80 First Grade Trivia Questions & Answers for Curious Kids

I would rather hear a first grader explain a wonderfully wrong guess than turn a few fun questions into another test.

These 80 first grade trivia questions mix numbers, shapes, words, animals, nature, familiar places, and stories, with short answers for grown-ups to read aloud.

Start with five questions. Offer two choices or a small hint when needed, skip anything your child has not encountered, and keep points optional.

Numbers and Counting

Use fingers, blocks, or a quick drawing for these questions; working out the answer counts just as much as remembering it.

1. What number comes right after nine?
   Answer: Ten.
2. What number comes right before fifteen?
   Answer: Fourteen.
3. What is three plus four?
   Answer: Seven.
4. What is eight minus three?
   Answer: Five.
5. You have two pencils and get three more; how many do you have?
   Answer: Five pencils.
6. Which number is larger, twelve or nine?
   Answer: Twelve.
7. How many socks are in three pairs?
   Answer: Six socks. Each pair has two.
8. What number tells how many cookies are in an empty jar?
   Answer: Zero.
9. What is ten plus two?
   Answer: Twelve.
10. Five birds sit on a fence and two fly away; how many remain?
    Answer: Three birds.

Shapes, Patterns, and Equal Shares

Point to an everyday object when a shape name is new, and draw the patterns rather than asking children to hold everything in their heads.

11. How many straight sides does a triangle have?
    Answer: Three.
12. How many corners does a square have?
    Answer: Four.
13. How many corners does a circle have?
    Answer: None, or zero.
14. What three-dimensional shape is a round ball?
    Answer: A sphere.
15. What three-dimensional shape is a regular six-sided game die?
    Answer: A cube.
16. What shape has two flat circular ends and looks like a soup can?
    Answer: A cylinder.
17. How many halves make one whole?
    Answer: Two.
18. You cut a sandwich into four equal pieces; what is one piece called?
    Answer: A fourth or a quarter.
19. What comes next in this repeating pattern: red, blue, red, blue?
    Answer: Red.
20. Which ribbon is longer, one that is five inches long or one that is eight inches long?
    Answer: The eight-inch ribbon.

Letters, Words, and Books

Say the words clearly, and show the written word when the question is about its letters rather than its sound.

21. What letter comes after D in the English alphabet?
    Answer: E.
22. What letter starts the word cat?
    Answer: C.
23. Which word rhymes with boat: coat or car?
    Answer: Coat.
24. What is the opposite of awake?
    Answer: Asleep.
25. What word do we use for more than one dog?
    Answer: Dogs.
26. Should the first letter of a person’s name be uppercase or lowercase?
    Answer: Uppercase, also called a capital letter.
27. What punctuation mark ends a sentence that asks something?
    Answer: A question mark.
28. What do we call the person who writes a book?
    Answer: The author.
29. What do we call the person who creates a book’s pictures?
    Answer: The illustrator.
30. How many syllables, or word beats, are in banana?
    Answer: Three: ba-na-na.

Animal Trivia for First Graders

This round asks about recognizable features and young animals, not what a pet supposedly likes best.

31. Which large animal has a long trunk?
    Answer: An elephant.
32. What is a baby cat called?
    Answer: A kitten.
33. What is a baby dog called?
    Answer: A puppy.
34. How many legs does a spider normally have?
    Answer: Eight.
35. How many legs does an adult insect normally have?
    Answer: Six. Spiders and insects belong to different groups.
36. What covers a bird’s body: feathers or fur?
    Answer: Feathers.
37. Is a penguin a bird or a fish?
    Answer: A bird, even though it swims instead of flying.
38. What hard covering helps protect a turtle’s body?
    Answer: Its shell.
39. Which insects make honey?
    Answer: Honeybees.
40. What do we call the swimming young stage of many frogs?
    Answer: A tadpole.

Plants and Everyday Discoveries

Keep the explanations short, then let a child ask the next question when something catches their interest.

41. Which plant parts usually take in water from the soil?
    Answer: The roots.
42. What small part inside an apple can grow into a new apple tree?
    Answer: A seed.
43. What light source helps green plants make food outdoors?
    Answer: The Sun.
44. What sweet liquid do bees collect from flowers to make honey?
    Answer: Nectar.
45. What is the main woody stem of a tree called?
    Answer: The trunk.
46. What do we call a young plant that has just grown from a seed?
    Answer: A seedling.
47. Which usually catch sunlight for a plant: its leaves or its roots?
    Answer: Its leaves.
48. What handheld tool can make a small object look bigger?
    Answer: A magnifying glass or hand lens.
49. What does an ice cube become when it melts?
    Answer: Liquid water.
50. What force pulls a dropped ball toward the ground?
    Answer: Gravity.

Weather and Space

There are a few bigger science words in this round, so offer a choice before revealing an unfamiliar answer.

51. What is the name of the planet where we live?
    Answer: Earth.
52. Is the Sun a star or a planet?
    Answer: A star.
53. What is the name of Earth’s natural satellite?
    Answer: The Moon. A satellite travels around a larger object in space.
54. What do we call liquid drops of water falling from clouds?
    Answer: Rain.
55. What do we call moving air?
    Answer: Wind.
56. What falls from clouds as flakes made of ice crystals?
    Answer: Snow.
57. What instrument measures how hot or cold something is?
    Answer: A thermometer.
58. What dark shape appears when your body blocks light from reaching the ground?
    Answer: Your shadow.
59. What bright electrical flash can appear during a thunderstorm?
    Answer: Lightning.
60. What is the rumbling sound caused by lightning called?
    Answer: Thunder.

Calendars and Places Around Town

Use a calendar or a simple map as a clue, and accept everyday names such as “vet” or “mail carrier.”

61. How many days are in a week?
    Answer: Seven.
62. What is the first month of the calendar year?
    Answer: January.
63. Which day comes after Monday?
    Answer: Tuesday.
64. Which day comes right before Friday?
    Answer: Thursday.
65. Where can you borrow books and return them when you are finished?
    Answer: A library.
66. What kind of doctor takes care of animals?
    Answer: A veterinarian, or vet.
67. What workers put out fires and help during emergencies?
    Answer: Firefighters.
68. What do we call someone whose job is preparing food in a restaurant?
    Answer: A cook or chef.
69. What worker delivers letters to homes?
    Answer: A mail carrier or postal worker.
70. What drawing can show where the streets and buildings in a town are?
    Answer: A map.

Optional Stories and Games Round

Skip a story or movie your child does not know; seeing a particular film is not part of being good at trivia.

71. Which fairy-tale character leaves a glass slipper at a royal ball?
    Answer: Cinderella.
72. What is the friendly snowman’s name in Frozen?
    Answer: Olaf.
73. What happens to Pinocchio’s nose when he tells lies?
    Answer: It grows longer.
74. Which relative is Little Red Riding Hood going to visit in the familiar story?
    Answer: Her grandmother.
75. Who visits a bear family’s house and tries their porridge?
    Answer: Goldilocks.
76. In the familiar Three Little Pigs story, which building material withstands the wolf’s blowing?
    Answer: Bricks.
77. In soccer, what body parts do players mainly use to kick the ball?
    Answer: Their feet.
78. In which sport do players try to throw a ball through a raised hoop?
    Answer: Basketball.
79. What do you try to knock down with the ball in bowling?
    Answer: Pins.
80. What numbered cube do players roll in many board games?
    Answer: A die. Accept “dice” in a casual game.

Simple Ways to Play

Try a five-question warm-up. Pick questions from different rounds, read each one aloud, and give time to think before offering a hint.

Make the clue concrete. Put out three blocks and four more for an addition question, or draw a triangle and let the child count its sides.

Let children pass or work together. A partner answer, a drawing, or pointing to one of two choices can be part of the game instead of a reason to lose a turn.

I would stop while the group still wants another question, rather than insist on finishing all 80. Save an unfamiliar word for a later conversation instead of treating every missed answer as something a first grader should already know.

References and Notes for Grown-Ups

The question selection takes account of Common Core’s first-grade addition and subtraction, shape concepts, and foundational reading skills. This mixed-topic game is not a curriculum checklist or a test of whether a child is meeting those standards.

Science references include NASA’s explanations of the Sun and the Moon, plus San Diego Zoo’s frog life-cycle guide. Story questions use the familiar versions named, and reasonable equivalent answers should count.

Please report a correction with the question number when an answer or the wording needs attention.

Find Another Family Round

For a broader choice, try kids trivia, give animal lovers animal trivia, or choose a familiar movie from Disney Princess trivia.

About this quiz

Site editor: Ellie Simons. Read our Trivia Methodology to learn how questions are researched and updated. Page last updated: September 18, 2026. Report an error.