50 Fun Facts About Preschool

Which animal is the tallest on land and uses its very long neck to eat treetop leaves?

A giraffe has a tongue about 18 inches long, which helps it grab leaves from branches high above its head.

Which black-and-white bird cannot fly but uses its flippers to swim fast through cold southern seas?

A penguin spends about half of its life on land and the other half in the sea, where its wings work like paddles.

Which hopping Australian animal carries its baby, called a joey, in a pouch on its tummy?

A newborn kangaroo is only about the size of a lima bean when it first crawls up into its mother's pouch.

Which buzzing insect lives in a hive and turns nectar from flowers into sweet honey?

A bee builds its honeycomb out of wax, shaping it into neat six-sided cells that hold the honey.

Which night-sky object seems to change shape each month and was visited by Apollo astronauts?

The Moon was walked on by twelve Apollo astronauts, who landed there on six missions between 1969 and 1972.

Which arc of colors appears in the sky when light shines through water droplets after a shower?

A rainbow sometimes has a fainter twin above it, and in that second arc the colors run in the opposite order.

In Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar, what does the caterpillar turn into after its cocoon?

A butterfly ends the story, which Eric Carle dreamed up while playing with a hole punch in his studio.

Which nursery rhyme character, usually drawn as an egg, tumbles off a wall and cannot be mended?

Humpty Dumpty is never actually called an egg in the rhyme, which probably started out as a riddle for listeners to solve.

Which Disney character wears white gloves, has a pet dog named Pluto and a girlfriend named Minnie?

Mickey Mouse was nearly called Mortimer, until Walt Disney's wife Lillian persuaded him to pick a friendlier name.

Which giant meat-eating dinosaur had a huge head, sharp teeth and tiny arms with two clawed fingers?

Tyrannosaurus is thought to have had the strongest bite of any land animal that has ever lived.

Which large farm animal says moo, eats grass and is kept on dairy farms for its milk?

A cow has one big stomach with four separate parts, and it brings its food back up to chew it a second time.

Which waterbird paddles across ponds on webbed feet and is famous for the sound quack?

A duck that makes the classic quack is usually a female mallard, and most other kinds do not quack at all.

Which gray animal, the largest living on land, picks up food and sprays water with its long trunk?

An elephant has no bones at all inside its trunk, which is packed with thousands of small muscles so it can bend any way.

Which big cat lives in a family group called a pride, where grown males wear a shaggy mane?

A lion spends about twenty hours of every day resting, with only around two hours of walking and under an hour of eating.

Which hopping pond animal starts life as a tadpole, with a tail and gills instead of legs?

A frog swallows its food whole, and it even pulls its eyeballs down into its head to help push each mouthful along.

Which bird hunts at night, hoots in the dark and can turn its head most of the way around?

An owl can turn its head as much as 270 degrees, because its big eyes are fixed in place and cannot move.

What is a baby cat called, an animal usually born in a litter of two to five?

A kitten is born with its eyes shut and usually does not open them for at least a week.

Which eight-legged creature spins sticky silk into a web to catch flies and other insects?

A spider makes its silk in special organs called spinnerets, found at the back end of its body.

Which bright ball in the daytime sky gives Earth its light and warmth and is unsafe to stare at?

The Sun is so wide that about 109 Earths could line up side by side across its middle.

Which long, curved yellow fruit has a thick peel and grows in big bunches on tropical plants?

A banana is counted as a berry by plant scientists, and the plant it grows on is a giant herb instead of a tree.

Which color do you get by mixing blue and yellow paint, the same color as grass and leaves?

Green is the color of leaves because of chlorophyll, the chemical that plants use to make their food from light.

Which color shares its name with a round, juicy citrus fruit that you peel before eating?

Orange was the fruit's name long before it meant a color, and the word reached English through Old French.

Which color tells drivers to stop at a traffic light and is painted on most stop signs?

Red glowed on the very first traffic signal too, which was put up outside the Houses of Parliament in London in 1868.

Which shape has three straight sides and three corners, like a slice of pizza or a yield sign?

A triangle is the sturdiest simple shape: push on a rectangle and it can fold flat, but a triangle keeps its angles.

Which round shape has no corners or straight sides, like a wheel, a coin or a clock face?

A circle is made of points that all sit the same distance from its middle, which is why a wheel rolls so smoothly.

Which shape has four equal sides and four matching corners, like each space on a checkerboard?

A square is really a special kind of rectangle, one whose four sides all happen to be equal.

Which number comes straight after nine when you count, and matches the fingers on two hands?

Ten is the number our whole counting system is built around, probably because people first counted on their fingers.

Which letter comes last in the English alphabet, right after X and Y?

Z is called zee in American English but zed in most other English-speaking countries, including Britain, Canada and Australia.

Which day of the week comes right after Saturday and ends the weekend before school starts again?

Sunday is printed as the first day of the week on calendars in the United States, Canada and Japan.

Which of the four seasons is the coldest of the year, when snow may fall and many trees stand bare?

Winter contains the shortest day and the longest night of the whole year, so there is less daylight to warm the ground.

Which part of your face lets you smell cookies baking and has tiny hairs that trap dust?

Your nose cleans the air you breathe: the little hairs inside your nostrils catch dust before it can reach your lungs.

Which body parts let you hear sounds and also help you keep your balance when you spin?

Ears each hide three tiny bones that pass sounds inward, and curved canals deeper inside that keep you steady.

Which organ in your chest is about the size of your fist and pumps blood around your body?

A grown-up's heart beats about 72 times every minute while resting, and it never stops for a break.

Which meal do most people eat first each day, often cereal, toast or eggs in the morning?

Breakfast gets its name from breaking the fast, the long stretch without food while you are asleep at night.

Which crunchy vegetable grows underground in a long pointed shape, with leafy tops above the soil?

A carrot was probably first grown in Iran for its leaves and seeds, long before people ate the crunchy part.

Which big round autumn crop is hollowed out and carved into a glowing lantern at Halloween?

A pumpkin was the American twist on an older custom: in Ireland and Britain, Halloween lanterns were first carved from turnips.

Which helper wears a helmet, rides a truck with ladders and hoses, and puts out burning buildings?

A firefighter may slide down a pole to reach the truck faster, a shortcut first tried at a Chicago station in the 1870s.

Which worker walks or drives a route each day to bring letters and parcels to your home?

A mail carrier goes by different names around the world, such as postman in Britain and postie in Australia.

Which worker sits in the cockpit and flies an airplane full of passengers through the sky?

A pilot in charge of an airliner is called the captain, the same title given to the person in command of a ship.

Which vehicle runs on metal rails behind a locomotive and stops at stations to pick up passengers?

A train rolls on steel wheels over steel rails, and the two rub so little that hardly any energy is wasted.

Which flying machine has spinning blades on top and can hover in one spot or land without a runway?

A helicopter can even fly backward and sideways, which is why rescue crews use it to reach tight or faraway places.

Which two-wheeled vehicle do you ride by pushing pedals with your feet and steering with handlebars?

A bicycle is one of the most common vehicles of all, with more than a billion of them around the world.

Which part of a plant grows down into the soil to hold it steady and drink up water?

Roots do not always stay hidden: some plants grow them above the ground, or even up out of the water.

In the nursery rhyme, which two children climb a hill with a bucket for water and then tumble down?

Jack and Jill were first drawn as two boys, and the earliest printed version spelled the second name Gill.

In the nursery rhyme, which pet with snowy white fleece follows a girl named Mary to school?

A lamb stars in the first words Thomas Edison recorded on his new phonograph in 1877, when he recited this rhyme to test the machine.

In the classic children's song, which farmer has a farm where every animal makes its own sound?

Old MacDonald gets longer as it goes: in many versions every earlier animal noise is repeated in each new verse.

Which animal blows down houses of straw and sticks in the fairy tale The Three Little Pigs?

The wolf cannot blow down the third house, which is made of bricks, so he climbs down the chimney and lands in a pot of hot water.

Which fairy-tale girl walks into the home of three bears and tries their porridge, chairs and beds?

Goldilocks was added later: in the original version of the tale, the uninvited visitor was a bad-tempered old woman.

Which fairy-tale heroine loses a glass slipper while hurrying home from a royal ball at midnight?

Cinderella has thousands of versions told around the world, and the earliest known one is usually traced to ancient Greece.

Which honey-loving bear lives in the Hundred Acre Wood with his friends Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore?

Winnie-the-Pooh got his name from a real Canadian black bear called Winnie, whom Christopher Robin Milne loved to visit at London Zoo.