19 children's charades that are harder than they seem

We chose the charades for this collection from the magazine For Our Children, which was published in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Try to cope with intricate riddles!

Let's remind you how to solve charades: decipher the parts of the answer, which are independent words, and add them up to get the answer. For example:

My first syllable is on a tree
My second syllable is union.
But in general I am matter
And I am fit for a suit.

The answer: Cloth. Now let's go!

– 1 –

I am changeable:
Sometimes I warm you up
And sometimes cold.

The initial part - she
It is called a preposition.

And in the second and third syllables
Time is always measured
Both slaves and gentlemen.

– 2 –

I love to listen to death
As part one in concert
Or sings at the opera.

Part two flies in the heat,
Horses in the fields bites,
Doesn't give them rest.

And in everything, to be honest,
Boys and girls together
Entertainment will be found.

In general, youth is daring
He walks, singing songs,
Forgetting hard work.

– 3 –

My first mistress
Sweeps away every day
And the second rolls the waves
Past villages and villages ...

But now come here rather
Direct your inquisitive gaze:
My whole flies
And sits on the fence.

– 4 –

You will find the first on face,
Look for the second in the alphabet,
Go out for the third in the field
And listen:
The shepherd calls his flocks for them.
And you will find the whole without difficulty
In the menagerie, among the ugly beasts.

– 5 –

You call the animal the beginning,
You can easily find the end in the forest,
And all of me is familiar to you from childhood,
Without milk and with milk.

– 6 –

Start - big number,
The end flows like a river in France.
And that's all - when it is dear to us,
It's always hard to part with her.

– 7 –

I begin with a pretext,
My end is a part of the beast,
And it would be awful
Fall into all mine.

– 8 –

I am composed of three syllables
And I sing very sweetly.
But if the notes are musical
Take me away,
Born of fire
I will become pale and sad.

– 9 –

You will find my first syllable in the sea
Among animals or beasts.
Unwittingly cry out the second
at the sight of drowning people.

And the whole is a big empire,
Beautiful and not simple.
Between Russia, the ocean
AND Asia, Afghanistan.
Tell me now, friends,
What kind of country is this?

– 10 –

The first part is measured.
And the second will be read
Let the beginning from the end
And get a part of the face.

The children played together
Lost the old ball
Both screaming and crying began.
Buy them a new ball!

– 11 –

Look for the first syllable in the blizzard,
He is in his youth and cradle,
You won't find him in a friend
You will not find it in Sivka-Burka either.

My last two syllables
There is the name of Petrograd.
Where there are many heavenly lights,
My charade shines there.

– 12 –

There's an excuse ahead
And vice follows.
Yet together there will be one
Who lives in the north.

– 13 –

In the first syllable we will see
There are many ships.

We find the second syllable in Nina.
The third syllable used to be
We repeat every now and then
Laughing with you.

Still mining together
Bread yourself with a needle.

– 14 –

My initial syllable is weight, and
the tree is the second.
And the whole - domestic animal small.

– 15 –

You will find the initial syllable in houses.
The second is in swamps and ponds.
And the whole is in pockets, in wallets.

– 16 –

We play and sing my first syllable.
We will gain the second between the parts of the world.
And the whole - where not without torment
We are taking a science course.

– 17 –

My first syllable is French coin,
The second one gravitates over us,
And the whole is a small animal,
He will be able to sleep the whole winter.

– 18 –

People drink my two syllables
The last one is pouring down from the sky
And they give my whole as a delicacy.

– 19 –

Among the consonants is the beginning,
Among male names - the end
And the whole stands stately in the living room.

The article used charades from issues of the magazine "For Our Children" No. 2, 4, 5 for 1913; No. 1, 2 for 1914; No. 6, 7, 10 for 1915; No. 10, 11 for 1917; No. 2, 3, 4 for 1918. Scanned editions can be viewed on the website archive National Electronic Children's Library.

How many charades have you solved? Let us know in the comments!