106 trivia questions for kids with answers
Questions for children aged about 6 to 12 on animals, the ocean, dinosaurs, space, the human body, weather and the world, grouped by subject. Easy ones suit younger children, hard ones suit ages 10 to 12, and every answer has a short explanation you can read aloud.
Updated
Animals
What is the tallest animal on land?
easy
The giraffe.
A giraffe's neck alone is about 6 feet (1.8 meters) long. A giraffe could look into a second-floor window without standing on tiptoe.
Source: San Diego Zoo https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/giraffe
What is the biggest animal that lives on land?
easy
The African elephant.
The biggest elephant ever measured weighed about 24,000 pounds (10,886 kilograms). Some whales in the sea, such as the blue whale, are bigger still.
Source: San Diego Zoo https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/elephant
How many legs does an insect have?
easy
Six.
An insect's body has three parts: the head, the thorax and the abdomen. All six legs are joined to the middle part, the thorax.
Source: Australian Museum https://australian.museum/learn/animals/insects/
What is a spider's web made of?
easy
Silk.
Spiders make silk inside their bodies and push it out through small parts at the end of the body called spinnerets.
Source: San Diego Zoo https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/spider
Which bird is the national symbol of the United States?
easy
The bald eagle.
It was chosen as the national symbol in 1782. It is not really bald: its head is covered in white feathers.
Source: Smithsonian's National Zoo https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/bald-eagle
Polar bears live in the cold region around the North Pole. What is that region called?
easy
The Arctic.
Polar bears hunt seals on the sea ice there. You will not find penguins with them: most penguins live in the southern half of the world.
Source: San Diego Zoo https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/polar-bear
Which is the only kind of bird that can fly backward?
medium
The hummingbird.
A hummingbird can fly up, down, sideways, backward and even upside down, a bit like a helicopter.
Source: San Diego Zoo https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/hummingbird
About how many hours a day does a koala sleep?
medium
18 to 22 hours.
Koalas eat eucalyptus leaves, which give them very little energy, so they rest for most of the day to save it.
Source: San Diego Zoo https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/koala
An elephant's trunk is its nose joined together with which other body part?
medium
Its upper lip.
The trunk has no bones at all, just lots of muscles. Elephants use it to breathe, smell, drink and pick things up.
Source: San Diego Zoo https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/elephant
Why are flamingos pink?
medium
Because of the food they eat.
Flamingos eat tiny algae and shrimp-like animals that contain pink and orange coloring, the same kind of coloring that makes carrots orange.
Source: San Diego Zoo https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/flamingo
Do any two zebras have exactly the same stripes?
medium
No. Every zebra's stripe pattern is different.
Scientists can tell zebras apart by their stripes, the way people can be told apart by their fingerprints.
Source: San Diego Zoo https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/zebra
What does a camel store in its hump?
medium
Fat.
Not water. The fat is stored energy. When a camel goes without food, its body uses up the fat and the hump shrinks and droops.
Source: San Diego Zoo https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/camel
Why does a snake keep flicking its tongue in and out?
medium
To smell and taste the air around it.
The tongue picks up tiny scents from the air. They help the snake find food and notice what is nearby.
Source: San Diego Zoo https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/snake
Butterflies can taste with which part of their body?
medium
Their feet.
By standing on a leaf, a butterfly can taste it and tell whether its caterpillars would be able to eat it.
Source: San Diego Zoo https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/butterfly-moth-and-skipper
Which bird is the fastest animal in the world when it dives?
medium
The peregrine falcon.
When it dives to catch other birds, it can go faster than 200 miles per hour (more than 320 kilometers per hour).
Source: National Park Service https://www.nps.gov/articles/ncbn-species-spotlight-peregrine-falcon.htm
About how far can most owls turn their heads: halfway around, three-quarters of the way around, or all the way around?
hard
About three-quarters of the way around.
Most owls can turn their heads up to 270 degrees in either direction. A full circle is 360 degrees, so they cannot turn all the way around.
Source: San Diego Zoo https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/owl
What is the largest reptile alive today?
hard
The saltwater crocodile, also called the estuarine crocodile.
Adults are usually 3 to 5 meters (about 10 to 16 feet) long, and big males can grow much longer. They live in northern Australia and Southeast Asia.
Source: Australian Museum https://australian.museum/learn/animals/reptiles/estuarine-crocodile/
Ocean life
How many arms does an octopus have?
easy
Eight.
Each arm is covered with suction cups. The suckers help the octopus grip things, and they can also taste and smell.
Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/giant-pacific-octopus
What tool does a sea otter sometimes use to crack open a crab or a clam?
easy
A rock.
The otter floats on its back, uses its chest as a table and bangs the hard shell with a rock until it opens.
Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/sea-otter
Is a starfish a fish?
easy
No.
Starfish, also called sea stars, have no gills, no scales and no fins, so they are not fish at all.
Source: NOAA https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/starfish.html
Does a jellyfish have a brain?
easy
No.
A jellyfish has no brain, no blood and no heart. Its body is about 95 percent water.
Source: NOAA https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/jellyfish.html
What is the largest fish in the world?
medium
The whale shark.
It can grow to more than 50 feet (15 meters) long. Even so, it is gentle and eats tiny ocean food called plankton.
Source: NOAA Fisheries https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/outreach-and-education/fun-facts-about-fascinating-fish
Which animal has the thickest, densest fur in the world?
medium
The sea otter.
Sea otters have no thick layer of fat to keep them warm in cold water. Instead they have fur with more than a million hairs per square inch where it is thickest.
Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/animals-a-to-z/sea-otter
Do sharks have bones?
medium
No.
A shark's skeleton is made of cartilage, the same bendy material that is in the tip of your nose and your ears.
Source: NOAA Fisheries https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/12-shark-facts-may-surprise-you
Which body parts do fish use to get oxygen from the water?
medium
Their gills.
Water flows over the gills, and tiny blood vessels inside them take in the oxygen the fish needs.
Source: NOAA Fisheries https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/outreach-and-education/fun-facts-about-fascinating-fish
Is coral a plant, an animal or a rock?
medium
An animal.
Coral looks like a plant, but it catches food with tiny tentacles instead of making its own. Reefs are built from the hard skeletons of tiny coral animals called polyps.
Source: NOAA https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral.html
About how much of Earth's surface is covered by ocean?
medium
More than 70 percent.
That is more than two-thirds of the whole planet. The ocean also holds about 97 percent of all of Earth's water.
Source: NOAA https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/oceanwater.html
What do we call the tiny living things that drift through the ocean, carried along by the currents?
hard
Plankton.
The word comes from a Greek word for 'drifter' or 'wanderer'. Most plankton are too small to see without a microscope.
Source: NOAA https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/plankton.html
Where does most of the salt in the ocean come from?
hard
Rocks on land.
Rain slowly wears rocks down and washes tiny bits of salt into rivers, and the rivers carry it to the sea. Some salt also comes from openings in the seafloor.
Source: NOAA https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/whysalty.html
What do sea stars use instead of blood to carry food around their bodies?
hard
Seawater.
Sea stars pump seawater through a system of tubes inside their bodies. The same tubes help them move their tiny tube feet.
Source: NOAA https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/starfish.html
Dinosaurs
Did Tyrannosaurus rex eat plants or other animals?
easy
Other animals. It was a meat-eater.
T. rex had about 60 pointed teeth with jagged edges, strong enough to crunch through bone.
Source: Natural History Museum, London https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/dino-directory/tyrannosaurus.html
Which dinosaur's name means 'three-horned face'?
easy
Triceratops.
It had two long horns above its eyes, a shorter horn on its nose and a big bony frill behind its head.
Source: Natural History Museum, London https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/dino-directory/triceratops.html
Which plant-eating dinosaur had tall bony plates along its back and a spiky tail?
easy
Stegosaurus.
It probably swung its spiked tail to defend itself from meat-eaters such as Allosaurus.
Source: Natural History Museum, London https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/dino-directory/stegosaurus.html
Did people and big dinosaurs like T. rex ever live at the same time?
easy
No.
The big dinosaurs died out about 66 million years ago, long before the first people. Their fossils are found in older rock layers, below the first human fossils.
Source: National Park Service https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fossilday/faq.htm
What do we call a scientist who studies fossils?
medium
A paleontologist.
Paleontologists study fossils such as bones, shells, leaves and footprints to learn about life long ago.
Source: National Park Service https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fossilday/faq.htm
Which animals alive today are dinosaurs?
medium
Birds.
Birds come from small, feathered, meat-eating dinosaurs. So every pigeon and chicken is a living dinosaur.
Source: Natural History Museum, London https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/dino-directory/archaeopteryx.html
About 66 million years ago, what crashed into Earth and helped wipe out the dinosaurs?
medium
A giant asteroid, a big rock from space.
Its crater is now mostly buried under the seafloor off the coast of Mexico. Birds are the only dinosaurs that survived.
Source: Natural History Museum, London https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/how-an-asteroid-caused-extinction-of-dinosaurs.html
The word 'dinosaur' comes from Greek. How is it usually translated?
hard
Terrible lizard.
The scientist Richard Owen made up the name in 1842. He meant 'fearfully great' lizards, because the animals were so big.
Source: Natural History Museum, London https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/how-dinosaurs-got-their-name.html
Were pterosaurs, the flying reptiles, dinosaurs?
hard
No.
Pterosaurs lived at the same time as dinosaurs and were their relatives, but they belong to a separate group of reptiles.
Source: Natural History Museum, London https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-are-dinosaurs.html
Space
Does the Moon make its own light?
easy
No. It reflects light from the Sun.
What we call moonlight is really sunlight bouncing off the Moon's surface.
Source: NASA https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/all-about-the-moon/en/
Which planet is the only place we know of that has living things?
easy
Earth.
Earth is the third planet from the Sun. So far, scientists have not found life anywhere else.
Source: NASA https://science.nasa.gov/earth/facts/
About how many days does it take Earth to travel once around the Sun?
easy
About 365 days, or one year.
It really takes 365 and a quarter days. That extra quarter of a day is the reason we have leap years.
Source: NASA https://science.nasa.gov/earth/facts/
What are the round holes on the Moon, made by crashing space rocks, called?
easy
Craters.
The Moon has no wind or air to wear craters away, so they stay there for a very long time.
Source: NASA https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/all-about-the-moon/en/
Which planet is the farthest from the Sun?
easy
Neptune.
Neptune is the eighth planet. Pluto is farther away, but it is now called a dwarf planet.
Source: NASA https://science.nasa.gov/neptune/facts/
Which planet is the smallest?
medium
Mercury.
Mercury is only a little bigger than Earth's Moon. It is also the planet closest to the Sun.
Source: NASA https://science.nasa.gov/mercury/facts/
What kind of planet do scientists call Pluto now?
medium
A dwarf planet.
In 2006 scientists agreed on a new meaning of the word 'planet', and Pluto was moved into the group of dwarf planets. That left eight planets.
Source: NASA https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/planets/
Which planet has the most moons?
medium
Saturn.
As of August 2026, NASA counts 293 confirmed moons for Saturn, far more than any other planet.
Source: NASA https://science.nasa.gov/saturn/moons/
About how long does it take Earth to spin around once?
medium
About 24 hours, or one day.
Earth's spin gives us day and night. NASA measures one full spin at 23.9 hours.
Source: NASA https://science.nasa.gov/earth/facts/
Who was the first American woman to fly in space?
medium
Sally Ride.
She flew on the space shuttle Challenger on June 18, 1983.
Source: NASA https://www.nasa.gov/history/sally-ride-first-american-woman-in-space/
Laika was the first animal to travel all the way around Earth in space, in 1957. What kind of animal was she?
medium
A dog.
She flew on a Soviet spacecraft called Sputnik 2. Her flight helped scientists learn how living things cope in space.
Source: NASA https://www.nasa.gov/history/60-years-ago-the-first-animal-in-orbit/
The Moon's gravity is weaker than Earth's. About how strong is it compared with Earth's?
hard
About one-sixth as strong.
That is why astronauts walking on the Moon seemed to bounce along the ground.
Source: NASA https://science.nasa.gov/moon/facts/
Which two gases is the Sun mostly made of?
hard
Hydrogen and helium.
Deep inside the Sun, hydrogen is squeezed together to make helium. That gives off the Sun's heat and light.
Source: NASA https://science.nasa.gov/sun/facts/
Which planet has the biggest volcano in the solar system?
hard
Mars.
The volcano is called Olympus Mons. It is more than 25 miles (40 kilometers) tall from its base to its top, far bigger than Mount Everest.
Source: NASA https://science.nasa.gov/mars/facts/
On which planet is one day longer than one whole year?
hard
Venus.
Venus spins very slowly. One spin takes 243 Earth days, but one trip around the Sun takes only 225 Earth days.
Source: NASA https://science.nasa.gov/venus/facts/
Astronauts on the International Space Station circle Earth again and again. How many sunrises do they see in one day?
hard
16.
The station goes all the way around Earth about every 90 minutes, so it passes through 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets every 24 hours.
Source: NASA https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/space-station-facts-and-figures/
Which is the only planet whose English name does not come from Greek or Roman myths?
hard
Earth.
The name comes from old English and German words that simply mean 'the ground'.
Source: NASA https://science.nasa.gov/earth/facts/
The human body
Which organ, about the size of your fist, pumps blood through your body?
easy
Your heart.
Your heart is a strong muscle near the middle of your chest. It keeps pumping all day and all night.
Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/heart
Which pair of spongy organs in your chest fill with air when you breathe in?
easy
Your lungs.
Your lungs take oxygen from the air and pass it into your blood, and they get rid of a waste gas when you breathe out.
Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/lungs
What are the tiny taste sensors on your tongue called?
easy
Taste buds.
Many of the little bumps on your tongue hold taste buds. A newborn baby has about 10,000 of them.
Source: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/taste-disorders
What is the largest organ of your body?
medium
Your skin.
Skin covers the whole outside of your body. It keeps germs out and keeps water in.
Source: MedlinePlus (U.S. National Library of Medicine) https://medlineplus.gov/skinconditions.html
How many baby teeth do children usually have?
medium
20.
Babies are born with all 20 already hidden in their jaws. Later, 32 adult teeth replace them.
Source: American Dental Association https://www.mouthhealthy.org/all-topics-a-z/baby-teeth
How many bones does a grown-up's body usually have?
medium
206.
Babies start out with about 300 bones. Many of them grow together as children get older.
Source: National Cancer Institute (SEER Training) https://training.seer.cancer.gov/anatomy/skeletal/divisions/
How many chambers, or hollow rooms, does the human heart have?
medium
Four.
The two top chambers collect blood coming in. The two bottom chambers pump it out to the lungs and the rest of the body.
Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/heart/anatomy
What is the colored part of your eye called?
medium
The iris.
The iris makes the dark opening in the middle, the pupil, bigger or smaller to let in more or less light.
Source: National Eye Institute https://www.nei.nih.gov/learn-about-eye-health/healthy-vision/how-eyes-work
How many hours of sleep do children aged 6 to 12 need each day?
medium
9 to 12 hours.
Sleep helps your body grow and your brain learn. Teenagers need a little less: 8 to 10 hours.
Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleep/how-much-sleep
About how much of a grown-up's body is water?
hard
Up to about 60 percent.
That is more than half. Babies have even more: a newborn is about 78 percent water.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/water-you-water-and-human-body
Where in your body is the smallest bone?
hard
In your ear.
It is called the stirrup and sits just behind your eardrum. It is about 3 millimeters long, smaller than a grain of rice.
Source: Nemours KidsHealth https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/bones.html
Which of your lungs is a little smaller, the left one or the right one?
hard
The left lung.
Your heart sits a little toward the left side of your chest, so the left lung has less room.
Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/lungs/respiratory-system
Weather and planet Earth
What do we call a spinning column of air that reaches from a thunderstorm down to the ground?
easy
A tornado.
Air is invisible, so you usually see a tornado only when it fills with water droplets, dust and bits of broken things.
Source: NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/tornadoes/
What do we call melted rock once it pours out of a volcano?
easy
Lava.
While the melted rock is still underground, it is called magma. Once it comes out of the volcano, it is called lava.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey https://www.usgs.gov/programs/VHP/about-volcanoes
How many sides or arms does a snowflake have?
easy
Six.
Every snowflake grows from a tiny ice crystal with six sides, so its arms branch out in sixes.
Source: NOAA https://www.noaa.gov/stories/how-do-snowflakes-form-get-science-behind-snow
Which continent is the coldest, windiest and driest?
easy
Antarctica.
It is almost completely covered by ice that is, on average, more than a mile thick.
Source: NASA https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3540/
How many continents are there?
easy
Seven.
They are Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.
Source: NASA https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3540/
Is a bolt of lightning hotter or cooler than the surface of the Sun?
medium
Hotter.
Lightning can heat the air around it to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, about five times hotter than the surface of the Sun.
Source: National Weather Service https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning-science-overview
What makes the sound of thunder?
medium
Lightning. It heats the air so fast that the air suddenly expands with a boom.
The sudden push of air travels out as a sound wave, and we hear it as a crack or a rumble.
Source: National Weather Service https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning-science-thunder
What was the first national park in the world?
medium
Yellowstone.
It was set up in the United States in 1872. It is home to Old Faithful, a geyser that shoots hot water high into the air.
Source: National Park Service https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/exploreoldfaithful.htm
What kind of tree is the tallest in the world?
medium
The coast redwood.
Coast redwoods grow along the coast of northern California and southern Oregon. Each one starts from a seed about the size of a tomato seed.
Source: National Park Service https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/battle-of-the-bark.htm
What is the name for the way green plants use sunlight to make their own food?
medium
Photosynthesis.
Plants use sunlight, water and a gas from the air to make food. While they do it, they give off oxygen that people and animals breathe.
Source: NOAA Ocean Exploration https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/photochemo.html
You see a flash of lightning and count 10 seconds before you hear the thunder. About how far away was the lightning?
hard
About 2 miles.
The sound of thunder travels about 1 mile every 5 seconds, and 10 seconds is two lots of 5. If you can hear thunder at all, go indoors.
Source: National Weather Service https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning-science-overview
What is the difference between a hurricane and a typhoon?
hard
Only where it happens. They are the same kind of storm.
Over the North Atlantic and the central and eastern North Pacific these storms are called hurricanes. Over the northwest Pacific, near Asia, they are called typhoons.
Source: NOAA https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/cyclone.html
Which gas makes up most of the air we breathe? Here is a hint: it is not oxygen.
hard
Nitrogen.
Dry air is about 78 percent nitrogen and about 21 percent oxygen.
Source: NOAA https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/atmosphere
Around the world
In which city is the Eiffel Tower?
easy
Paris, in France.
The tower stands beside the River Seine, which runs through the middle of Paris.
Source: UNESCO World Heritage Centre https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/600/
In which country are the Great Pyramids of Giza?
easy
Egypt.
They were built as tombs for the kings of ancient Egypt more than 4,000 years ago.
Source: UNESCO World Heritage Centre https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/86/
The Great Wall is in which country?
easy
China.
It was built and rebuilt over many centuries to protect ancient China, and it stretches for thousands of miles.
Source: UNESCO World Heritage Centre https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/438/
Which country gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States?
medium
France.
It was a gift of friendship from the people of France. The statue stands in New York Harbor.
Source: National Park Service https://www.nps.gov/stli/index.htm
The Great Barrier Reef, the biggest group of coral reefs in the world, lies off the coast of which country?
medium
Australia.
It runs along Australia's northeast coast and is home to about 1,500 kinds of fish.
Source: UNESCO World Heritage Centre https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/154/
The Taj Mahal, a huge white marble building, is in which country?
medium
India.
An emperor named Shah Jahan had it built in memory of his wife. The work took from 1631 to 1648.
Source: UNESCO World Heritage Centre https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/252/
What is the highest mountain in Africa?
medium
Mount Kilimanjaro.
It is a huge old volcano in Tanzania, 5,895 meters (about 19,340 feet) tall, with snow on top even though it is close to the equator.
Source: UNESCO World Heritage Centre https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/403/
Which country has the most people?
medium
India.
In 2023, the United Nations reported that India had passed China as the country with the most people.
Source: United Nations Population Division https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/content/india-overtakes-china-world%E2%80%99s-most-populous-country
Machu Picchu, an ancient city high in the Andes mountains, is in which country?
hard
Peru.
It was built by the Inca Empire and sits about 2,430 meters (almost 8,000 feet) above sea level.
Source: UNESCO World Heritage Centre https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/274/
The Galápagos Islands, famous for their giant tortoises, belong to which country?
hard
Ecuador.
The islands lie in the Pacific Ocean about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from Ecuador. Their unusual animals helped Charles Darwin form his ideas about how living things change over time.
Source: UNESCO World Heritage Centre https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1/
People in history
Who was the first president of the United States?
easy
George Washington.
He took office in 1789. He is the only president who got the vote of every single elector.
Source: National Park Service https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/george-washington-inauguration.htm
Which U.S. president is the teddy bear named after?
medium
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt.
On a hunting trip in 1902, he refused to shoot a bear that had been tied to a tree. A cartoon about it led shop owners to make a toy bear named after him.
Source: National Park Service https://www.nps.gov/articles/teddybear.htm
Benjamin Franklin flew a kite in a thunderstorm to show that lightning is a kind of what?
medium
Electricity.
He did it in Philadelphia in 1752. It was very dangerous: never fly a kite near a storm or power lines.
Source: The Franklin Institute https://www.fi.edu/en/benjamin-franklin/kite-key-experiment
What is the name of Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous 1963 speech in Washington, D.C.?
medium
"I Have a Dream."
He gave it on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to about 250,000 people who had marched for equal rights and jobs.
Source: National Archives https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/official-program-for-the-march-on-washington
In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on what?
medium
A city bus.
She was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for breaking an unfair law that kept Black and white riders apart. Her courage helped the fight for equal rights.
Source: National Archives https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/rosa-parks
Harriet Tubman led enslaved people to freedom along a secret network of helpers and hiding places. What was it called?
medium
The Underground Railroad.
It was not a real railroad. People who guided others along it, like Tubman, were called conductors.
Source: National Park Service https://www.nps.gov/subjects/africanamericanheritage/harriet-tubman.htm
Which four presidents' faces are carved into Mount Rushmore?
hard
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
The giant carving is in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Source: National Park Service https://www.nps.gov/moru/index.htm
Who led the first team to reach the South Pole?
hard
Roald Amundsen.
He was an explorer from Norway. His team got there on December 14, 1911, about a month before a British team led by Robert Falcon Scott.
Source: NASA Earth Observatory https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/76659/a-century-at-the-south-pole
Everyday science and numbers
How many sides does a stop sign have?
easy
Eight. It is an octagon.
'Octa' means eight. In the United States, the rules for road signs say a stop sign must be a red octagon with white letters.
Source: Federal Highway Administration https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/htm/2009/part2/part2b.htm
Wind turbines use moving air to make what?
easy
Electricity.
The wind turns the blades, and the spinning blades turn a machine called a generator, which makes electricity.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration https://www.eia.gov/kids/energy-sources/wind/
Why do ice cubes float in a glass of water?
medium
Ice is lighter than the same amount of liquid water.
When water freezes, it spreads out and takes up a little more space. That makes ice less dense than liquid water, so it floats.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey https://www.usgs.gov/water-science-school/science/facts-about-water
How many centimeters are in one meter?
medium
100.
'Centi' means one hundredth, so a centimeter is one hundredth of a meter.
Source: NIST https://www.nist.gov/pml/owm/metric-si-prefixes
At what temperature does water boil at sea level?
medium
212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius).
High up on a mountain, water boils at a lower temperature, so food takes longer to cook there.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey https://www.usgs.gov/water-science-school/science/facts-about-water
Oranges are famous for having lots of which vitamin?
medium
Vitamin C.
Your body uses vitamin C to heal cuts and to keep bones and teeth healthy. Strawberries and kiwi fruit have plenty too.
Source: MedlinePlus (U.S. National Library of Medicine) https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002404.htm
Chocolate is made from the seeds of which tree?
medium
The cacao tree.
The seeds grow inside big pods shaped like small footballs. One pod holds enough seeds for about two bars of dark chocolate.
Source: Field Museum http://archive.fieldmuseum.org/chocolate/about.html
Plan the round and team scores
8 turns × 60 seconds = 8 minutes of play, plus instructions and breaks.
60
These are adjustable house rules. Pause whenever the group needs more time.
Team 1: 0
Team 2: 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.