Smarty Pants

Fascinating Trivia Questions for Kids and Adults

Who knew hummingbirds could fly backward?

by Lilian Ogbuefi
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
Ariela Basson/Fatherly; Getty Images

Kids love to ask questions, but they’re favorite question is “why.” But what kids love even more than asking is becoming the know-it-alls with the answer. When you’re hosting game night or simply hanging out with family, it’s normal to throw in a few jokes and games here and there to lighten up the mood. Trivia questions for kids are a guaranteed hit — kids love to tell you all the random nonsense they know. So, if you want to go toe-to-toe with your kids, you need random facts.

Trivia questions for kids are an easy way to test their knowledge and teach them new things. And by engaging in this activity, they ultimately develop practical skills like quick thinking and the ability to provide timely responses.

We’ve curated unique trivia questions that span different genres. Though some will crack you up, the rest will fill you with awe. From animals to space, to movies, then American history, here are trivia questions for kids — and adults who want to learn a thing or two.

Animal Trivia Questions

What is the fastest land animal? // Answer: The cheetah.

What do you call a baby goat? // Answer: A kid.

Name a mammal that can’t jump. // Answer: Elephant, sloth, hippo, or rhino.

Ariela Basson/Fatherly; Getty Images

What is a group of crows called? // Answer: A murder.

What is a group of lions called? // Answer: A pride.

What bird lives in Antarctica and cannot fly? // Answer: Penguin.

How many arms does an octopus have? // Answer: Eight.

How many arms does a starfish have? // Answer: Five.

Which bird can learn to mimic human speech? // Answer: Parrots.

How many edges does a cube have? // Answer: 12.

Ariela Basson/Fatherly; Getty Images

What is a female elephant called? // Answer: A cow.

What is the largest bird in the world? // Answer: The ostrich.

What is the most common species of bird found in the world? // Answer: Chicken.

Hummingbirds can fly backward. True or False? // Answer: True.

What is the most common training command taught to dogs? // Answer: “Sit”

True or false, dalmatians are born with spots? // Answer: False, dalmatian puppies are born white, and their spots come later in life.

What do snakes smell with? // Answer: Their tongue.

Where do polar bears live? // Answer: Arctic.

What is the only mammal that lays eggs? // Answer: The duck-billed platypus.

What is the largest animal in the world? // Answer: The blue whale.

In the U.S., do people have more cats or dogs? // Answer: The majority of pet-owning homes have dogs, but there are nearly twice as many cats kept as pets.

What is the largest zoo in the U.S.? // Answer: Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, D.C.

Science Trivia Questions

What is the largest planet in the solar system? // Answer: Jupiter.

What is the largest organ on the human body? // Answer: The skin.

What natural phenomenon usually comes after a rainstorm? // Answer: A rainbow!

What is the nearest planet to the Sun? // Answer: Mercury.

What is the longest bone in the human body? // Answer: Femur.

Ariela Basson/Fatherly; Getty Images

True or false, there is gravity on the Moon? // Answer: False.

What is the name for the holes on the Moon’s surface? // Answer: Craters.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is between the moon and what else? // Answer: The sun.

Which body parts continue to grow throughout your entire life? // Answer: Your ears and nose.

What kind of trees have cones? // Answer: Conifers.

What is the largest living organism in the world? // Answer: Honey mushroom in Oregon.

How many seasons are there in a year? // Answer: Four (bonus points for naming them!).

What do biologists study? // Answer: Life.

History Trivia Questions

Who was the first president of the United States? // Answer: George Washington.

Where is the White House located? // Answer: Washington, D.C.

Where is the Eiffel Tower located? // Answer: Paris, France.

Who was the first African American president of the United States? // Answer: Barack Obama.

What country invented the ice cream sundae? // Answer: The United States.

What is another name for the 4th of July holiday? // Answer: Independence Day.

Who painted The Mona Lisa? // Answer: Leonardo da Vinci.

What country gifted the United States the Statue of Liberty? // Answer: France. The statue was handed over back in 1885.

How many states did the U.S. start with? // Answer: 13.

When was the U.S. established? // Answer: 1776.

What is the smallest country in the world? // Answer: Vatican City.

Where does K-Pop come from? // Answer: South Korea.

Who is the current U.S. president? // Answer: Joe Biden.

What is the only U.S. state that’s an island? // Answer: Hawaii.

What was the name of John F. Kennedy’s wife? // Answer: Jacqueline Kennedy.

Before the laws were changed in 2000, how long was a French president’s term? // Answer: Seven years.

How many stars are there on the American flag? // Answer: 50.

How many stripes are there on the American flag? // Answer: 13.

How many states are there in the U.S.? // Answer: 50.

What are preserved bones of extinct animals called? // Answer: Fossils.

Geography Trivia

What is the largest state in the U.S.? // Answer: Alaska.

What is the smallest state in the U.S.? // Answer: Rhode Island.

What is the largest city in the U.S. by population?

What is the largest city in the U.S. by population? // Answer: New York City.

What is the largest city in Europe by population? // Answer: Istanbul, Turkey.

What is the largest city in the world by population? // Answer: Tokyo, Japan.

How many continents are there? // Answer: Seven (bonus points for naming them!)

How many oceans are there? // Answer: Four (bonus points for naming them!)

How many Great Lakes are there? // Answer: Five (bonus points for naming them!)

Where can you find the Petronas Towers? // Answer: Kuala Lumpur.

What do you call an area that receives 10 inches or less of rainfall each year? // Answer: A desert.

Cartoon And Comic Book Trivia Questions

What is the name of the first song heard in The Lion King? // Answer: “The Circle of Life.”

Which dwarf from Snow White mixes up his words? // Answer: Doc.

What is the name of the pet dinosaur on The Flintstones? // Answer: Dino.

What color is the fish from The Cat in the Hat? // Answer: Pink!

What is Shrek’s wife’s name? // Answer: Fiona.

What was the baby lion’s name in The Lion King? // Answer: Simba.

What does Mario jump on after completing a level? // Answer: A flagpole.

What weakens Superman? // Answer: Kryptonite.

What is Batman’s real name? // Answer: Bruce Wayne.

Who is Spider-Man’s crush? // Answer: Mary Jane Watson.

Who is Mickey Mouse’s girlfriend? // Answer: Minnie Mouse.

Which fruit does SpongeBob live in? // Answer: Pineapple.

Which princess lived with seven dwarfs? // Answer: Snow White.

What is Winnie the Pooh’s favorite treat? // Answer: Honey.

Who is the villain in The Little Mermaid? // Answer: Ursula.

What television series cartoon dog says, “Ruh Roh!”? // Answer: Scooby-Doo.

Who was the first Disney Princess? // Answer: Snow White.

What animal was Walt Disney’s first cartoon? // Answer: A rabbit.

What was Pixar’s first movie? // Answer: Toy Story.

What year was Minecraft released? // Answer: 2011.

Nursery Rhyme Trivia Questions

What were Jack and Jill going up the hill to fetch? // Answer: A pale of water.

“Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack _______.” What is the next line? // Answer: Jack jump over the candlestick.

What famous ocean liner tragically sank back in 1912? // Answer: The Titanic.

When Little Jack Horner sat in the corner, what was he eating? // Answer: Christmas pie.

Little Miss Muffett still sat on her tuffet. But, on Opposite Day, what would the spider do while she ate her curds and whey? // Answer: Stand up, across the room from her.

Who went to the pantry to get her favorite pet a treat, only to find the shelves empty? // Answer: Old Mother Hubbard.

The popular nursery rhyme “Jack and Jill” is said to be about whom? // Answer: King Louis XVI of France and Marie Antoinette.

Why did Old Mother Hubbard go to the cupboard? // Answer: To get a bone.

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly, what did she swallow next to catch the fly? // Answer: A spider.

Mary Mary was quite contrary. What did she grow in her garden? // Answer: Silver bells and cockleshells and pretty maids all in a row.

Math Trivia Questions

How many inches are in a foot? // Answer: 12.

How many feet are in a yard? // Answer: Three.

How many sides does a pentagon have? // Answer: Five.

How many zeros are in a million? // Answer: Six.

What degree is a right angle? // Answer: 90 degrees.

What is the top number of a fraction called? // Answer: A numerator.

What is the bottom number of a fraction called? // Answer: A denominator.

If a car is traveling at 65 mph, how many miles would it travel in six hours? // Answer: 390.

What does a barometer measure? // Answer: Pressure.

What does a thermometer measure? // Answer: Temperature.

Holiday Trivia Questions:

Where does Santa Claus live? // Answer: The North Pole.

What’s a lucky object that you can find in the grass? // Answer: A four-leaf clover.

What is the most popular holiday in the U.S.? // Answer: Christmas.

What country first used tinsel as a holiday tree decoration? // Answer: Germany.

The world-record largest chocolate Easter egg was made in what city? // Answer: Tosca, Italy.

Each year in Chicago since 1962, the Plumber Union dyes what Kelly green? // Answer: The river.

What mythological being is a part of St. Patrick’s Day lore and Irish culture? // Answer: Leprechauns.

How large is the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball in diameter? // Answer: 12 feet.

The Dutch believe eating what on New Year’s Day will bring good luck? // Answer: Donuts.

Besides Valentine’s Day, for which holiday are the most flowers sent? // Answer: Mother’s Day

Vehicle and Travel Trivia Questions

Which color means “GO” on a stoplight? // Answer: Green.

Give a name for a two-wheeled vehicle with no motor. // Answer: Bicycle.

Why kind of water vehicles dive underwater? // Answer: Submarines.

How many wheels does a semi-truck have? // Answer: 18.

What is the longest road in the United States? // Answer: U.S. Route 20, which runs 3,365 miles from Newport, Oregon, to Boston, Massachusetts.

What is the world’s longest road? // Answer: The Pan-American Highway is the answer. This 19,000-mile road connects Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, and Ushuaia, Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego Province.

Which country has the most sparse road network? // Answer: Tuvalu, with only 5 kilometers of road on this small South Pacific island.

Which historic American highway was featured in the Disney film Cars? // Answer: Route 66, of course!

What was the very first mass-produced automobile? // Answer: The Model T.

Which German road is one of the few places on the planet without a speed limit? // Answer: The Autobahn.

Music Trivia Questions

Ariela Basson/Fatherly; Getty Images

How many members of the Beatles were there? // Answer: Four.

What was Freddie Mercury’s real name? // Answer: Farrokh Bulsara.

Who was the very first American Idol winner? // Answer: Kelly Clarkson.

Before Miley Cyrus recorded “Wrecking Ball,” it was offered to which singer? // Answer: Beyoncé.

Which classical composer was deaf? // Answer: Ludwig van Beethoven.

Which percussion instrument is named after its shape? // Answer: Triangle.

A violin usually has these many strings. // Answer: Four.

The bow of this instrument is the longest bow in an orchestra. // Answer: Viola.

It is the largest and lowest-pitched of brass instruments. // Answer: Tuba.

A piano has these many keys. // Answer: 88.

Fashion Trivia

The American designer born in 1939 as Ralph Lifshitz is better known as what? // Answer: Ralph Lauren.

Who invented the bidet? // Answer: Christophe Des Rosiers.

Who invented the LBD (little black dress)? // Answer: Coco Chanel.

Stripes, chevron, floral, and plaid are examples of what? // Answer: Patterns.

According to the commercial, “What is the fabric of our lives”? // Answer: Cotton.

Which city is called the Fashion Capital of the World? // Answer: Milan.

Corduroy literally translated means what? // Answer: Cloth of the King.

Ariela Basson/Fatherly; Getty Images

What are the decorative snap-on charms that fit in the holes of “Crocs”? // Answer: Jibbitz.

Lederhosen would be seen on legs in which country? // Answer: Germany.

Before Victoria Beckham became a fashion designer, she was a member of an all-female pop group. What was the group’s name? // Answer: The Spice Girls.

Sports Trivia

What’s the diameter of a basketball hoop in inches? // Answer: 18 inches.

The Olympics are held every how many years? // Answer: Four years.

What do you call it when a bowler makes three strikes in a row? // Answer: Turkey.

What does NBA stand for? // Answer: National Basketball Association.

In what game is “love” a score? // Answer: Tennis.

In football, how many points does a touchdown hold? // Answer: Six points.

How many players are on a basketball team? // Answer: Nine players.

Which sport uses a net, a racket, and a shuttlecock? // Answer: Badminton.

What type of race is the Tour de France? // Answer: Bicycle race.

A sporting event is held every year on Memorial Day. What is it? // Answer: Indianapolis 500.

In what year were women allowed to compete in the modern Olympic games and in what sport? // Answer: 1900, tennis.

What is the only sport to be played on the moon? // Answer: A round of golf.

How old was Tiger Woods when he won the Masters? // Answer: 21.

What NFL team was originally called the New York Titans? // Answer: New York Jets.

This player was the first-ever openly gay person to be drafted by an NFL team. What was his name? // Answer: Michael Sam.

What NFL team lost the first Super Bowl in 1970? // Answer: Minnesota Vikings.

What team is considered the oldest in the NFL? // Answer: Green Bay Packers.

Which basketball player was Michael Jordan nicknamed after when he was in high school? // Answer: Magic Johnson.

What team won the very first NBA game in 1946? // Answer: New York Knicks.

What team owns the longest winning streak in NBA history? // Answer: Los Angeles Lakers.

What’s the diameter of a basketball hoop in inches? // Answer: 18 inches.

What’s the national sport of Canada? // Answer: Lacrosse.

Who has won more tennis grand slam titles, Venus Williams or Serena Williams? // Answer: Serena Williams.

Which boxer fought against Muhammad Ali and won? // Answer: Joe Frazier.

How many medals did China win at the Beijing Olympics? // Answer: 100.

How long is a marathon? // Answer: 26.2 miles.

How many sports were included in the 2008 Summer Olympics? // Answer: 28.

How many minutes was the longest recorded point in the history of tennis? // Answer: 29 minutes.

How much does an NFL football weigh? // Answer: One pound.

Which NFL team has their logo on only one side of their helmets? // Answer: Pittsburgh Steelers.

This article was originally published on