80 Fun Facts About First and Second Grade

How many legs does a spider have?

That is two more than an insect, and each leg has seven separate parts.

How many legs does an insect such as an ant or a beetle have?

Insects also have three body parts, a head, a thorax and an abdomen, and a pair of antennae.

What does a caterpillar turn into?

It happens inside a chrysalis, and the whole life cycle from egg to adult has four stages.

A tadpole grows up to become what animal?

Tadpoles have tails and gills like a fish, and lose both as they change.

What is the tallest animal in the world?

Males even fight by swinging their long necks at each other, which is called necking.

What is the fastest land animal?

It can run at over 90 kilometres per hour, thanks to long legs and a bendy spine.

What is the biggest animal that has ever lived?

It can be about 30 metres long, longer than two school buses, and it is bigger than any dinosaur.

What is the largest animal that lives on land?

Its long trunk can grab objects and carry food and water to its mouth.

A baby kangaroo, called a joey, grows up inside its mother's what?

The pouch is called a marsupium, and kangaroos come from Australia and New Guinea.

Which bird cannot fly but is a great swimmer?

Its wings have become flippers, and almost all penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere.

Which of these animals is a mammal that can truly fly?

A bat's wing is really a hand with very long fingers covered by thin skin.

What do giant pandas mostly eat?

A panda has an extra thumb-like bone on its paw that helps it hold the stalks.

A polar bear has white fur, but what colour is its skin underneath?

The dark skin and a thick layer of fat help keep it warm in the Arctic.

Which sea creature has three hearts?

One heart pumps blood around the body and the other two pump it through the gills.

A group of lions is called a what?

The male lion is the one with the big mane around its head and shoulders.

What is a baby horse called?

A foal can stand up and run within hours of being born.

What is a baby sheep called?

A grown-up female sheep is a ewe and a male is a ram.

Which animal is known for being very slow and hanging upside down in trees?

Its name literally means laziness, and it lives in the rainforests of Central and South America.

What does a camel store in its hump?

A dromedary camel has one hump and a Bactrian camel has two.

Which planet is called the Red Planet?

It looks orange-red because of the rusty dust that covers it.

Which planet has big, bright rings around it?

The rings are made mostly of pieces of ice, and it is the second-biggest planet in the Solar System.

What is the largest planet in our Solar System?

More than 1,300 Earths could fit inside it.

How many planets are in our Solar System?

Earth is the third one out from the Sun.

The Sun is actually a giant what?

It sits at the centre of the Solar System and everything else goes around it.

Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?

He landed with Buzz Aldrin in 1969 while Michael Collins circled overhead in the command ship.

How many sides does a triangle have?

It also has three corners, and its name comes from 'tri', meaning three.

A shape with six sides is called a what?

Honeycomb cells are this shape, and its name comes from the Greek word for six.

How many things are in a dozen?

Eggs and doughnuts are often sold by the dozen.

How many letters are in the English alphabet?

Five of them, A, E, I, O and U, are vowels.

How many colours are in a rainbow, according to the famous Roy G. Biv list?

People remember the order with the made-up name Roy G. Biv.

In art class, which three colours are usually taught as the primary colours?

Mixing two of them makes the secondary colours: orange, green and purple.

What is the first month of the year?

The month is named after Janus, a Roman god with two faces who looked backward and forward.

How many seasons are there in a year in most of the United States?

They are spring, summer, fall and winter, and they happen because Earth is tilted as it goes around the Sun.

In a leap year, February has how many days?

The extra day comes around about every four years to keep the calendar lined up with the seasons.

What temperature does water freeze at?

That is 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and ice floats because it is lighter than liquid water.

What is the Moon?

It goes around the Earth about once a month, which is where the word 'month' comes from.

Which is the largest of the world's oceans?

It is also the deepest and covers almost a third of the whole planet.

What is the tallest mountain in the world?

It stands on the border of Nepal and China and is about 8,849 metres high.

What is the largest hot desert in the world?

It stretches across northern Africa and is only beaten in size by the icy deserts of Antarctica and the Arctic.

How many stars are on the flag of the United States?

The 13 stripes stand for the 13 original colonies, and each star stands for one state.

Who was the first president of the United States?

His face is on the one-dollar bill and the quarter.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the United States from which country?

It is covered in copper, which is why it turned green, and its iron skeleton was built by the man who made the Eiffel Tower.

What bird is the national symbol of the United States?

The adult is brown with a white head and tail, and it appears on the country's official seal.

What shape is a stop sign?

It has eight sides and is red with white letters in most countries.

On a traffic light, which colour means stop?

The very first traffic light was put up in London in 1868, long before cars were common.

In the story of the Three Little Pigs, which home does the wolf fail to blow down?

The straw and stick houses both blow down, but the third pig's hard work pays off.

In Goldilocks and the Three Bears, what does Goldilocks eat at the bears' house?

She also breaks a chair and falls asleep in Baby Bear's bed before the bears come home.

Pinocchio is a wooden puppet who dreams of becoming what?

He was carved by a poor woodcarver named Geppetto in a village in Tuscany, Italy.

In Charlotte's Web, what kind of animal is Charlotte?

She spins words into her web to save her friend Wilbur the pig.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle eats lots of food and then turns into what?

The book came out in 1969 and has holes punched right through the pages where the caterpillar has eaten.

What kind of animal is Curious George?

His best friend is the Man with the Yellow Hat, and the books were written by Margret and H. A. Rey.

What is the name of Bluey's little sister?

Their dad is Bandit and their mum is Chilli, and the whole family are Blue Heeler dogs from Australia.

In the movie Frozen, what is the name of the snowman who likes warm hugs?

Sven is the reindeer, and the kingdom the sisters live in is called Arendelle.

In Toy Story, what kind of toy is Woody?

He gets jealous when Buzz Lightyear, a space ranger action figure, becomes Andy's new favourite.

In Finding Nemo, what kind of fish are Nemo and his dad Marlin?

Their forgetful friend Dory is a blue tang.

In The Lion King, who is Simba's father?

Simba's uncle Scar takes the throne, and Simba must come home to win it back.

What is Mario's job in the Nintendo games?

He lives in the Mushroom Kingdom with his younger twin brother Luigi.

What colour is Pikachu?

It is an Electric-type Pokémon with a lightning-bolt tail and red cheeks that store electricity.

In Minecraft, what does a Creeper do when it sneaks up on you?

Its green colour is camouflage, and it is silent until it is right next to you.

On which date is Halloween celebrated?

It is the night before All Saints' Day, which is why it is also called All Hallows' Eve.

American Thanksgiving is always on which day of the week?

It is the fourth one in November, so the earliest it can fall is November 22.

What is the Fourth of July holiday in the United States called?

It remembers the day in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

How many teeth are in a full set of baby teeth?

Grown-ups usually end up with 32, and elephants and kangaroos keep growing new teeth their whole lives.

What job does the heart do?

The blood it pumps carries oxygen and food to every part of you.

Roughly how many bones does a grown-up human have?

Babies are born with around 270, but many join together as they grow.

What is bread mostly made from?

Yeast is usually added too; it makes tiny gas bubbles that puff the dough up.

What is cheese made from?

It usually comes from cows, goats or sheep, and there are hundreds of different kinds.

What vegetable is ketchup made from?

Very old ketchup recipes used mushrooms, oysters or even walnuts instead.

Which vegetable is usually orange and grows underground as a root?

The orange colour comes from beta-carotene, which your body turns into vitamin A. Some kinds are purple, white or yellow.

What makes popcorn pop?

People in the Americas have been popping corn for thousands of years, making it one of the oldest snacks.

Which fruit is botanically a berry, even though most people never think of it as one?

Scientists have described it as a 'leathery berry', and the plant it grows on is a giant herb, not a tree.

What is milk mostly used for by baby animals?

Only mammals make milk, which is one way you can tell a whale is a mammal and not a fish.

Which of these best describes Big Bird from Sesame Street?

He is eight feet tall, cannot fly, and can roller skate and ride a unicycle.

Which cartoon character made his first big appearance in a 1928 film called Steamboat Willie?

He was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, and Steamboat Willie was one of the first cartoons with sound.

Where does SpongeBob SquarePants live?

His town is called Bikini Bottom, and his best friend Patrick is a starfish.

Which two paint colours do you mix to make green?

That works with paints and inks; on TV screens, green is one of the three main light colours instead.

How many keys does a modern piano usually have?

That is 52 white keys and 36 black keys, and pressing one makes a little hammer strike a string inside.

Where do baby kangaroos, called joeys, finish growing after they are born?

Kangaroos have huge back legs and feet made for leaping, and a long tail for balance.

What kind of animal is a dolphin?

There are about 40 kinds of dolphin, and the biggest of all is the orca.

What is the 'lady' in the name ladybug or ladybird said to refer to?

Scientists call them lady beetles, and there are more than 6,000 kinds around the world.