51 trivia questions for 3rd grade with answers

Questions for 8- and 9-year-olds on what 3rd graders usually study: life cycles, insects and other animals, the Sun and the Moon, weather tools and magnets, maps and continents, American symbols, times tables and fractions, and parts of speech. Easy ones make a warm-up; hard ones stretch a strong class. Every science and social studies answer links to its source, and every math answer shows the working. Printed without the answers, the set makes a review sheet for the class.

51 questions · Trivia questions for 3rd grade with answers · answers included

Updated 26 Oct 2026

Animals and plants

1
What are the four stages in a butterfly's life?

easy

Answer
Egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis) and adult.
A butterfly's whole body changes between the caterpillar and the adult.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly?oldid=1375073706
2
What is the big change in body shape that a caterpillar or a tadpole goes through as it grows into an adult called?

medium

Answer
Metamorphosis.
Metamorphosis comes from Greek words meaning a change of shape.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamorphosis?oldid=1380852310
3
What is a baby frog with a tail, living in water, called?

easy

Answer
A tadpole.
Tadpoles are also called polliwogs.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadpole?oldid=1379420313
4
Is a frog a reptile or an amphibian?

medium

Answer
An amphibian.
Frogs make up about 88% of the amphibian species alive today.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frog?oldid=1381001026
5
How many legs does an insect have?

easy

Answer
Six legs.
They grow in three pairs, all on the middle part of the body.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect?oldid=1376046059
6
An insect's body has three parts. What are they called?

medium

Answer
The head, the thorax and the abdomen.
The word insect comes from a Latin word meaning cut up, because an insect looks cut into three parts.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect?oldid=1376046059
7
How many legs does a spider have?

easy

Answer
Eight legs.
Eight legs, not six, is one reason a spider is not an insect.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider?oldid=1377148305
8
Which is the only mammal that can really fly?

medium

Answer
The bat.
A bat's wings are thin skin stretched between its long fingers.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat?oldid=1380881183
9
What do mammal mothers feed their babies?

medium

Answer
Milk.
Mammals also have fur or hair.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammal?oldid=1380261740
10
What sweet liquid do bees collect from flowers to make honey?

easy

Answer
Nectar.
Bees also use some of the nectar as fuel for flying.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey?oldid=1380415835
11
Which part of a plant holds it in the ground and takes in water?

easy

Answer
The roots.
Roots also take in minerals from the soil.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root?oldid=1381511495
12
What are the remains or traces of plants and animals from long ago, kept in rock, called?

medium

Answer
Fossils.
Bones, shells and footprints can all become fossils.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil?oldid=1378214793

Earth and space

13
The Sun is not a planet. What is it?

easy

Answer
A star.
It is the star at the center of our solar system.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun?oldid=1381179696
14
What is the only natural satellite that goes around Earth?

easy

Answer
The Moon.
Other planets have moons too: Mars has two.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon?oldid=1381996792
15
About how many days does the Moon take to go through all its phases, from one full moon to the next?

hard

Answer
About 29.5 days.
That is about a month, and the word month comes from moon.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_phase?oldid=1372467789
16
How long does Earth take to travel once around the Sun?

medium

Answer
A year, about 365 days.
The extra quarter of a day is why we add a leap day every four years.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth?oldid=1381715998
17
Earth spins around an imaginary line that runs through the North and South Poles. What is that line called?

hard

Answer
Its axis.
One spin takes a day: the side facing the Sun has daytime.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_rotation?oldid=1380780386
18
About how much of Earth's surface is covered by ocean?

medium

Answer
About 71%, or 70.8%.
That is a little more than two thirds.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth?oldid=1381715998

Weather and magnets

19
Which tool measures how hot or cold something is?

easy

Answer
A thermometer.
Thermo means heat.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermometer?oldid=1378639224
20
Which weather tool measures how fast the wind blows?

hard

Answer
An anemometer.
The name comes from the Greek words for wind and measure.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anemometer?oldid=1368748003
21
Which tool measures how much rain has fallen?

medium

Answer
A rain gauge.
Most rain gauges measure the rain in millimeters.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_gauge?oldid=1378055777
22
Which of these does a magnet pull: an iron nail or a plastic spoon?

easy

Answer
The iron nail.
Magnets pull on iron, steel, nickel and cobalt, but not on plastic, wood or paper.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet?oldid=1379641051
23
When a bar magnet hangs freely, which of its ends points north?

medium

Answer
Its north pole.
A compass needle is a small magnet that works the same way.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet?oldid=1379641051

Maps and the world

24
How many continents do most English-speaking countries count?

easy

Answer
Seven.
They are Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe and Australia.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent?oldid=1380526741
25
Which is the largest continent?

easy

Answer
Asia.
It also has the most people of any continent.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia?oldid=1380357737
26
Which is the largest and deepest ocean?

easy

Answer
The Pacific Ocean.
It is bigger than all the land on Earth put together.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Ocean?oldid=1379062720
27
On a map, what is the drawing that shows north, east, south and west called?

medium

Answer
A compass rose.
North, east, south and west are the four cardinal directions.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compass_rose?oldid=1377781252
28
What is the imaginary line around the middle of Earth, halfway between the poles, called?

medium

Answer
The equator.
It splits Earth into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equator?oldid=1380440891
29
Which is the largest hot desert in the world?

medium

Answer
The Sahara.
It is in Africa. The cold deserts of Antarctica and the Arctic are bigger.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahara?oldid=1380508422
30
Which is the highest mountain on Earth above sea level?

easy

Answer
Mount Everest.
It is in the Himalayas, on the border of Nepal and China.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest?oldid=1381762057

America

31
What is the capital city of the United States?

easy

Answer
Washington, D.C.
D.C. stands for District of Columbia.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_D.C.?oldid=1380711368
32
The people of which country gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States?

medium

Answer
France.
Gustave Eiffel, who later built the Eiffel Tower, built its metal frame.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty?oldid=1380786529
33
What is the national bird of the United States?

easy

Answer
The bald eagle.
It also appears on the country's seal.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_eagle?oldid=1380654016
34
How many stars are on the flag of the United States?

easy

Answer
50 stars.
There is one for each state; the 50-star flag dates from 1960.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_United_States?oldid=1378919390
35
Whose four faces are carved into Mount Rushmore?

hard

Answer
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
Each head is 60 feet tall.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rushmore?oldid=1379207183
36
Who leads the government of a city or a town?

medium

Answer
The mayor.
In many towns the people choose the mayor in an election.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayor?oldid=1379323110

Math

37
What is 6 × 7?

easy

Answer
42.
Six sevens: 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42.
38
What is 56 ÷ 8?

easy

Answer
7.
8 × 7 = 56, so 56 split into 8 equal groups is 7 in each.
39
There are 4 bags with 6 apples in each. How many apples are there?

easy

Answer
24 apples.
4 groups of 6: 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 24, or 4 × 6 = 24.
40
A pizza is cut into 8 equal slices and you eat 3. What fraction of the pizza did you eat?

medium

Answer
3/8.
The bottom number is the 8 equal slices; the top number is the 3 you ate.
41
Which is bigger: 1/2 or 1/4?

medium

Answer
1/2.
Cut the same pizza into 4 slices and each slice is smaller than when you cut it into 2.
42
The time is 2:30. What time will it be 45 minutes later?

medium

Answer
3:15.
30 minutes later it is 3:00, and 15 more minutes makes 3:15.
43
Round 68 to the nearest ten.

easy

Answer
70.
68 is between 60 and 70, and closer to 70.
44
In the number 347, what is the value of the 4?

medium

Answer
40, or 4 tens.
3 hundreds, 4 tens and 7 ones make 347.
45
A triangle has sides of 3 cm, 4 cm and 5 cm. What is its perimeter?

hard

Answer
12 cm.
The perimeter is the distance all the way around: 3 + 4 + 5 = 12.
46
How many sides does a hexagon have?

easy

Answer
Six sides.
Hex means six, as in the six-sided cells of a honeycomb.

Words and grammar

47
Which part of speech names a person, a place or a thing?

easy

Answer
A noun.
Teacher, park and pencil are all nouns.
48
In "The dog ran to the gate", which word is the verb?

easy

Answer
Ran.
A verb is an action word: it tells what the dog did.
49
What is the plural of "child"?

medium

Answer
Children.
Most words just add -s, but child, mouse and tooth change: children, mice, teeth.
50
Which two words make the contraction "can't"?

medium

Answer
Can and not.
The apostrophe takes the place of the letters left out.
51
"Sunflower" joins two words, sun and flower. What is a word like that called?

easy

Answer
A compound word.
Rainbow, football and cupcake are compound words too.

Timer and team scores

Seconds per turnTurns in the session

8 turns × 60 seconds = 8 minutes of play, plus instructions and breaks.

Pause whenever the group needs more time.

Teams

Team Lime's turn

Team Lime: 0

Team Violet: 0

Use this set with a group

Read a prompt, allow thinking time, then invite an answer or a pass. For a timed round, choose a turn length before starting. A host can keep the printed answers out of view until the round ends.

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