50 Fun Facts About January Trivia for Kids

January is which month of the year?

January is the first of the twelve months, the one that opens every calendar year.

How many days does January have?

January has 31 days, one of the seven months of the year that run to 31 days.

January is named after Janus, a Roman god famous for having what?

Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and doorways, was shown with two faces, one looking back at the old year and one forward to the new.

What is the first day of January called?

New Year's Day opens the calendar year, and many people make resolutions on it, promising to do better in the year ahead.

In New York City, a giant glowing ball drops at midnight on New Year's Eve in which famous place?

The Times Square ball drop has been a New Year's Eve tradition since 1907, with huge crowds counting down the final seconds of the old year.

In Spain, people traditionally eat twelve of what at midnight on New Year's Eve, one for each chime?

Spain's twelve grapes tradition has one grape eaten on each chime of midnight, a wish for good luck in each month of the new year.

In Japan, the New Year holiday, Shogatsu, is celebrated starting on which day?

Shogatsu begins on January 1, when families make a first shrine visit, hatsumode, and eat special osechi foods to welcome the year.

The idea of starting the year on 1 January comes from a calendar reform by which Roman leader?

Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar in 46 BC, and the year start he set was carried over into the Gregorian calendar.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day falls on which Monday of January each year?

The holiday is fixed to the third Monday of January, so it lands close to King's birthday on 15 January without always falling on that date.

January's birthstone is the garnet, which is usually what colour?

Garnet is usually a deep red stone; its name traces back through Old French to the Latin for pomegranate, whose seeds share that colour.

In the Northern Hemisphere, January is typically the year's what?

January is usually the coldest month across the Northern Hemisphere, because the land keeps losing heat for weeks after the December solstice.

While children in the north bundle up in January, children in Australia are enjoying which season?

Australia's seasons are flipped, so January falls in its summer, which is why Christmas and New Year there mean beach weather.

Benjamin Franklin, born in January 1706, is said to have flown a kite in a storm to study what?

Franklin's 1752 kite experiment was meant to show that lightning is electricity; the same Founding Father also invented bifocal glasses.

Which beloved actress, born on 17 January 1922, played Rose on The Golden Girls?

Betty White played Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls from 1985 to 1992 and kept acting into her late nineties.

A. A. Milne, born in January 1882, created which honey-loving bear?

The cuddly bear and his friends live in the Hundred Acre Wood.

Lewis Carroll, born in January 1832, wrote about which girl who falls down a rabbit hole?

Alice tumbles down the rabbit hole in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, published in 1865.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born in January 1756, was famous as a child for doing what?

Mozart was composing music by about age five and touring Europe's courts as a child performer.

Alaska became the 49th US state in January of which year?

Alaska joined the Union on 3 January 1959, and it is the largest state by area, bigger than Texas, California and Montana combined.

Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, was launched in January of which year?

It grew into one of the most visited websites in the world.

Steve Jobs unveiled the original iPhone in January 2007 as the leader of which company?

Jobs co-founded Apple and was its chief executive when he unveiled the original iPhone at Macworld on 9 January 2007.

Chinese New Year begins a period of celebrations that ends with which event?

The Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the lunar new year closes the New Year period, with lanterns lit and sweet tangyuan eaten.

Australia Day, celebrated on 26 January, marks the 1788 arrival of which group of ships?

The First Fleet of eleven British ships reached Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788, the date Australia Day marks each year.

The very first Winter Olympic Games were held in January 1924 in which country?

Chamonix, France, hosted the 1924 Games in the Alps; the IOC only later named them the inaugural Winter Olympics.

Snowflakes, common in January, almost always have how many sides or points?

Snowflakes have six points because water molecules freeze into a hexagonal ice lattice, so every arm grows at the same angle.

What is it called when animals sleep deeply through the cold winter months?

Hibernation lets animals such as groundhogs and dormice slow their heartbeat and breathing to save energy until spring.

In the Farmers' Almanac tradition, January's full moon is named after which animal?

January's full moon is the Wolf Moon, a name popularised by the Old Farmer's Almanac and linked to wolves howling in midwinter.

In the Southern Hemisphere, January is the same season as which month in the north?

Seasons are reversed across the equator, so a January day in Australia matches a July day in Europe for warmth.

Which flower is January's birth flower?

The carnation is January's traditional birth flower, and the white snowdrop is sometimes listed alongside it.

Which zodiac sign begins on January 20?

Aquarius runs from about January 20 to February 18, while people born earlier in the month, up to January 19, are Capricorns.

How many months did the very first Roman calendar have before January and February were added?

The calendar of Romulus ran ten months from March to December, with winter left uncounted, until King Numa Pompilius is said to have added two more around 713 BC.

The famous Rose Parade opens each new year in which California city?

Pasadena's Valley Hunt Club began the Rose Parade in 1890 to show off California's mild winter while the East was buried in snow.

The floats in the Rose Parade are famously covered in what?

Every float must be covered in flowers and other natural materials such as seeds and bark, and the Rose Bowl football game follows the same afternoon.

What do people in Scotland call their big New Year's Eve celebration?

Hogmanay is Scotland's New Year's Eve celebration, so big that 2 January is also a Scottish holiday, giving everyone a day to recover.

In Scotland, what is the earliest guest to step into your home in the new year called?

The first-foot is whoever crosses the threshold earliest after midnight, traditionally bringing coal, shortbread or salt for good luck.

Louis Braille, born 4 January 1809, invented a reading system for people who cannot what?

Braille's raised-dot system lets people who cannot see read by touch; he lost his own sight as a small boy after an accident in his father's workshop.

J. R. R. Tolkien, born on 3 January 1892, wrote which 1937 adventure about Bilbo Baggins?

The Hobbit came out in 1937 and was followed by The Lord of the Rings; Tolkien, a language professor, invented whole languages for his elves.

Jackie Robinson, born on 31 January 1919, broke the colour barrier in which sport?

Robinson's baseball debut at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on 15 April 1947 made him the modern major leagues' first Black player.

Wayne Gretzky, born on 26 January 1961 and nicknamed 'the Great One', starred in which sport?

Gretzky dominated ice hockey for the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings, topping 200 points in a season four times, a mark no other NHL player has reached.

Muhammad Ali, born on 17 January 1942, became a world champion in which sport?

Ali won boxing's world heavyweight title three times; born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky, he was named Sportsman of the Century by Sports Illustrated in 1999.

Elvis Presley, born on 8 January 1935, is known by which royal nickname?

Elvis earned the title The King of Rock and Roll with 1950s hits like Heartbreak Hotel; born in Tupelo, Mississippi, he later bought Graceland in Memphis.

Ellis Island in New York Harbor opened in January 1892 to welcome about 12 million what?

About 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954, and by one estimate two in five Americans descend from one of them.

On 1 January 1863, which US president issued the Emancipation Proclamation?

Abraham Lincoln's proclamation declared more than 3.5 million enslaved people in the rebelling Confederate states free, in the middle of the American Civil War.

In January 1848, what did James Marshall find at Sutter's Mill, starting a California rush?

Marshall's gold find at Sutter's Mill on 24 January 1848 set off the Gold Rush, and California grew so fast it became a state in 1850.

Which team won the very first Super Bowl, played in January 1967?

The Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 in Los Angeles in a game then officially called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game.

The Australian Open, the year's first tennis major, is played each January in which city?

Melbourne Park has hosted the Australian Open since 1988; the tournament runs for two weeks in the southern heat, with roofs that close on the hottest days.

What is the name for Earth's closest point to the Sun, reached each January?

Perihelion comes around 3 January, when Earth is about 147 million km from the Sun; seasons come from Earth's tilt, not its distance.

Isaac Newton, born on 4 January 1643, is famous for his three laws of what?

Newton's three laws of motion appeared in 1687 in the Principia, which also set out his law of gravity and explained why the planets orbit the Sun.

Betsy Ross, born on 1 January 1752, is famously credited with sewing the first what?

Betsy Ross's family first told the American flag story in 1870, nearly a century after the event, and historians doubt it; she was a real Philadelphia upholsterer.

Martin Luther King Jr., born on 15 January 1929, led which cause in the 1950s and 1960s?

King led the civil rights movement with peaceful protest as a Baptist minister; he was born Michael King Jr., and his father later changed both their names.

Paul Revere, born on 1 January 1735, rode at midnight in 1775 to warn that who was coming?

Revere, a Boston silversmith, rode on 18 April 1775 to warn that the British troops were marching, just before the battles of Lexington and Concord.