50 Fun Facts About Barbie Trivia for Kids

Barbie was named after whom?

Ruth Handler's daughter Barbara gave the doll her name and its idea too: Ruth had watched her skip baby dolls to play with paper dolls of grown-up women.

In which Pixar movie does Barbie meet Ken at Sunnyside Daycare?

Toy Story 3 has Barbie fall for Ken at first sight, even though he works for the daycare's villain, a teddy bear called Lotso.

What was the first Barbie doll's job in 1959?

Fashion model, and a teenage one: a bold idea in 1959, when toy shop shelves were full of baby dolls; Barbie has since been given hundreds of other careers.

What did the very first Barbie doll wear?

A striped swimsuit in black and white was all she came in: the rest of her wardrobe, 22 outfits in the first year, had to be bought separately.

What is Barbie's full name?

Barbara Millicent Roberts has parents too: George and Margaret were named in 1960s storybooks and decades later turned up on screen in her TV series.

Barbie's made-up hometown of Willows is in which US state?

Wisconsin is the official answer, a surprise to fans who picture her in sunny California: Willows is where she went to high school.

Ken, Barbie's boyfriend, is named after whom?

Ruth Handler's son Kenneth gave his name to the doll, made in 1961 after hundreds of girls wrote in begging for Barbie to have a boyfriend.

In 2004, Barbie and Ken did what?

Broke up: after 43 years as a couple, their maker said they needed time apart, but the pair were declared back together on Valentine's Day 2011.

What was wrong with the very first Ken doll's hair?

It fell off when it got wet, leaving the first Ken with bald patches, so his fuzzy felt hair was soon swapped for painted plastic.

Which of these dolls is one of Barbie's three younger sisters?

Skipper came first, in 1964, as a kid sister for younger children who found Barbie too grown-up; Stacie and Chelsea complete the trio.

Barbie's littlest sister Chelsea used to go by which other name?

Kelly was her name in Barbie's first animated movie, where Barbie tells her a story to coax her through a tricky ballet step.

Barbie's first TV commercial aired in 1959 during which children's show?

The Mickey Mouse Club had been sponsored by Barbie's maker since 1955, making it one of the first toy firms to advertise straight to children on TV.

Barbie's friend Midge is easy to spot because of what on her face?

Freckles helped give Midge a friendlier, girl-next-door look; she was added in 1963 to answer critics who said Barbie was too grown-up for children.

In the 2023 Barbie movie, which animals does Ken become obsessed with after visiting the real world?

Horses thrill Ken so much that he takes the idea home with him, then admits he lost interest in being in charge once he learned it wasn't really about horses.

What was Barbie's first Dreamhouse, sold in 1962, made of?

Cardboard was all it took: the fold-out house was Barbie's alone, at a time when it was rare for a woman to own a home.

The modern Barbie Dreamhouse has a pink slide and which feature for getting between floors?

An elevator, a slide and a swimming pool all feature today, a long way from the single room of the first Dreamhouse in 1962.

Which job did Barbie first take on in 1965, long before any American woman had done it for real?

Astronaut: Miss Astronaut Barbie went to space in 1965, four years before the first Moon landing and 18 before Sally Ride became the first American woman up there.

The web series Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse is a spoof of which kind of TV show?

Reality shows are the target: between scenes the dolls break off to give straight-to-camera 'confessional' interviews, just like contestants on TV.

Which 1992 Barbie doll became the best-selling in the line's history?

Totally Hair Barbie had crimped hair right down to her feet, a look so famous that the 2023 film's star crimped her own hair to match on her press tour.

Barbie's friend Christie, launched in 1968, is usually regarded as the line's first doll of which heritage?

African American friend Christie followed a 1967 flop, a darker version of the white doll Francie; a Black doll actually named Barbie did not arrive until 1980.

In Barbie as Rapunzel, which magic object helps Rapunzel escape her prison?

A paintbrush does it: this Rapunzel is an artist, and when she paints a picture on the tower wall with it, the picture becomes a doorway to the outside world.

In Barbie in the Nutcracker, which girl sets off with the Nutcracker to find the Sugarplum Princess?

Clara spends the story searching for the Sugarplum Princess, the only one who can break the Mouse King's spell, and finds out at the end that it is her.

In Barbie as Rapunzel, which wicked witch keeps Rapunzel as her servant?

Gothel, voiced by Anjelica Huston, keeps Rapunzel behind a magic wall by telling her she was abandoned as a baby, a story that turns out to be a lie.

Barbie of Swan Lake is based on a ballet by which composer?

Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake has a princess under a spell, but Barbie's version makes Odette a baker's daughter who follows a unicorn into an enchanted forest.

Which 2004 Barbie movie was the first musical in her animated film series?

The Princess and the Pauper has Barbie play two look-alikes: when the princess is kidnapped, the village girl has to take her place.

In Fairytopia, Elina is a flower fairy who is different from the others because she has no what?

Wings are what Elina longs for and is teased for lacking, yet she still sets out to save Fairytopia and is given a pair of her own at the end.

In Barbie and the Diamond Castle, Barbie and Teresa play two best friends with which names?

Liana and Alexa are the heroines of a story Barbie and Teresa tell Stacie after she quarrels with a friend; the pair set out to help a girl trapped in a mirror.

In a 2010 Barbie movie, surfing champion Merliah Summers discovers she is secretly what?

A mermaid, or half of one: Merliah's hair suddenly turns pink in the middle of a surfing contest, and she learns her mother is queen of an underwater kingdom.

How does Blair Willows get her place at Princess Charm School?

She wins a lottery that gives one ordinary girl a place each year, and at the school she uncovers a secret about the kingdom's missing heir.

The 2012 web series Life in the Dreamhouse is set in a doll version of which California town?

Malibu is home in Barbie's TV shows, although the doll's official life story has her growing up far away, in a made-up town called Willows.

Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures first streamed in 2018 on which service?

Netflix's series opens with Barbie's family moving into a new Dreamhouse they designed themselves, which promptly starts acting up.

Which US children's channel showed Barbie's animated movies from 2002 to 2017?

Nickelodeon was their TV home, starting with Barbie as Rapunzel in November 2002; most of the films were made for home video rather than cinemas.

Who plays Barbie in the 2023 live-action movie?

Margot Robbie towers over the scene in the film's first trailer as a giant version of the original 1959 doll, a spoof of the opening of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Who plays Ken in the 2023 Barbie movie?

Ryan Gosling earned an Oscar nomination for the part, then sang his character's big number at the ceremony in a bright pink suit, backed by 62 other Kens.

Who directed the 2023 live-action Barbie movie?

Greta Gerwig wrote the script with Noah Baumbach and had the Dreamhouse sets built with no walls or doors, just like the toy houses.

In the 2023 Barbie movie, what is the name of the world where all the dolls live?

Barbieland is run entirely by Barbies: the doctors, the lawyers and everyone else in charge are Barbies, the reverse of the real world she visits.

In the 2023 movie, which character tells Barbie to find the child playing with her in the real world?

Weird Barbie, played by Kate McKinnon, has chopped hair and marker on her face because she is a doll some child played with too hard.

In the 2023 movie, what happens to Barbie's feet that tells her something is wrong?

They go flat: her heels touch the ground for the first time, to the horror of the other dolls, and the search for a cure sends her into the real world.

Who narrates the 2023 live-action Barbie movie?

Helen Mirren's narrator even breaks into one scene to tease the filmmakers about their choice of leading lady.

Building the sets for the 2023 Barbie movie helped cause an international shortage of pink what?

Paint: the sets used all the fluorescent pink that supplier Rosco had left, at a time when its stock was already short after a deep freeze and shipping delays.

The 2023 Barbie movie opened on the same day as which other big film?

Oppenheimer, a thriller about the scientist behind the atomic bomb, opened the same day; fans watched the two back to back and named the double bill Barbenheimer.

Which Billie Eilish song from the 2023 Barbie movie won the Oscar for Best Original Song?

What Was I Made For? was written by Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas after the director showed them an early cut of the film; it also won the Grammy for Song of the Year.

Which group's 1997 hit song Barbie Girl topped the charts around the world?

Aqua's song so annoyed Barbie's maker that it sued the record label, but a judge ruled the song a fair parody and told both sides to chill.

Barbie was modelled on a doll from which country, found by her inventor on a trip to Europe?

Germany: the doll, Bild Lilli, was based on a newspaper comic-strip character and was first sold to grown-ups as a joke gift, not as a toy for children.

Besides Barbie, which famous toy cars does the same company also make?

Hot Wheels arrived in 1968 and were built to roll faster than rival toy cars, racing down bright orange plastic track.

In the 2023 Barbie movie, what does Ken say his job is?

Beach is the whole job: not lifeguard, just beach, which mostly means standing on the sand hoping Barbie will look his way.

About how tall is a standard Barbie doll?

11.5 inches is the standard: at the usual one-sixth scale, that is why a life-size Barbie is often said to stand about 5 feet 9.

Where did Barbie make her very first public appearance on March 9, 1959?

A toy fair in New York City gave her a cool welcome: many store buyers thought the doll too grown-up and refused to order her, but girls soon proved them wrong.

In 2016 Barbie got three new body shapes: tall, petite and which other?

Curvy joined tall and petite after years of complaints that the doll's figure was unrealistic, and the new look put Barbie on the cover of Time magazine.

Which job did Barbie first run for in 1992, an American election year?

President: Barbie has run again in most election years since, and in 2016 she chose a running mate to form an all-female ticket.