Riddles About Trees With Answers
Updated · Best Riddles With Answers editorial team
Quick answer: This page gathers 42 riddles about trees with answers, covering leaves, bark, roots, acorns, orchards and forests. It suits children learning about nature, teachers on a woodland walk and anyone who enjoys a good puzzle. Start with the easy riddles, move on to the trickier and hard sets, and finish with eight quick-fire ones.
Riddles About Trees: Easy Tree Riddles
I have a trunk but no suitcase, a crown but no king, and arms that never hug. What am I?
A tree.
I am green in summer, red in autumn and on the ground by winter. What am I?
A leaf.
I am small and brown and I fall from an oak. A squirrel hides me, and I might grow into a giant. What am I?
An acorn.
I am rough and hard, and I wrap the tree like a coat. What am I?
Bark.
I grow under the ground, drink up the water and hold the tree in place. What am I?
Roots.
I grow on a tree, I am red or green, and I am said to keep the doctor away. What am I?
An apple.
My leaves stay green all year, I am shaped like a cone, and at Christmas I wear lights. What am I?
A pine or fir tree (an evergreen).
Two ropes hold me to a branch. Children sit on me and fly back and forth. What am I?
A tree swing.
I am woven from twigs and high up in the branches. Eggs sleep inside me. What am I?
A bird's nest.
I am the tall, thick, brown middle of a tree, and all the branches grow out of me. What am I?
The trunk.
I run from a maple tree in spring and I am delicious on pancakes. What am I?
Maple syrup.
I am a tiny branch, thin enough to snap between your fingers. What am I?
A twig.
Trickier Tree Riddles
Which tree sounds like the word you?
A yew.
Which fruit tree sounds like a couple?
A pear tree, because pear sounds like pair.
Which tree would you find at the seaside?
A beech, because it sounds like beach.
Which tree shares its name with what is left after a fire?
Ash.
An orchard has 8 rows of apple trees with 12 trees in each row. How many trees are there?
96, because 8 x 12 = 96.
A young tree grows 30 centimetres every year. How many years will it take to reach 3 metres?
10 years, because 3 metres is 300 centimetres and 300 / 30 = 10.
Trees use sunlight, water and air to make their own food. What is this process called?
Photosynthesis.
Every breath I give out, you breathe in. A forest makes plenty of me. What am I?
Oxygen.
I drop all my leaves each autumn and grow them back in spring. What kind of tree am I?
A deciduous tree.
I am made from crushed tree trunks that have been flattened and dried. You write and draw on me. What am I?
Paper.
I have branches but no bark, roots or leaves. I show who your grandparents and great-grandparents were. What am I?
A family tree.
A stump shows 45 rings, one for each year of growth. About how old was the tree when it was cut down?
45 years old.
Hard Tree Riddles
You have 10 trees to plant in 5 straight rows, with 4 trees in every row. How do you do it?
Plant them at the 5 points and the 5 crossing points of a five-pointed star. Each of the 5 lines holds 4 trees.
A vine doubles its coverage of a tree every day and covers the whole tree on day 20. On which day did it cover half?
Day 19, because doubling half gives the whole.
A snail climbs a 12 metre tree. By day it climbs 3 metres and by night it slips back 2 metres. On which day does it reach the top?
Day 10. After 9 days and nights it is at 9 metres, and on day 10 it climbs 3 more to reach 12.
I make leaves green, but in autumn I break down and the hidden reds and oranges show. What am I?
Chlorophyll.
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there, does it make a sound?
It makes sound waves. Whether that counts as a sound depends on whether sound means vibrations or being heard.
A sapling is 40 centimetres tall and grows 25 centimetres a year. After how many years is it 2 metres 90 centimetres tall?
10 years. 290 - 40 = 250 and 250 / 25 = 10.
Tom planted twice as many trees as Sue, and Sue planted 3 more than Raj. Together they planted 33. How many did Tom plant?
18. Raj 6, Sue 9, Tom 18, and 6 + 9 + 18 = 33.
My roots hang down from my branches and become new trunks, so one of me can look like a whole forest. What am I?
A banyan tree.
A 6 metre tree casts a 4 metre shadow. A 1.5 metre child standing beside it casts a shadow of what length?
1 metre. The shadow is two thirds of the height: 1.5 x 4 / 6 = 1.
Ten birds sit in a tree and a hunter shoots one. How many are left in the tree?
None. The noise scares the others away.
Quick-Fire Tree Riddles
The mighty tree that grows from an acorn.
Oak.
A weeping tree beside the river.
Willow.
A tree with white, papery bark.
Birch.
A field of fruit trees.
Orchard.
A baby tree.
Sapling.
The leafy roof of a forest.
Canopy.
Wood that has been cut for building.
Timber.
A huge area covered with trees.
Forest.
How to Use These Riddles
Tree riddles are perfect for a woodland walk, a nature lesson or a family picnic. Read a clue, point at the answer if it is nearby, and let children touch the bark or leaf in question.
The maths questions about orchards, growth and shadows turn a walk into a numeracy lesson. Ask children to work out the sums with sticks in the dirt, then check their answers against the working shown.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good riddle about trees?
Try this one: I have a trunk but no suitcase, a crown but no king, and arms that never hug. The answer is a tree. It is simple enough for young children and charming for adults.
What tree can you carry in your hand?
A palm. The riddle plays on the double meaning of the word: a palm tree is a tree, and the palm is also the flat part of your hand. Wordplay riddles like this are very common.
How do you plant 10 trees in 5 rows of 4?
Place them in the shape of a five-pointed star: one tree at each of the five points and one at each of the five places where the lines cross. Each line then holds four trees.
Are these tree riddles good for classroom use?
Yes. They are clean and family-friendly. The easy and quick-fire riddles suit young children, and the maths and logic riddles work in science or numeracy lessons for older pupils.
