50 Trivia Questions for Smart Kids

Trivia is fun, let’s face it. We groan over the questions we should have been able to answer and cheer like mad when we nail it. Here is a list of 50 trivia questions for the whole family. There are some for all ages. We’ve designed it to have good questions for everyone in the family and to help everyone learn at least one new thing.

1. What’s the Latin word for the Moon?
   Luna. That is also the name of the Moon in Spanish and Italian.
2. How many stripes are there in the flag of the United States of America?
   Thirteen, one for each original colony.
3. We all know that George Washington was the first American president, but who was second?
   John Adams.
4. Who wrote the Star-Spangled Banner?
   The poem was written by Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814 after he watched the British bombarded Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. The poem was set to music in 1931 by John Stafford Smith which became our country’s national anthem.
5. How many innings are in a baseball game?
   Nine.
6. Who were the first astronauts to land on the Moon?
   On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin touched down on the Moon’s surface. Pilot Michael Collins stayed aboard the orbiter. Armstrong, some six hours after landing, became the first human to walk on the Moon’s surface.
7. This insect appears once every 17 years and makes a lot of noise when it comes out of hibernation. What is it?
   The locust (order Homoptera).
8. How many words are defined in the Oxford English Dictionary?
   The Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary has full entries for 171,476 words in current use (and 47,156 obsolete words).
9. How many legs does a starfish have?
   Most of the 1,800 kinds of starfish have five legs, but some kinds have up to 50! If a starfish loses a leg, he just grows a new one!
10. What is the largest populated city in the world?
    Tokyo, Japan with 37,393,000 people.
11. Who said, “I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”?
    American patriot Nathan Hale said this just before he was hanged on September 22, 1775 for spying on British troops during the Revolutionary War.
12. How many states are there in the United State of America?
    50
13. How many territories belong to the USA?
    The US has five major territories: Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Each is self-governing under the authority of the US government.
14. How long is the US measurement of one yard?
    36 inches
15. How many inches is one meter?
    39.3701 inches
16. How many people serve as Senators in the US government?
    100, 2 from each state.
17. How many is a dozen?
    12
18. How many is a baker’s dozen?
    13, they give an extra portion for good will from their customers.
19. How fast can a racehorse run?
    The fastest horse is the Quarter Horse which has been measured at 55 miles per hour, as fast as a car going the legal speed on most American highways.
20. If you had a bunch of quarters that added up to $925, how many quarters would you have?
    You would have 3,700 quarters. Multiply 925 dollars by 100 cents. That equals 92,500 cents. Divide the cents by 25 cents (the value of an American quarter coin), and you get 3,700.
21. If a bicycle has two wheels, how many wheels does a tricycle have?
    Three. The prefix bi- means two; tri- means three.
22. How many continents are on the Earth?
    Most people say 7 continents: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia/Oceania, Europe, North America, and South America. Some refer to 6 continents since there is no clear division between Europe and Asia.
23. How many bits are there in a computer byte?
    8
24. What is the hardest mineral on Earth?
    The diamond.
25. What do you call a very small horse?
    A pony
26. What do you call a baby horse?
    A colt
27. What is the temperature at which water boils?
    Usually 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius) at sea level. At 6,250 ft (1,905 meters), it boils at 200.1 degrees Fahrenheit (93.4 degrees Celsius). The reason is that the air pressure is greater at sea level.
28. What do you call your grandmother’s mother?
    Great-grandmother.
29. What’s the longest someone has held their breath under water?
    Nearly 25 minutes. Budimir Buda Šobat, a diver from the European country of Croatia, prevented himself from breathing oxygen in a swimming pool. Most people can only hold their breath for about two minutes.
30. What does the word kindergarten mean?
    Kindergarten is German for Child’s Garden.
31. Who is Bert’s roommate?
    Ernie, on Sesame Street.
32. Which country invented the Olympics?
    Greece, which held the games in Olympia from 776 BCE through 393 BC. The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece in 1896.
33. Which power makes the lights go on in your house?
    Electricity.
34. If you fractured your tibia, what happened to you?
    You broke your leg below the knee.
35. Where do we get sugar from?
    There are two plants that provide nearly all the regular sugar we eat, sugar cane and beet sugar.
36. In which country is the city of Paris?
    France.
37. If your recipe needed a quart of water, how many cups would you need?
    4 cups
38. Can you say this three times as fast as you can without tripping over your tongue?
    How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
    (Animal scientists say that if a woodchuck really wanted to, they could chuck about 700 pounds worth of wood.)
39. How far apart are the white hash marks on an NFL football field?
    18 feet, 6 inches.
40. How many years does the average American doctor spend in college?
    Eight years; four getting an undergraduate degree, and four in medical school, plus 3 to 4 years training as a resident after graduating.
41. At what time did the mouse come down in the nursery rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock?
    When the clock struck 1.
42. How many doors does a four-door car have?
    Four, silly!
43. How many teaspoons are in a tablespoon?
    Three
44. Which of these foods is a fruit: a potato, lettuce, an egg, or a tomato?
    The tomato is a fruit as classified by people who study plants. Nutritionists insist it’s a vegetable. The war rages on.
45. In what US state is the Grand Canyon?
    Grand Canyon State Park is in Arizona. The Colorado River runs through it from Colorado to California and the Pacific Ocean.
46. How fast can a red kangaroo jump?
    35 miles per hour, about as fast as your can goes down your street.
47. Which bird lays eggs?
    All birds lay eggs!
48. How many cards are in a standard deck?
    A standard deck of cards has 52 cards: four suites: hearts, clubs, spades, diamonds. Each suite has thirteen cards: ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, and king.
49. How many US states are home to brown bears in the wild?
    Five officially: The United States has about 30,000 brown bears. Most of the U.S. brown bears live in Alaska with about 1,500 in the lower 48 states of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Washington.
50. What do you call your mom’s cousin’s child?
    Your second cousin. Your mom and her cousin are first cousins.