50 Fun Facts About February Trivia for Kids

How many days does February have in most years?

28 days is exactly 4 weeks, so in most years every day of the week comes round exactly 4 times in February, the shortest month.

What is the name of February 29, the extra day added in some years?

Leap day, February 29, exists because a year is really about 365 and a quarter days long, so adding one day every fourth year keeps the calendar in step with the seasons.

February is named after 'Februa', a Roman festival of what?

Februa was a Roman purification festival held in mid-February, a time of ritual cleansing before the Roman new year, which once began in March.

On Groundhog Day, February 2, what is the groundhog said to look for?

Folklore says that if the groundhog sees its own shadow on February 2, winter will drag on; if it does not, an early spring is on the way.

The most famous Groundhog Day groundhog is named Punxsutawney Phil, from which US state?

Punxsutawney Phil lives in western Pennsylvania, where legend insists there has only ever been one Phil, kept alive since the 1880s by sips of a magical punch.

Valentine's Day, a day for cards and hearts, falls on which date?

February 14 is the feast of Saint Valentine; the poet Chaucer is thought to be the first to tie it to romance, in a 1380s poem where birds choose their mates on that day.

Which figure from Roman myth is a famous symbol of Valentine's Day?

Cupid, the Roman god of love, usually called the son of Venus, is shown as a winged boy whose arrows make people fall in love.

Presidents' Day, on the third Monday of February, officially celebrates the birthday of which president?

George Washington was born on February 22, yet the holiday, officially still Washington's Birthday, can never fall on that date: the third Monday always lands between the 15th and the 21st.

February's birthstone is the amethyst, which is usually what colour?

Amethyst is a purple variety of quartz; the ancient Greeks believed wearing it could keep them from getting drunk, which is what its name means.

February is a big month for which American football championship game?

The Super Bowl, the NFL's championship game, began as a January fixture, first played on January 15, 1967; it has been held in February every year since 2004.

Abraham Lincoln, born in February 1809, is pictured on which US money?

Abraham Lincoln's face is on the penny and the $5 bill; the 16th president grew his famous beard after a letter from a young girl, Grace Bedell.

Charles Darwin, born in February 1809, is famous for his ideas about how living things do what over time?

Charles Darwin's theory of evolution says living things change and evolve over many generations; he gathered his evidence on a five-year voyage aboard HMS Beagle.

Galileo Galilei, born in February 1564, used an improved version of which instrument to study the sky?

Galileo improved the newly invented telescope in 1609 and used it to spot Jupiter's largest moons and the craters of our own Moon.

What are the small Valentine sweets stamped with messages such as 'BE MINE' called?

Conversation hearts started out as lozenges, and the first sayings printed on them ran far longer than 'BE MINE'.

Civil rights hero Rosa Parks is remembered for refusing to give up her seat on what?

Her brave act in 1955 helped spark the Montgomery bus boycott.

In Japan's February Setsubun custom, people throw what to chase away bad luck?

Beans: at Setsubun people scatter roasted soybeans while shouting 'Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi', meaning 'Demons out, good luck in'.

Waitangi Day, on February 6, is the national day of which country?

Waitangi Day is New Zealand's national day, marking the 1840 signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between the British Crown and Māori chiefs.

Charles Dickens, born February 7, 1812, wrote which of these classic stories?

A Christmas Carol follows the miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who is visited by the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future and wakes up a changed man.

Mount Rushmore shows the giant carved faces of how many US presidents?

Four presidents look out from Mount Rushmore, roughed out with dynamite: workers blasted the granite into shape, then drilled it into a honeycomb and smoothed the 60-foot faces.

South of the equator, February is the last month of which season?

South of the equator the seasons are reversed, so February is the last month of summer there; March brings autumn to places like Australia and South Africa.

Thomas Edison, born February 11, 1847, is most famous for improving which invention?

The light bulb: Edison did not invent it, but in 1879 his team found a carbon filament that glowed for more than 13 hours, a big step towards making electric light practical for the home.

Michael Jordan, born February 17, 1963, won six NBA championships with which team?

Michael Jordan won all six of his NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls, in 1991-93 and 1996-98; he was born in Brooklyn and spent 1994 playing minor-league baseball.

At Chinese New Year, often in February, kids get gift money in envelopes of what colour?

Red envelopes, called hongbao, hold the gift money because red stands for luck and joy in Chinese culture; families also clean house before the holiday to sweep away bad luck.

The faraway world found on February 18, 1930, and now called a dwarf planet, is which one?

Pluto was spotted by Clyde Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in 1930 and reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006; New Horizons flew past it in 2015.

Susan B. Anthony, born February 15, 1820, fought for women's right to do what?

Susan B. Anthony fought for women's right to vote; she was arrested for voting in 1872, and the 19th Amendment, nicknamed the Anthony Amendment, granted suffrage in 1920.

Laura Ingalls Wilder, born February 7, 1867, wrote which series of children's books?

Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie books were based on her own pioneer childhood, moving from one frontier home to the next with her family.

Jules Verne, born February 8, 1828, wrote Around the World in how many days?

Around the World in Eighty Days follows Phileas Fogg's race to win a wager; Verne also imagined a trip to the Moon and a journey to the centre of the Earth.

In the famous 1925 serum run, sled dogs rushed medicine to Nome, a town in which state?

Nome sits on Alaska's western coast; twenty mushers and about 150 dogs relayed the serum 674 miles in five and a half days, with Togo covering the longest, most dangerous stretch.

The 2026 Winter Olympics, held in February, took place in which country?

Italy hosted the 2026 Winter Olympics, shared between Milan and the mountain resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo, so for the first time two Olympic cauldrons were lit, one in each city.

Nicolaus Copernicus, born February 19, 1473, said what sits at the centre of everything?

Copernicus put the Sun at the centre, with Earth and the other planets circling it; he held his book back for years and is said to have been handed a printed copy on the day he died in 1543.

The first Pokémon games, released in Japan on February 27, 1996, ran on which handheld?

Pokémon Red and Green, sold in Japan as Pocket Monsters, were Game Boy cartridges; players traded monsters between the two versions using the Game Boy link cable.

If Punxsutawney Phil predicts more winter on February 2, how much longer should it last?

Six weeks more of winter is what folklore promises after a gloomy forecast from Phil; the custom grew from a German Candlemas tradition that settlers brought to America.

Mardi Gras, the party day that often lands in February, is French for what?

Mardi Gras means 'Fat Tuesday', the last day to eat rich, fatty foods before the fasting season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.

The 'Miracle on Ice' on February 22, 1980 was a US upset of the Soviets in which sport?

The US ice hockey team of college players beat the Soviets 4-3 at Lake Placid, just 13 days after losing 10-3 to them in an exhibition game.

Chinese New Year celebrations end 15 days later with a glowing night named for what?

Lanterns: the Lantern Festival lights up the 15th night of the new lunar year, when families eat sweet rice balls and children try to solve riddles written on the lanterns.

In 2025, the Boy Scouts of America, founded on February 8, 1910, changed its name to what?

The Boy Scouts of America became Scouting America on February 8, 2025, its 115th birthday; girls have been able to join its flagship Scouts BSA program since 2019.

Who walked free on February 11, 1990, after 27 years in South African prisons?

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison, 18 of them on Robben Island; in 1994, not long after walking free, he was elected South Africa's first Black president.

The first Winter Olympics, in 1924, were held in which country?

France hosted the first Winter Olympics at Chamonix, below Mont Blanc; it was staged as an 'International Winter Sports Week' and only named the first Winter Games afterwards.

On February 20, 1962, which astronaut became the first American to orbit Earth?

John Glenn circled the planet three times in under five hours in a capsule named Friendship 7; in 1998, aged 77, he flew again aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.

Because it is so short, February is the only month that can go by without a single what?

Full moon: the Moon's phases repeat about every 29.5 days, longer than a 28-day February, so once in a while the month slips between two full moons and misses out.

Born into slavery and never told his birth date, which American leader chose to celebrate it on Valentine's Day?

Frederick Douglass chose the day in memory of his mother, who had called him her 'little Valentine' and, the last time he saw her, brought him a heart-shaped ginger cake.

Legend says Saint Valentine restored the sight of a blind girl who was whose daughter?

His jailer's: an early tradition says Valentine restored the sight of his jailer's blind daughter, and a later telling adds a farewell note to her signed 'Your Valentine'.

Before the Maple Leaf flag first flew on February 15, 1965, Canada's flag carried which country's flag in its corner?

The United Kingdom's Union Jack sat in the corner of the old Canadian Red Ensign; the single maple leaf replaced it only after a bitter debate in Parliament that ran for more than six months.

Which calendar skips February 29 in years such as 1900 and 2100?

The Gregorian calendar of 1582 drops the extra day from century years unless they divide by 400, because adding a day every fourth year is slightly too much and lets the seasons drift.

Baseball great Babe Ruth, born February 6, 1895, went by which royal-sounding nickname?

Babe Ruth was 'the Sultan of Swat' and 'the Bambino'; he began as a star pitcher for the Boston Red Sox before becoming the Yankees' home-run king.

In February 1925, sled dogs like Balto raced medicine to Nome to fight which disease?

The serum was diphtheria antitoxin, rushed to Nome during an outbreak among the town's children; Balto led the final leg, and his statue stands in Central Park.

On Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil makes his prediction from a spot with what name?

Phil emerges at Gobbler's Knob, a wooded hilltop about two miles outside Punxsutawney, where the Inner Circle claims he gives his forecast in 'Groundhogese'.

On Valentine's Day 1876, Alexander Graham Bell and a rival inventor both filed patent papers for which invention?

The telephone: Bell won the patent three weeks later, beating rival Elisha Gray, and within days he made the first call, telling his assistant, 'Mr. Watson, come here.'

In the United States, February is celebrated each year as which history month?

Black History Month grew out of a week first held in February 1926, placed by historian Carter G. Woodson to take in Abraham Lincoln's birthday; President Gerald Ford recognised the full month in 1976.

Which month's name means 'tenth', a leftover from when the Roman year began in March?

December comes from the Latin decem, ten: tradition says Rome's first calendar ran for ten months from March, and legend credits King Numa Pompilius with adding January and February to fill the winter gap.