97 Fun Facts About Easter Trivia for Kids

Which animal is said to bring Easter eggs to children?

The Easter Bunny, also called the Easter Rabbit or Easter Hare, is said to bring eggs to children; the tradition began among German Lutherans.

The Easter Bunny story first came from which country?

German Lutherans started it, and German settlers took it to America.

Long ago, the Easter Hare had the same job as which other holiday visitor?

Like Santa Claus with his naughty-or-nice list, the original Easter Hare of German Lutherans judged whether children had been good or disobedient at the start of Eastertide.

Besides eggs, what else does the Easter Bunny bring to children?

The Easter Bunny carries coloured eggs plus candy and sometimes toys to children's homes, a bit like Santa on Christmas Eve.

What is the game where children search for hidden Easter eggs called?

An egg hunt is the game of finding hidden eggs; they can be real dyed eggs, plastic eggs full of candy, or foil-wrapped chocolate.

What do children usually collect their eggs in during a hunt?

Children gather the eggs they find in an Easter basket; prizes may go to whoever finds the most, the biggest, or the smallest egg.

Which famous person, some believe, organised the first Easter egg hunts?

Martin Luther is said to have organised egg hunts for his congregation, with the men hiding eggs for the women and children to find.

In this Easter game, what do players do to their eggs to see whose goes farthest?

The winner is usually whoever rolls farthest or fastest.

What is egg rolling down grassy hills called in the United Kingdom?

Rolling decorated eggs down grassy hills is known as pace-egging in the UK, from the old word Pasch for Easter; chocolate eggs are often used now.

According to an old Lancashire legend, what would witches do with broken eggshells?

Legend said witches would steal the broken shells and use them as boats, so the shells had to be crushed up carefully after the egg roll.

How were eggs traditionally coloured for rolling in England?

The onion skins gave the shells a mottled golden look.

Where in Washington, D.C. is the Easter Egg Roll held every Easter Monday?

The White House South Lawn hosts the Easter Egg Roll each Easter Monday, for children aged 13 and younger with their parents.

What do children push their eggs with at the White House Egg Roll?

In the egg roll race children push their eggs through the grass with long-handled wooden spoons, and the spoons are kept as souvenirs.

Which president brought the Egg Roll to the White House lawn in 1878?

Rutherford B. Hayes opened the White House grounds to egg rollers in 1878, two years after Congress banned the game on the Capitol lawn.

Why did Congress ban egg rolling at the Capitol in 1876?

The law made it illegal to use the Capitol grounds as a playground.

Which first lady is said in legend to have started Washington's Easter egg roll?

Legend credits Dolley Madison, wife of James Madison, with starting the egg roll in 1814; children were rolling eggs at the Capitol by the 1870s.

What is the Thursday before Easter, remembering the Last Supper, called?

Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter, remembers the Last Supper; in Britain the monarch hands out special Maundy money coins that day.

What is another name for a decorated Easter egg?

Easter eggs are also called Paschal eggs, from Pascha, the Greek and Latin name for Easter that comes from the Hebrew Pesach.

What is the oldest way of making an Easter egg?

Dyeing and painting a hen's egg is the oldest kind of Easter egg, a custom long kept across Central and Eastern Europe; chocolate eggs are a modern substitute.

What colour did early Christians traditionally dye Easter eggs?

Early Christians in Mesopotamia stained eggs red in memory of the blood of Christ, a custom kept by Orthodox Christians.

Eggs are an old symbol of what?

Eggs are an ancient symbol of new life and rebirth; at Easter they also stand for the empty tomb of Jesus.

What is often used instead of a real hen's egg at Easter?

Chocolate wrapped in foil is the usual stand-in for a real hen's egg at Easter; plastic eggs filled with candy are popular too.

How old are the oldest decorated eggs found in Africa?

Engraved ostrich eggshells about 60,000 years old were found at Diepkloof Rock Shelter in South Africa, the oldest decorated eggs known.

In which country do boys tap girls with braided willow switches on Easter Monday?

In the Czech Republic boys visit on Easter Monday with a braided willow switch called a pomlazka, tapping girls for luck and receiving decorated eggs in return.

Which country's beautifully patterned wax-decorated eggs are called pysanky?

The pysanka is one of Ukraine's national symbols.

In Poland, decorated eggs are shared at the family table before which meal?

Polish families share blessed decorated eggs before Easter Sunday breakfast, a sign of friendship like sharing the Christmas wafer.

In the game of egg tapping, what are players trying to do?

In egg tapping each player tries to crack the other player's egg while keeping their own whole; cheats have been caught using eggs filled with marble or cement.

Where are the world egg-jarping championships held every Easter Sunday?

The World Egg Jarping Championships have been held at Peterlee Cricket Club in County Durham each Easter Sunday since 1983.

In the traditional Easter egg dance, with eggs lying on the floor, what is the dancers' goal?

The goal is not to break any: eggs are laid on the floor and dancers weave among them, damaging as few as possible.

In an egg-and-spoon race, what must you do?

Runners balance the egg on a spoon and run to the finish without dropping it; it is a favourite at school sports days along with the sack race.

What is a baby chicken called?

A baby chicken is a chick; fluffy yellow chicks hatch after about 21 days in the egg and are an Easter favourite.

What is a baby bunny called?

Kit is short for kitten.

What is a father bunny called?

A male rabbit is a buck, the same word used for male deer, goats and hares.

What is a mother bunny called?

A doe is a female rabbit; the word comes from the Old English dā.

Why are a bunny's back legs longer than its front legs?

They can also deliver a powerful kick if the rabbit is caught.

What do bunnies often do while they sleep?

Rabbits often sleep with their eyes open, staying alert because they are prey animals; a third eyelid keeps the eye moist.

How many babies are usually in one litter of bunnies?

A rabbit litter usually holds four to twelve kits, and a doe can raise several litters in a year.

What is a group of bunnies' underground home called?

A warren is the joined-up burrow system European rabbits dig; a group of rabbits is also called a colony or a nest.

Which is the only continent with no bunnies?

Antarctica is the exception; the European rabbit, ancestor of every domestic breed, has been introduced on every other continent.

How are baby bunnies born?

Rabbit kits are born hairless and blind in a burrow; baby hares, by contrast, arrive furry with open eyes and ready to move.

What is a hare less than a year old called?

A hare in its first year is a leveret; a group of hares can be called a husk or a down.

What do a hare's big ears help it do?

A hare's large ears are packed with blood vessels that shed heat, helping it cool down; they also make hares excellent at hearing danger.

Chickens were tamed from which wild bird?

Chickens descend from the red junglefowl of South and Southeast Asia, domesticated several thousand years ago.

About how many eggs can a laying hen produce in a year?

A modern laying hen can produce around 300 eggs a year, while wild junglefowl lay only about a dozen.

What is a chicken called in Australia and New Zealand?

Chook is the informal Australian and New Zealand word for a chicken; a hen house there is a chook pen or chook house.

Which bird lays the largest egg of any living bird?

An ostrich egg is the largest laid by any living bird, about 15 centimetres long and weighing around 1.5 kilograms.

Which bird lays the smallest egg?

The bee hummingbird of Cuba, the world's smallest bird, lays an egg about the size of a coffee bean.

What do some baby birds use to crack open their eggshell?

The egg tooth is a temporary hard bump on the tip of the beak that a chick uses to break the shell; it falls off soon after hatching.

Why does an eggshell have tiny holes in it?

Thousands of tiny pores let oxygen in and carbon dioxide out for the growing chick, while the shell keeps dirt and liquid out.

Birds that nest in trees usually lay eggs of which colour?

Open-nesting tree birds such as thrushes usually lay blue or greenish eggs, while ground nesters lay speckled eggs for camouflage.

A robin's blue egg colour comes from which kind of thing?

The blue comes from a pigment called biliverdin, laid down in the shell as the egg forms inside the mother robin.

Which of these birds lays the largest clutch of eggs in one nest?

The grey partridge lays one of the largest clutches of any bird, often 15 or more eggs, while a condor lays just one.

What is a baby sheep called?

A baby sheep is a lamb; its mother is a ewe and its father a ram.

What is a group of sheep called?

A group of sheep is a flock; there are roughly 1.2 billion sheep in the world.

What is a sheep's woolly coat called?

A sheep's woolly coat is its fleece, harvested by shearing; wool is the most widely used animal fibre.

How many stages are in a butterfly's life cycle?

A butterfly's life cycle has four stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult, a process called complete metamorphosis.

What is a butterfly called while it is a larva?

A butterfly larva is a caterpillar; it feeds on the leaves the egg was laid on and sheds its skin as it grows.

What does the larva turn into before it becomes a butterfly?

The caterpillar forms a chrysalis, the hard pupa case; when ready, its skin splits and the butterfly climbs out.

Which butterfly is famous for migrating long distances?

The monarch is famous for migrating up to 3,000 miles between Canada and its winter forests in central Mexico; the painted lady migrates too.

On the March equinox, day and night are each about how long?

On the equinox day and night are each about 12 hours long; after March the northern days keep lengthening until the summer solstice.

When it is spring in the Northern Hemisphere, what season is it in the Southern Hemisphere?

In Australia the spring months are September, October and November.

Which three months are spring in the United States and the United Kingdom?

Spring in the United States and United Kingdom is counted as March, April and May; in Ireland it is often February, March and April.

The equinox that starts spring in the north usually falls on which March date?

It can be as early as March 19 or as late as March 21.

On the equinox, where does the Sun rise?

On the equinox the Sun rises almost exactly straight east and sets straight west about 12 hours later, anywhere on Earth.

What holiday does Easter celebrate for Christians?

It is also called Pascha or Resurrection Sunday.

Is Easter on the same day every year?

It depends on the Moon, which is why it can be in March or April.

Easter comes on the Sunday after the full moon that follows what?

Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox, a rule fixed by the Council of Nicaea in 325.

Which flower traditionally decorates churches at Easter?

The lily, a symbol of the resurrection in Western Christianity, traditionally decorates the chancel area of churches at Easter and for the rest of Eastertide.

The word Easter may come from the name of what?

Bede wrote that the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre gave her name to the month now called April, and the word Easter may come from her.

How many days long is Lent, the season before Easter?

Lent is counted as 40 days, not counting Sundays, echoing Jesus's 40 days in the desert; many people give up sweets until Easter.

What do many people eat on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent begins?

It is also called Pancake Day and Mardi Gras.

How many weeks does the Easter season last, ending on Pentecost?

Eastertide lasts seven weeks, 50 days counting Easter Sunday itself, and ends on Pentecost, the seventh Sunday after Easter.

What shape is marked on top of the spiced buns eaten on Good Friday?

Hot cross buns carry a cross of pastry or icing on top, recalling the crucifixion; they are spiced fruit buns traditionally eaten on Good Friday.

According to English folklore, a hot cross bun baked on Good Friday would do what?

Folklore held that a hot cross bun baked on Good Friday would never go mouldy for a year; sailors even took them to sea for luck.

How much did hot cross buns cost in the old street cry from 1733?

The line later became the nursery rhyme 'Hot Cross Buns'.

How many marzipan balls usually sit on top of a simnel cake?

They stand for the twelve apostles minus Judas.

What are Peeps made of?

Peeps are marshmallow candies coated in coloured sugar, shaped as chicks, bunnies and other animals.

Peeps used to be sold under which other company's name?

Peeps were first made by the Rodda Candy Company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which Just Born bought in 1953.

What is inside a Cadbury Creme Egg?

The chocolate shell holds a sweet white and yellow fondant made to look like the white and yolk of a soft-boiled egg.

Which company's name was on the Cadbury Creme Egg when it first came out in 1963?

It launched in 1963 as the Fry's Creme Egg, made by Cadbury's subsidiary J. S. Fry & Sons, and took the Cadbury name in 1971.

Most chocolate bunnies are what on the inside?

Two moulds are filled and joined to make the hollow shape.

Which chocolate maker sells a gold-foil bunny wearing a red ribbon and bell?

Lindt's Gold Bunny, wrapped in gold foil with a red ribbon and bell, first appeared in 1952 and is made by the Swiss chocolatier.

Why did jelly beans become an Easter candy in the 1930s?

Jelly beans became an Easter candy in the 1930s because they are shaped like little eggs, an old symbol of new life.

Which US president loved jelly beans?

Ronald Reagan kept a jar of jelly beans on his desk, and three and a half tons of them were shipped to his 1981 inauguration.

What is inside a Kinder Surprise egg?

The capsule is yellow to look like a yolk.

Kinder Surprise copies an Easter tradition from which country?

Kinder Surprise, launched by Italy's Ferrero in 1974, copies the Italian custom of giving children large chocolate eggs with a toy inside.

About how many Kinder Surprise eggs had been sold worldwide by 2016, since their 1974 launch?

Some 30 billion Kinder Surprise eggs had been sold worldwide by 2016; Ferrero has made them since 1974.

In Australia, which animal is sold in chocolate instead of a bunny?

Bilbies are endangered, and the chocolate helps raise money to protect them.

Fabergé eggs were made as Easter presents for which country's royal family?

Russia's tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II commissioned the jewelled eggs, made in Saint Petersburg from 1885, as Easter gifts for their wives and mother.

About how many Fabergé eggs were made in the tsars' time?

Faberge made about 69 jewelled eggs between 1885 and 1917, around 50 of them Imperial eggs for the tsars; most survive in museums and private collections.

What is an Easter bonnet?

An Easter bonnet is a new fancy hat worn on Easter Sunday, part of the old tradition of wearing new clothes at Easter.

Which New York street is famous for its Easter parade?

Irving Berlin's 1933 song 'Easter Parade' sings of strolling 'on the avenue, Fifth Avenue'; the Manhattan parade dates from the 1870s.

In Sweden, children dress up as what during the Easter holidays?

The legend says witches fly off on brooms the Thursday before Easter and come back on Easter.

Which spring flower with a yellow trumpet is a common Easter symbol?

The daffodil, with its yellow trumpet, blooms around Easter; in German it is called the Osterglocke, the Easter bell.

Which sweet braided Greek Easter bread is often baked with red eggs in it?

Tsoureki is the sweet braided Greek Easter bread, often baked with red-dyed eggs pressed into the plaits.

What is often put in the bottom of an Easter hamper to make it look like a nest?

Real or artificial straw does the job.

What is Peeps' slogan about when you can buy them?

Peeps' slogan is 'Always in Season', a nod to the Easter chicks and bunnies being joined by Halloween, Christmas and Valentine's Day shapes.