Grades 3-8 · Activity
Lantern Riddles: 14 Cut-Out Riddle Slips
This printable is a set of fourteen short riddles, formatted as slips you cut apart and hang on a classroom lantern riddle wall. These fourteen riddles are original, written for this printable in the spirit of dengmi (灯谜), the lantern riddles traditionally hung at the Lantern Festival. They pair with the Lantern Festival readers' theater, giving the class a riddle wall to solve after the performance.
By ChineseZodiac.com · Reviewed for cultural accuracy
For the Teacher
Cut the fourteen slips apart along the dashed lines and tape one under each hanging lantern — the paper lanterns in our Chinese New Year Decorations printable work well. When a student solves a riddle, let them trade the slip for a small prize, the same way the crowd solves riddles at the festival in the readers' theater. The answer key prints on its own page at the end, so you can hand out the slips without the answers showing.
Riddle 1
I am red and round, and I glow at night. Hold my string and you hold the light.
Riddle 2
I wear a bright red coat with money tucked inside, and children hope to get me at New Year.
Riddle 3
The more you take away from me, the bigger I get.
Riddle 4
I follow you all day in the sun, then vanish the moment night falls.
Riddle 5
I have many teeth, but I never eat a thing.
Riddle 6
The more I dry, the wetter I get.
Riddle 7
I was the smallest in the race, but I crossed the river first. A clever ride got me there.
Riddle 8
I carried a smaller friend across the river on my back, and still came in second.
Riddle 9
I can fly through the clouds and call down the rain, but I stopped to help and finished fifth.
Riddle 10
Round and white, I sail the winter sky. Families look up to find me on Lantern Festival night.
Riddle 11
I am sticky, sweet, and round as the moon. At the Lantern Festival, you eat me with a spoon.
Riddle 12
I sleep in a box all year, then wake the new year with a BANG.
Riddle 13
I have a head and a tail, but no body in between.
Riddle 14
I wind down the street on many feet, with one big head and a long silk body.
Answer Key
- 1. A lantern
- 2. A red envelope (hongbao)
- 3. A hole
- 4. Your shadow
- 5. A comb
- 6. A towel
- 7. The Rat
- 8. The Ox
- 9. The Dragon
- 10. The full moon
- 11. Tangyuan (sweet rice balls)
- 12. A firecracker
- 13. A coin
- 14. The dragon dance
Free to use & share (CC BY 4.0)
"Lantern Riddles: 14 Cut-Out Riddle Slips" is published by ChineseZodiac.com under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. You are free to download, print, copy, adapt, and use it in classrooms, libraries, and homes, including for free Lunar New Year and cultural-studies activities.
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