Thirty-six trivia questions for kids, in three rounds by grade:
kindergarten and 1st, 2nd and 3rd, and 4th through 6th. Each round mixes math, words,
science, Spanish and the world, so nobody gets stuck on one subject. Tap "Answer" to
check.
The best trivia question for a kid is one they can almost answer. Too easy and it's
over in a second; too hard and they stop guessing. That's why the rounds go by grade, and
why a kindergartner and a 5th grader can play the same game with different questions.
We checked each science and history answer against the NASA, zoo, NOAA and National Park
Service pages listed at the bottom. If your kids want more on one topic, there are longer
lists at the end.
36 trivia questions and answers for kids in three rounds: K–1, 2–3 and 4–6, each
mixing math, words, science, Spanish and the world.
Ask the question and let kids say the answer out loud, instead of reading out
choices. Research suggests producing an answer helps memory more than picking one,
though most of it was done with adults.
A few questions a day, repeated later in the week, beats one long quiz. Give each
child questions from their own round so a mixed-age family can play together.
Easy trivia questions for kids in K–1
Math and words
You have 3 apples and get 2 more. How many apples do you have now?
Answer5.
What number comes right after 19?
Answer20.
How many sides does a square have?
Answer4, and they're all the same length.
What letter does the word "sun" start with?
AnswerS.
Which word rhymes with "cat": dog, hat or cup?
AnswerHat. Bonus: can you think of another one? Bat, mat
and sat all work.
Science and the world
How many legs does a spider have?
Answer8. That's one way to tell spiders aren't insects:
insects have 6.
What does a caterpillar grow up to be?
AnswerA butterfly or a moth. The big change is called
metamorphosis.
What is the star at the center of our solar system?
AnswerThe Sun. It's the only star in our solar system,
about 93 million miles from Earth.
What planet do we live on?
AnswerEarth.
How many days are in a week?
Answer7.
Spanish
How do you say "hello" in Spanish?
AnswerHola. The h is silent, so it sounds like
"OH-la."
What color is rojo?
AnswerRed.
Trivia questions and answers for grades 2–3
Math and words
What is 7 times 3?
Answer21.
How many minutes are in an hour?
Answer60.
What is half of 50?
Answer25.
One mouse, two... what?
AnswerMice. It's one of the plurals that doesn't just add
an s, like goose and geese.
What's the opposite of "ancient"?
AnswerNew, or modern.
Science and the world
What is the largest planet in our solar system?
AnswerJupiter. If it were hollow, about 1,000 Earths could
fit inside.
How many legs does an insect have?
Answer6.
What is the fastest land mammal?
AnswerThe cheetah. It can run up to 70 miles per hour, but
only for short distances.
What is the largest animal that has ever lived on Earth?
AnswerThe blue whale. It's bigger than any dinosaur we know
of.
Which is the largest ocean?
AnswerThe Pacific Ocean, by far.
Spanish
What number is diez?
Answer10.
What animal is a gato?
AnswerA cat.
Harder trivia questions for grades 4–6
Math and words
What is 12 times 12?
Answer144.
How many degrees are in a right angle?
Answer90.
What is 25% of 80?
Answer20. A quick way to see it: 25% is one quarter, and a
quarter of 80 is 20.
What is the next prime number after 7?
Answer11. (8, 9 and 10 can all be divided by something
other than 1 and themselves.)
What do you call a word that reads the same backward and forward, like "level" or
"racecar"?
AnswerA palindrome.
Science and the world
Which planet is the smallest in our solar system?
AnswerMercury. It's also the closest to the Sun.
Which planet spins tipped over on its side?
AnswerUranus. It's tilted almost 90 degrees, so it looks
like it's rolling around the Sun.
Who was the first person to step onto the Moon, and in what year?
AnswerNeil Armstrong, on July 20, 1969. Buzz Aldrin
followed him about 20 minutes later.
Why is the ocean salty?
AnswerSalt comes from two places: rain and rivers wash
minerals out of rocks on land and carry them to the sea, and some comes up through
openings in the seafloor.
Which country's people gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States?
AnswerFrance. The National Park Service calls it a gift
from the French people.
Spanish
What does biblioteca mean?
AnswerLibrary. Watch out for librería: it looks
like "library" but means bookstore.
How do you say "thank you very much" in Spanish?
AnswerMuchas gracias.
More trivia questions for kids, by topic
Once you know which subject your kids ask for again, these longer lists go deeper.
Each one is split by grade, with answers.
Why asking out loud works better than multiple choice
Trivia is a kind of practice that learning research has studied a lot. Here's what
the studies found, and where they don't line up neatly with a family quiz.
Pulling an answer out of your head helps it stick. Psychologists call
this retrieval practice, which is basically quizzing yourself. In a classic study,
college students who took a recall test on a passage remembered more of it days later
than students who spent the same time rereading it
(Roediger & Karpicke,
2006). A smaller study with 88 children, average age 10, found the same benefit, and
it didn't depend on how strong a reader the child was
(Karpicke, Blunt & Smith,
2016). Those were word lists in a lab-like setting, not trivia at the dinner table.
Saying the answer beats picking it. A review of many studies found
that tests where you produce the answer helped memory more than tests where you pick it
out of a list (Rowland, 2014). Most of
those studies used adults. Still, it's an easy change: read the question, skip the
choices, and let your child try first. Save choices for when they're stuck.
Come back to it later in the week. Children aged 5 to 7 who had
science lessons spread out over time understood the ideas better than children who had
the same lessons back to back
(Vlach & Sandhofer,
2012). It was a small study of 36 children. Asking the Uranus question again on
Thursday costs nothing, though.
None of these studies tested a trivia list like this one, or our game. They're the
closest evidence we found for why a few questions can do more than fill a car ride. The
longer version is in does quizzing
help kids learn?
Try it at home: a week of trivia
Three questions a day. At breakfast, in the car or at bedtime. Stop
while kids still want more.
Mix the rounds. Give each child questions from their own grade, and
let an older sibling be the quizmaster for the K–1 round. Waiting while someone younger
thinks is practice too.
Wait before you reveal. Count to five in your head after the
question. A good guess that's wrong still does some of the work.
Repeat on Friday. Pick three questions from earlier in the week and
ask them again.
Skip the prizes. Promised rewards for an activity can make kids less
interested in it for its own sake
(Deci, Koestner & Ryan,
1999). The research is mixed on this, and "good guess" works fine.
A common pitfall: turning trivia into a test. If a child starts to dread it, drop the
score, play in teams, or let them ask you the questions for a night.
Common questions
What are good trivia questions for kids?
Good trivia questions for kids are ones they can almost answer. For kindergarten and 1st grade, try animals, colors and simple counting. For 2nd and 3rd grade, try planets, times tables and Spanish numbers. For 4th through 6th, try percents, the Moon landing and tricky Spanish words. Mixing subjects keeps everyone guessing.
How many trivia questions should a kids game have?
For a quick game, three to five questions is plenty, and stopping while kids still want more keeps them coming back. For a family game night, two or three rounds of ten with a break works for most elementary kids. Research on spacing suggests a few questions on several days helps memory more than one long quiz.
How do you play trivia with kids of different ages?
Give each child questions from their own grade round, so everyone has a fair shot. Another option is mixed-age teams, with an older and a younger child answering together. Letting an older sibling read the questions to a younger one also works well, and it gives the older child practice at patience and taking turns.
Does trivia help kids learn?
It can help kids remember what they practice. In several studies, including one with 10-year-olds, recalling an answer helped memory more than rereading it. Saying the answer helps more than picking it from choices. Most of this research was done with older students and not with trivia games, so treat it as a good bet, not a promise.
About this article. Written by the Super Trivia Kids team from the
published sources listed below. We're not scientists, researchers, teachers or doctors.
We checked each science and history answer against the NASA, San Diego Zoo, NOAA and
National Park Service pages listed below, and left out facts we couldn't confirm there.
The notes on how quizzing helps memory come from published studies. Every source links to
the original, so you can check our reading of it. If you spot a mistake, tell us through
the support page and we'll fix it.
Roediger, H. L., III, & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking
memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3),
249–255.
doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x
Karpicke, J. D., Blunt, J. R., & Smith, M. A. (2016). Retrieval-based learning:
Positive effects of retrieval practice in elementary school children. Frontiers in
Psychology, 7, 350.
doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00350
Rowland, C. A. (2014). The effect of testing versus restudy on retention: A
meta-analytic review of the testing effect. Psychological Bulletin, 140(6),
1432–1463. doi.org/10.1037/a0037559
Vlach, H. A., & Sandhofer, C. M. (2012). Distributing learning over time: The
spacing effect in children's acquisition and generalization of science concepts.
Child Development, 83(4), 1137–1144.
doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01781.x
Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (1999). A meta-analytic review of
experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation.
Psychological Bulletin, 125(6), 627–668.
doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.125.6.627