50 Fun Facts About February Trivia for Kids

How many days does February have in a normal, non-leap year?

February has 28 days in a normal year, making it the shortest month; every fourth year it gets a 29th.

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

The extra day is called leap day, February 29, which is added in leap years such as 2024 and 2028.

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 Punxsutawney, a small town in western Pennsylvania, where crowds gather every February 2 to hear his prediction.

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

Valentine's Day is February 14, the feast day of Saint Valentine; people swap cards, hearts and sweets to show they care.

Which winged figure, often shown with a bow and arrow, is a symbol of Valentine's Day?

Cupid, the Roman god of love and 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?

The federal holiday is officially 'Washington's Birthday', honouring George Washington, the first US president, who was born on February 22, 1732.

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, has been played in February every year since 2004 and is famous for its halftime show.

Abraham Lincoln, born in February 1809, appears on which two pieces of 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 heart-shaped Valentine sweets printed with short messages called?

Conversation hearts are pastel heart-shaped candies stamped with short messages such as 'BE MINE'; the Sweethearts brand has made them since 1902.

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?

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.

Penguins, birds many people picture in the cold, live almost entirely in which half of the world?

Penguins live almost entirely in the Southern Hemisphere, from Antarctica to South Africa and South America; only the Galápagos penguin reaches the equator.

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

Mount Rushmore shows four presidents carved into the granite of South Dakota's Black Hills between 1927 and 1941; each face is about 60 feet tall.

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?

Edison registered 1,093 US patents, and his company later merged into General Electric, which still exists today.

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; she died in 1957, three days after turning 90.

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

Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) 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, with events split between Milan and the mountain resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo, which had also hosted the 1956 Winter Games.

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; his book De revolutionibus was published in 1543, the year he died.

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?

Folklore says six more weeks of winter follow 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?

The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th night of the lunar year, usually in February or early March, and dates back over 2,000 years to the Han dynasty.

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.

Nelson Mandela walked free on February 11, 1990 after how many years in prison?

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison, from 1962 to 1990, much of it on Robben Island; in 1994 he became South Africa's president.

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

France hosted the first Winter Olympics at Chamonix, below Mont Blanc, in January and February 1924; Norway topped the medal table.

On February 20, 1962, John Glenn first orbited Earth for the US in a capsule named what?

Glenn's Mercury capsule was Friendship 7, a name chosen by his children; he circled the planet three times, and in 1998, at 77, 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?

Because the Moon's cycle is about 29.5 days, a short February can pass with no full moon at all; it last happened in 2018 and will next happen in 2037.

Never knowing his birth date, Frederick Douglass picked one because his mother called him what?

Douglass's mother called him her 'little Valentine', so he chose Valentine's Day as his birthday; born into slavery, he never learned his real birth date.

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

Legend says Valentine healed the blind daughter of his jailer, Asterius, and later sent her a farewell note signed 'from your Valentine'.

How many points does the maple leaf on Canada's flag have?

The stylised leaf has 11 points; the flag, with its white square in a 1:2:1 ratio, was raised for the first time on Parliament Hill on February 15, 1965.

Which of these years did NOT get a February 29, even though it is divisible by four?

1900 was skipped because century years are leap years only if divisible by 400, so 1600 and 2000 kept their February 29 while 1900 did not.

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'.

The Old English name for February, Solmonath, is usually translated as what?

Solmonath is usually read as 'mud month', for the thawing, sodden fields; the monk Bede instead glossed it as the month when cakes were offered to the gods.

The first Black History Month celebration was held in 1970 at which school?

Students at Kent State University in Ohio held the first Black History Month in February 1970; it grew out of Negro History Week, begun in 1926 to cover the birthdays of Lincoln and Douglass.

Which legendary king of Rome is said to have added January and February to the calendar?

Numa Pompilius, Rome's legendary second king, is credited with adding January and February to a ten-month calendar that had left winter as a monthless gap.