verbal puzzle. A verbal puzzle is when either a statement/question is made/asked of others and they have to guess the answer. On the one hand riddles are puzzles. On the other hand, riddles could be considered a sub-category of puzzles. Guess what new category is on my list of things to add to my ever growing list of puzzles?! :)
Here are some examples of verbal riddles*:
l. What goes up the chimney down, but can't go down the chimney up?
2. If a rooster sits on the top of the roof, on what side does the egg roll down?
3. In riddle poem form:
"As I was going to St. Ives,
I met a man with 7 wives.
The 7 wives had 7 cats,
The 7 cats had 7 kits.
How many were going to St. Ives?"
How many times have you seen a child's riddle poem, such as #3 above, illustrated? I wonder how many kid's books there are that include riddles like this, but we never thought of them like this before? Must look into that! :)
Here are some examples of puzzles:
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| Geometry Vocabulary Word Search Puzzle |
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| Math Words Freeform Crossword Puzzle |
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| Samurai Sudoku Puzzle |
Structurally, these three types of puzzles look different. But, they share many characteristics.
- These puzzles use some form of logic in order to solve them.
- All puzzles use some form of the process of elimination.
- They activate problem solving skills.
- Puzzles help support both fine motor skill development and visual acuity.
Next Steps
A next step for us is to explore riddles and create a blog post exclusively dedicated to these types of puzzles.
Next Planned Blog Post
Teaching Ideas Using Puzzles
Question
What are your favorite types of brain teasers to solve?
~ Riddles?
~ Puzzles?
Feel free to respond in the comments section below.
*see next post for answers
