79 Fun Facts About First and Second Grade

How many legs does a spider have?

Eight legs mark a spider out as an arachnid rather than an insect; scorpions, ticks and mites belong to the same eight-legged group.

How many legs does an insect such as an ant or a beetle have?

An insect such as an ant or a beetle has six legs, all attached to the thorax, the middle section of its body.

What does a caterpillar turn into?

A butterfly climbs out of the chrysalis the caterpillar turns into, the last step of a four-stage life: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, adult.

A tadpole grows up to become what animal?

A tadpole grows into a frog: it starts with a tail and gills like a fish, then grows legs and lungs and loses the tail.

What is the tallest animal in the world?

The giraffe is the tallest animal: adult males can stand over 5 metres tall, and they fight by swinging their long necks, called necking.

What is the fastest land animal?

The cheetah is the fastest land animal, sprinting at over 90 kilometres per hour thanks to long legs and a very flexible spine.

What is the biggest animal that has ever lived?

The blue whale is the biggest animal known to have lived, up to about 30 metres long, yet it feeds almost entirely on krill, tiny shrimp-like animals.

What is the largest animal that lives on land?

The elephant is the largest land animal: an adult African elephant weighs several tonnes, as much as a large truck, and its trunk carries food and water to its mouth.

A baby kangaroo, called a joey, grows up inside its mother's what?

Pouch: a newborn joey is only about as big as a grape, and it crawls up through its mother's fur to the pouch, where it keeps growing.

Which bird cannot fly but is a great swimmer?

Its wings have become flippers, and almost all penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere.

Which of these animals is a mammal that can truly fly?

A bat's wing is really a hand with very long fingers covered by thin skin.

What do giant pandas mostly eat?

Giant pandas eat mostly bamboo, around 99 percent of their diet, and an extra thumb-like wrist bone helps them grip the stalks.

A polar bear's fur looks white, but what colour is the skin underneath?

Black skin lies under the coat, and the fur is not truly white either: each hair is clear and hollow and only looks white as it scatters light.

Which sea creature has three hearts?

The octopus is the sea creature with the extra hearts: two serve its gills and the third serves its organs, and its blood is blue from a copper-based pigment.

A group of lions is called a what?

Pride is the name for a lion family of related females, their cubs and a few males, and the lionesses do most of the hunting, often as a team.

What is a baby horse called?

A foal can stand up and run within hours of being born.

What is a baby sheep called?

Lamb: a mother ewe knows her own lamb by its smell, which is how she picks it out from all the others in the flock.

Which animal is known for being very slow and hanging upside down in trees?

The sloth hangs upside down in the rainforests of Central and South America and moves so slowly that algae can grow on its fur.

What does a camel store in its hump?

Fat, not water: the camel burns it for energy when food is scarce, so a hungry camel's hump shrinks, leans over and droops.

Which planet is called the Red Planet?

Mars earned that nickname because iron in its dusty soil has rusted, giving the whole surface a rusty orange colour.

Which planet has big, bright rings around it?

Saturn: its rings are countless chunks of ice, and when Galileo first spotted them through his telescope he mistook them for two smaller planets beside it.

What is the largest planet in our Solar System?

Jupiter: although it is the biggest planet, it also has the shortest day, spinning all the way round in about 10 hours.

Which planet is closest to the Sun?

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun; it is also the smallest planet, and with almost no air its days are scorching and its nights freezing.

The Sun is actually a giant what?

Star: the Sun is the closest star to Earth, but far from the biggest, since some stars are hundreds of times wider.

Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?

Neil Armstrong was first onto the Moon, in July 1969 on Apollo 11; Buzz Aldrin followed him while Michael Collins circled overhead in the command ship.

How many sides does a triangle have?

Three: a triangle holds its shape when pushed, while a square frame can be squashed flat, which is why bridges are braced with triangles.

A shape with six sides is called a what?

Hexagon: honeybees build their combs from these six-sided cells, which fit together with no gaps and need less wax than squares or triangles would.

How many things are in a dozen?

Twelve: a dozen is handy for sharing because it splits evenly into halves, thirds, quarters and sixths, which ten cannot do.

How many letters are in the English alphabet?

26: schoolchildren in the 1800s ended the alphabet with '&' as a 27th character, saying 'and per se and', which slurred into the word ampersand.

How many colours are usually listed in a rainbow?

A rainbow is usually said to have seven colours; Isaac Newton picked that number, and the made-up name Roy G. Biv gives their order.

In art class, which three colours are usually taught as the primary colours?

Red, yellow and blue: painters have treated this trio as the primary colours since the 1600s, though colour printers mix their pictures from cyan, magenta and yellow inks.

What is the first month of the year?

January is the first month; it is named after Janus, a Roman god with two faces who looked backward and forward.

How many seasons are there in a year in most of the United States?

Most of the United States has four seasons, spring, summer, fall and winter, caused by Earth's tilt as it goes around the Sun.

Which month gains an extra day in a leap year?

February grows from 28 days to 29: the extra day keeps the calendar lined up with Earth's trip around the Sun, which takes about 365 and a quarter days.

What temperature does water freeze at?

0 degrees Celsius, or 32 degrees Fahrenheit: water swells as it freezes, so ice is lighter than the same volume of water and floats.

What is the Moon?

The Moon is Earth's natural satellite: it goes around the Earth about once a month, which is where the word 'month' comes from.

Which is the largest of the world's oceans?

Pacific: Ferdinand Magellan named it 'peaceful' after finding its waters calm, and it is so vast that every continent could fit inside it.

What is the highest mountain in the world?

Mount Everest: its summit is the highest point above sea level, yet Hawaii's Mauna Kea is taller from base to peak because it rises from the sea floor.

What is the largest hot desert in the world?

Sahara: it stretches across northern Africa, yet it is only the third-biggest desert of all, because icy Antarctica and the Arctic count as deserts too.

How many stars are on the flag of the United States?

50: there is one star for each state, the last added after Hawaii joined, while the 13 stripes stand for the original colonies.

Who was the first president of the United States?

George Washington: he chose to retire after two terms instead of holding on to power, setting an example that later presidents followed.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the United States from which country?

France gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States in 1886; its copper skin turned green over time, and its iron skeleton was designed by Gustave Eiffel.

What bird is the national symbol of the United States?

Bald eagle: it has appeared on the Great Seal since 1782, yet it only became the official national bird by law in December 2024.

What shape is a stop sign?

Octagon: no other common road sign has eight sides, so drivers can recognise a stop sign by its shape alone, even when they cannot read its face.

On a traffic light, which colour means stop?

Red: the first traffic light, put up in London in 1868, was designed by a railway engineer who copied the signals used to stop trains.

In the story of the Three Little Pigs, which home does the wolf fail to blow down?

The brick one: unable to blow it down, the wolf climbs down the chimney instead and falls straight into the third pig's pot of boiling water.

In Goldilocks and the Three Bears, what does Goldilocks eat at the bears' house?

Goldilocks eats the bears' porridge, finding Baby Bear's bowl just right; she also breaks a chair and falls asleep in Baby Bear's bed.

Pinocchio is a wooden puppet who dreams of becoming what?

Pinocchio longs to become a real boy, and a fairy finally makes him one; he was carved from wood by Geppetto, a poor woodcarver.

In E. B. White's story, what kind of animal is Charlotte, Wilbur's friend?

Charlotte is a barn spider who spins words into her web to save her friend Wilbur the pig from being killed.

In Where the Wild Things Are, who sails away to the island of the wild things?

Max is the child in Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are; sent to bed without supper, he sails to an island and becomes king of the wild things.

What kind of animal is Curious George?

Curious George is a monkey; the books, first published in 1941, were written by Margret and H. A. Rey, who fled Paris by bicycle carrying the manuscript.

What is the name of Bluey's little sister?

Bingo: she is a Red Heeler and her sister a Blue Heeler, Australian cattle dogs named for herding cows by nipping at their heels.

In the movie Frozen, what is the name of the snowman who likes warm hugs?

Olaf: Elsa's magic brought him to life, and he dreams of seeing summer, never suspecting that the heat would melt him.

In Toy Story, what kind of toy is Woody?

Woody is a pull-string cowboy doll, the sheriff of Andy's toys; he gets jealous when Buzz Lightyear, a space ranger action figure, becomes Andy's new favourite.

In Finding Nemo, what kind of fish are Nemo and his dad Marlin?

Nemo and Marlin are clownfish, which live safely among the stinging tentacles of a sea anemone; their forgetful friend Dory is a blue tang.

In The Lion King, who is Simba's father?

Mufasa is Simba's father and king; his brother Scar causes his death in a wildebeest stampede, and Simba must come home to win the throne back.

What is Mario's job in the Nintendo games?

Plumber: Mario began as a carpenter in Donkey Kong, and became a plumber when Mario Bros. moved the action underground among the pipes.

What colour is Pikachu?

Yellow: its designer modelled Pikachu on squirrels, which stuff food into their cheeks, so Pikachu stores electricity in its cheeks instead.

In Minecraft, what does a Creeper do when it sneaks up on you?

It explodes: the Creeper began as a mistake, when Minecraft's creator mixed up the measurements of a pig and kept the creepy result as a monster.

On which date is Halloween celebrated?

Halloween is October 31, the night before All Saints' Day on November 1, which is why it is also called All Hallows' Eve.

American Thanksgiving is always on which day of the week?

Thursday: after President Roosevelt moved the holiday a week earlier to lengthen the Christmas shopping season, Congress fixed it in 1941 as the fourth Thursday of November.

What is the Fourth of July holiday in the United States called?

Independence Day: Congress actually voted to break from Britain on July 2, 1776, but the holiday marks July 4, when it approved the Declaration's final wording.

How many teeth are in a full set of baby teeth?

20: they start falling out at about age five or six, each pushed out by a grown-up tooth growing in behind it, until 32 adult teeth take their place.

What job does the heart do?

Pumps blood around the body: the blood carries oxygen and food to every part of you, and this fist-sized muscle never stops to rest.

Roughly how many bones does a grown-up human have?

About 206: a baby is born with many more, but lots of those bones fuse together as the child grows.

What is bread mostly made from?

Bread is mostly flour and water, usually with salt and yeast; the yeast makes tiny gas bubbles that puff the dough up.

What is cheese made from?

Cheese is made from milk, usually from cows, goats or sheep; the milk is curdled and the solid curds are pressed and aged.

What is ketchup mainly made from?

Ketchup is made from tomatoes, cooked down with vinegar and sugar; very old ketchup recipes used mushrooms, oysters or even walnuts instead.

Which vegetable is usually orange and grows underground as a root?

A carrot is an orange root that grows underground; its colour comes from beta-carotene, which the body turns into vitamin A.

What makes popcorn pop?

Heating the kernel makes popcorn pop: water inside the hard kernel turns to steam, pressure builds, and the kernel bursts inside out.

Which fruit is botanically a berry, even though most people never think of it as one?

Banana: botanists count it as a berry because it grows from one flower's ovary with the seeds inside its flesh, and its 'tree' is really a giant herb.

Which Sesame Street character has a best friend called Mr. Snuffleupagus?

Big Bird: for years the grown-ups never saw Snuffy and thought Big Bird had made him up, until the show finally let them meet him in 1985.

Which cartoon character made his first big appearance in a 1928 film called Steamboat Willie?

Mickey Mouse: Walt Disney created him after a film distributor took away his earlier cartoon character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Where does SpongeBob SquarePants live?

In a pineapple under the sea: creator Stephen Hillenburg once taught marine biology, and first drew his sea creatures for a comic about tide pools.

Which two paint colours do you mix to make green?

Yellow and blue paint mix to make green; with light it works differently, and on TV screens green is itself one of the primary colours.

How many keys does a modern piano usually have?

A modern piano usually has 88 keys, 52 white and 36 narrower dark ones; pressing one makes a little hammer strike a string inside.

Which animal builds dams across streams using branches and mud?

Beaver: its dam floods a pond deep enough to hide the underwater doorway of its lodge, which keeps predators out.

What kind of animal is a dolphin?

A dolphin is a mammal: it breathes air through a blowhole, is warm-blooded and gives birth to live young; the biggest dolphin is the orca.

What is the 'lady' in the name ladybug or ladybird said to refer to?

Mary, the mother of Jesus: the beetle was once called 'Our Lady's bird', and its red back and seven spots were both said to be signs of her.