4th Grade Trivia
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77 free 4th Grade trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
This set is written for fourth graders, which means the questions lean on what a nine or ten year old is actually learning: US state capitals and the biggest and smallest states, the planets and the Moon, how the heart and skeleton work, animal facts, famous Americans like Lincoln, Rosa Parks and the Wright brothers, and a few shape and number questions from the math book. Use it for a classroom warm-up, a road trip, or family trivia night where the kids get to win for once. Most questions sit at an easy or medium level for the grade; a handful at the end are harder so there is something to stretch for. Every question has four choices and a short explanation that adds one extra fact, so a wrong answer still teaches something. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the state, animal, planet or person in question, and each question carries the sentence that supports it. Younger kids can try our First Grade and Second Graders sets; older ones can move on to Sixth and Eighth Grade Trivia.
30 of 77 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital city of California?
Sacramento
Sacramento took over in 1854 after lawmakers had already moved the government from San Jose to Vallejo to Benicia in California's first years.
Q 02Which city is the capital of Texas?
Austin
Austin: in 1842 President Sam Houston tried to move the archives away, but boarding-house keeper Angelina Eberly fired a cannon and townspeople took the records back.
Q 03Which city is the capital of Florida?
Tallahassee
Tallahassee was picked as a halfway point because travel between Florida's two old capitals, St. Augustine and Pensacola, was so slow.
Q 04New York City is the biggest city in New York, but which city is the state capital?
Albany
Albany began as the Dutch trading post Fort Orange, and the English renamed it in 1664 after the Duke of Albany, the future James II.
Q 05Which is the largest US state by area?
Alaska
Alaska was bought from Russia in 1867, and skeptics mocked the deal as 'Seward's Folly' until a gold rush in the 1890s showed its worth.
Q 06Which is the smallest US state by area?
Rhode Island
Rhode Island is the smallest state, and in 2020 its voters dropped 'and Providence Plantations' from its long official name.
Q 07Which US state is made up entirely of islands?
Hawaii
Hawaii was an independent kingdom until 1893, when resident American and European businessmen overthrew its monarchy.
Q 08The Mississippi River flows south and empties into which body of water?
The Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico, which US federal agencies have called the Gulf of America since a January 2025 executive order.
Q 09Which mountains run along the eastern United States?
Appalachians
Appalachians: they probably once rose about as high as today's Rockies, before erosion wore them down to the lower peaks seen now.
Q 10Which Great Lake is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area?
Superior
Lake Superior, by the usual count: two of its neighbours, joined at a narrow strait, act as one lake that would be bigger still.
Q 11The Grand Canyon in Arizona was carved by which river?
The Colorado
The Colorado: in 1869 Civil War veteran John Wesley Powell led boats down the Green and Colorado rivers to explore the little-known canyon.
Q 12Mount Rushmore, carved with four presidents' faces, is in which state?
South Dakota
South Dakota: Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum died in March 1941, months before carving ended, so others put the finishing touches on the faces.
Q 13What do the US flag's stripes stand for?
Original colonies
Original colonies: when Vermont and Kentucky joined, the flag grew to 15 stripes, until an 1818 law cut it back to 13 for good.
Q 21Which country's rulers sponsored Christopher Columbus's first voyage across the Atlantic?
Spain
Spain: Portugal turned his plan down before Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand backed it, and Columbus landed in the Bahamas sure he had reached the Indies.
Q 22Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?
Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong: the computer was steering the lander toward a rocky crater, so he took manual control and flew it to a safer landing spot.
Q 23Rosa Parks became famous in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a bus in which city?
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama: Parks was arrested there on December 1, 1955, and the bus boycott that followed lasted over a year, until the city's buses were desegregated.
Q 14What is the official US national motto?
In God We Trust
In God We Trust: it first appeared on US coins during the Civil War, but Congress made it the national motto only in 1956.
Q 15Which president chose the White House site but left office before it opened?
George Washington
George Washington chose the site with city planner Pierre L'Enfant, but construction dragged on for years, and John Adams became its first resident in 1800.
Q 16Which president issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863?
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln's proclamation applied only to the rebelling Confederate states, so it left slavery untouched in loyal border states such as Kentucky.
Q 17Who was the main author of the Declaration of Independence?
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson wrote the draft, but Congress struck out his long passage blaming King George III for the slave trade.
Q 18The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the United States from the people of which country?
France
France gave it, and its copper, brown like a penny when new, oxidized over the years into today's green.
Q 19In which city can you visit the Liberty Bell?
Philadelphia
Philadelphia: the Liberty Bell cracked on its first test ring, so local metalworkers John Pass and John Stow melted it down and cast a new one.
Q 20Which bird is the national bird of the United States?
Bald eagle
The bald eagle isn't bald at all: 'bald' once meant white-headed, and the bird is named for the white feathers on its head.
Q 24Which famous speech did Martin Luther King Jr. give to a huge crowd in 1963?
"I Have a Dream"
"I Have a Dream": the famous dream passage wasn't in King's script; he improvised it after gospel singer Mahalia Jackson called out, "Tell 'em about the dream, Martin!"
Q 25What was the last name of the two brothers who made the first successful airplane flight in 1903?
Wright
Wright: when their gliders gave far less lift than the published figures predicted, Orville and Wilbur built their own wind tunnel to test wing shapes.
Q 26Which Founding Father invented the lightning rod?
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin: he never patented his inventions, saying that since we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should share ours freely.
Q 27The Pilgrims sailed to America in 1620 aboard which ship?
The Mayflower
The Mayflower was headed for northern Virginia, but rough seas forced it back to Cape Cod, so the passengers signed the Mayflower Compact to govern themselves.
Q 28Harriet Tubman helped about 70 people escape slavery along which network?
The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was not underground and had no trains; the name was code for the guides and safe houses that led escapees north, and Tubman made about 13 trips.
Q 29Which was the first national park in the United States?
Yellowstone
Yellowstone: Yosemite Valley was protected earlier, in 1864, but Congress entrusted it to California to run, so Yellowstone in 1872 became the first national park.
Q 30Which planet is the farthest from the Sun?
Neptune
Neptune: it was the first planet found by math, after astronomers worked out that an unseen world must be tugging on the orbit of Uranus.