✍️ How to write good trivia questions for kids
A good kids' trivia question asks one thing, has one answer a reference book would agree with, and offers three choices where the wrong two are tempting but clearly wrong. Here is how to write questions like that, with examples.
One fact per question
"Which planet is closest to the Sun?" asks one thing. "Which planet is closest to the Sun and has no moons?" asks two, and a child who knows one half is marked wrong. Split it into two questions.
Pick facts that don't change
Avoid "the tallest building", "the most popular", or anything with "currently": they change, and your answer goes out of date. Bodies, animals, planets, shapes and history make questions that stay true.
Three choices, all believable
Wrong answers should be the same kind of thing as the right one. For "How many legs does a spider have?", offer six, eight and ten, not eight, purple and a banana. Silly answers are fun once a round, but too many make the question too easy.
- Good: "What do bees make? Honey, milk or silk?"
- Too easy: "What do bees make? Honey, a car or a cloud?"
- Unfair: "What do bees make? Honey, wax or royal jelly?" (they make all three)
Say it in a child's words
Keep questions under twenty words and use words a child of that age reads. "What is frozen water called?" beats "What is the solid state of H2O?" for an eight-year-old, even though both are right.
Check the answer at a source
Look every answer up at a source you trust: NASA for space, NOAA for weather and the ocean, a museum for animals and dinosaurs. The Trivia directory lists free ones. Write the reason in one sentence; you will read it out after the answer.
Order the round
Start with two easy questions so every team scores early, put the hardest at seven or eight, and end on one that makes the table laugh.