73 trivia questions
1st grade animal science
Warm-up round. Most 6-year-olds know at least half.
What is a baby kangaroo called?
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A joey.
What is a group of kangaroos called?
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A mob.
In which country do red kangaroos live in the wild?
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Australia.
How did the American bullfrog get its name?
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Its deep call sounds like a cow mooing.
What is the main food of the bald eagle?
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Fish.
An African elephant's tusks are actually what?
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Teeth that never stop growing. Both males and females have them.
Which tiny bird can fly backward and even upside down?
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The hummingbird.
1st grade shapes
What shape is a stop sign?
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An octagon, a shape with eight sides.
Source: Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, Chapter 2A: Sign Shapes, Federal Highway Administration
What shape is a yield sign?
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A triangle with one point facing down.
Source: Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, Chapter 2A: Sign Shapes, Federal Highway Administration
Which five-sided shape warns drivers that a school is ahead?
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What shape is the sign that warns a railroad crossing is ahead?
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Two long rectangles crossed like an X make which road sign?
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The railroad crossing sign, called a crossbuck.
Source: Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, Chapter 2A: Sign Shapes, Federal Highway Administration
What shape are most road warning signs?
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2nd grade earth science
When the sun's energy turns liquid water into water vapor, what is that called?
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Evaporation.
Clouds form when water vapor in the air does what?
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Condenses. That step is called condensation.
In the water cycle, what do we call water falling from the sky back to Earth?
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Precipitation.
What two things keep the water cycle moving?
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Energy from the sun and the force of gravity.
Rock that forms when hot, melted rock cools and hardens is called what?
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Igneous rock. The word igneous comes from the Latin word for fire.
Source: What are igneous rocks?, USGS
Sandstone and shale are which kind of rock?
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Sedimentary rock.
Rocks that have been changed by high heat and pressure are called what?
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Metamorphic rocks.
Which state of matter fills its whole container, taking both its shape and its volume?
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A gas.
2nd grade grammar
A word that names a person, place or thing is called what?
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A noun.
In "Beth rides the bus every day," which word is the verb?
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Rides.
What do we call a word that describes a noun, like "red" in "the red house"?
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An adjective.
In "He waved wildly," what part of speech is "wildly"?
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An adverb. It describes the verb "waved."
Which part of speech takes the place of a noun, like "she" or "he"?
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A pronoun.
What do you call a word like "but" that joins two sentences together?
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A conjunction.
Which two words make the contraction "I'm"?
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I am.
3rd grade U.S. geography
What is the largest U.S. state by area?
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Alaska, at about 665,384 square miles.
Source: State Area Measurements and Internal Point Coordinates, U.S. Census Bureau
What is the smallest U.S. state by area?
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Rhode Island, at about 1,545 square miles.
Source: State Area Measurements and Internal Point Coordinates, U.S. Census Bureau
North America's tallest peak, 20,310 feet high, rises in which national park?
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Denali National Park and Preserve.
Which river carved the Grand Canyon?
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The Colorado River.
Source: Geologic Formations, Grand Canyon National Park (NPS)
About how many miles long is the Grand Canyon?
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About 277 miles.
Source: Geologic Formations, Grand Canyon National Park (NPS)
In which state are most of the U.S. volcanoes that scientists keep watch on?
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Alaska.
Source: About Volcanoes, USGS
3rd grade measurement
How many inches are in a foot?
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How many feet are in a yard?
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How many feet are in a mile?
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How many ounces are in a pound?
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How many pounds are in a ton?
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How many quarts make a gallon?
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How many pints make a quart?
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Sailors measure water depth in fathoms. How many feet are in one fathom?
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4th grade space science
How many planets are in our solar system?
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Eight.
Source: About the Planets, NASA Science
Which planet is closest to the sun?
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Mercury, which is also the smallest planet.
Source: Mercury: Facts, NASA Science
The sun is what kind of object?
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A star: a yellow dwarf about 4.5 billion years old.
Source: Our Sun: Facts, NASA Science
Which two gases is the sun mostly made of?
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Hydrogen and helium.
Source: Our Sun: Facts, NASA Science
Why does Mars look red?
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The iron in its rocks and dust has rusted.
Source: Mars: Facts, NASA Science
What are Saturn's rings made of?
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Billions of chunks of ice and rock.
Source: Saturn: Facts, NASA Science
How many days does Earth take to travel once around the sun?
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About 365.25 days, which is one year.
Source: Facts About Earth, NASA Science
In what year was Pluto reclassified as a dwarf planet?
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2006.
Source: Pluto: Facts, NASA Science
Who suggested the name Pluto?
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Venetia Burney, an 11-year-old girl from Oxford, England.
Source: Pluto: Facts, NASA Science
4th grade U.S. government
How many branches does the U.S. federal government have?
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Three: legislative, executive and judicial.
Congress is made up of which two parts?
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The Senate and the House of Representatives.
Which branch of government includes the Supreme Court?
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The judicial branch.
Who breaks a tie vote in the U.S. Senate?
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The vice president.
In what year did America adopt the bald eagle as its national symbol?
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1782.
Who wrote the words to "The Star-Spangled Banner"?
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Francis Scott Key, in September 1814.
Source: The Star-Spangled Banner, Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine (NPS)
What did Francis Scott Key see that inspired the song?
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A huge American flag, 30 by 42 feet, flying over Fort McHenry after the British attacked Baltimore.
Source: The Star-Spangled Banner, Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine (NPS)
5th grade U.S. history
The round that stumps grown-ups most.
On what date was the Declaration of Independence adopted?
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July 4, 1776.
Source: The Declaration of Independence: A History, National Archives
Who wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence?
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Thomas Jefferson.
Source: The Declaration of Independence: A History, National Archives
Who was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence?
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John Hancock, the president of the Congress.
Source: The Declaration of Independence: A History, National Archives
What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?
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The Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791.
Source: The Bill of Rights: A Transcription, National Archives
From which country did the United States buy the Louisiana Territory in 1803?
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France, for $15 million. The deal doubled the size of the country.
Who was the only woman to travel with Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery?
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Sacagawea, a Lemhi Shoshone woman.
Source: Sacagawea, Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail (NPS)
Which Wright brother made the first flight on December 17, 1903?
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Orville. Later that day Wilbur flew the longest flight: 852 feet in 59 seconds.
Source: 1903: The First Flight, Wright Brothers National Memorial (NPS)
5th grade life science
Which green pigment in leaves captures energy from sunlight?
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Chlorophyll.
Source: Why Leaves Change Color, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Plants use the sun's energy to turn which two things into sugars?
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Carbon dioxide and water.
Source: Why Leaves Change Color, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
The yellow and orange in fall leaves were there all summer. Why couldn't we see them?
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Green chlorophyll hid them until it broke down in the fall.
Source: Why Leaves Change Color, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Which pigment gives some fall leaves their red color?
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Anthocyanin.
Source: Why Leaves Change Color, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
How many chambers does the human heart have?
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Four: two atria on top and two ventricles below.
Source: How the Heart Works: What the Heart Looks Like, NHLBI (NIH)
What are the tiny air sacs in your lungs called?
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Alveoli. Your lungs have about 150 million of them.
Source: How the Lungs Work: The Respiratory System, NHLBI (NIH)
What is another name for the trachea?
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The windpipe.
Source: How the Lungs Work: The Respiratory System, NHLBI (NIH)
When you breathe in, which gas passes from your lungs into your blood?
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Oxygen. Carbon dioxide goes the other way, out of your blood and into the air.
Source: How the Lungs Work: The Respiratory System, NHLBI (NIH)
Play it at a party
Grown-Ups vs. Kids
6–12, plus grown-ups
Ages
4–16, two teams
Players
20–30 min
How long
- Split the room into a grown-ups team and a kids team.
- The kids pick a grade and subject for the grown-ups, and the grown-ups do the same for the kids.
- Each team gets 20 seconds to agree on an answer. One right answer is one point.
- Once per game, a team may ask one player from the other side for help.
- Climb from 1st grade to 5th. Most points after the 5th-grade round wins.
Borrowed from charades, where the full rules live.
Climb the Grades
6–12
Ages
3–12
Players
10–20 min
How long
- Tape five lines across the floor, labeled 1st grade to 5th grade, with a finish line past the last one.
- Everyone starts behind the 1st-grade line.
- Ask each player a question from the grade they're standing on. A right answer moves them up one line.
- A wrong answer means they stay put for that turn. First across the finish line wins.
Borrowed from red light green light, where the full rules live.
When to run it
- As the main event at a family game night or a kids-and-grown-ups party.
- Around the table after dinner at a birthday or holiday gathering.
- At a classroom party, kids against the teacher.
More games for the same party: Party Games for 10-Year-Olds and Minute to Win It Games for Kids.
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A mad-scientist lab party built from goggles, food coloring and a volcano that behaves — fizzing experiments, glow-in-the-dark games, slime you make together, and a printable invitation.
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A space party built around a real countdown and liftoff — a cardboard rocket, moon-rock snacks, a galaxy backdrop from black balloons, and a printable invitation.
Space party ideasFrequently asked questions
- What grades do these questions cover?
- First grade through fifth grade, with two subjects per grade, from animal science and road-sign shapes up to U.S. history and how plants make food. Each group is labeled with its grade, so a game can start easy and climb.
- Are these the real questions from the TV show?
- No. We wrote every question ourselves in the style of the show and checked each answer against a government, university or National Geographic source. The show's name is used only to describe the format.
- How do you play Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader at home?
- Pick one grown-up as the contestant and let the kids be the classmates. The contestant answers one question per grade, starting at 1st, and can ask a kid for help once. A wrong answer means the kids win the round.
- What age is this quiz good for?
- Kids about 6 and up can answer the 1st- and 2nd-grade groups, and the 4th- and 5th-grade questions suit ages 9 to adult. Mixed-age teams keep it fair for a family game night.
Not affiliated with or endorsed by the producers of the TV game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? The show's name is used only to describe the style of these questions.
