🌋 Planet Earth trivia for kids

Every answer checked 31 October 2026. Free, no sign-up, nothing to download.

Earth science in three rounds: the crust, magma and Old Faithful for the little ones; the Ring of Fire, Pangaea and the first national park for the middle ones; the liquid outer core, P waves and Mount Chimborazo for the big ones.

🐣 Little round: ages 6–8 (grades K–2)

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1.Which mountain reaches the highest above sea level?
- A Mount Fuji
- B Mount Rainier
- C Mount Everest
2.How many hearts does an octopus have?
- A eight
- B three
- C one
3.What do we call a hot spring that shoots water up into the air?
- A a glacier
- B a geyser
- C a waterfall
4.Penguins have wings, but what do they use them for?
- A swimming
- B climbing
- C digging
5.Arches National Park has more than 2,000 natural arches. What are they made of?
- A ice
- B wood
- C rock
6.What is the outside layer of the Earth called?
- A the crust
- B the core
- C the mantle
7.Which river carved the Grand Canyon?
- A the Colorado River
- B the Mississippi River
- C the Nile River
8.Where are most of Earth's volcanoes found?
- A in deserts
- B in big forests
- C on the ocean floor
9.What is the hot, melted rock under a volcano called?
- A magma
- B clay
- C sand
10.What covers most of Earth's surface?
- A desert sand
- B thick ice
- C ocean water

🔑 Show the answers

C: Mount Everest. Its top is about 8,848 meters, or about 29,000 feet, above sea level. Source: NOAA National Ocean Service
B: three. Two of its hearts pump blood to the gills, and one pumps it to the rest of the body. Source: NOAA Ocean Service
B: a geyser. Old Faithful in Yellowstone is one of the most famous geysers in the world. Source: National Park Service
A: swimming. All penguins live in the southern half of the world. Source: NOAA Ocean Service
C: rock. Rain and frost wear away soft sandstone, slowly opening holes that become arches. Source: National Park Service
A: the crust. Compared with the layers below it, the crust is very thin, like the shell of an egg. Source: U.S. Geological Survey
A: the Colorado River. The river still flows along the bottom of the canyon today. Source: National Park Service
C: on the ocean floor. Most of these underwater volcanoes sit along long ridges where the seafloor spreads apart. Source: NOAA National Ocean Service
A: magma. When magma comes out onto the ground, we call it lava. Source: National Park Service
C: ocean water. The ocean covers about 71 percent of Earth and holds most of its water. Source: NASA

🦊 Middle round: ages 9–11 (grades 3–5)

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1.Which became the world's first national park, in 1872?
- A the Grand Canyon
- B Yellowstone
- C Yosemite
2.Which is the smallest of the five oceans?
- A the Southern Ocean
- B the Arctic Ocean
- C the Indian Ocean
3.Rock that forms when melted rock cools and hardens is called what?
- A metamorphic rock
- B igneous rock
- C sedimentary rock
4.Where are the highest tides in the world?
- A the Bay of Fundy in Canada
- B the Red Sea
- C the Caribbean Sea
5.What was the giant supercontinent that broke apart into today's continents?
- A Pangaea
- B Atlantis
- C Antarctica
6.What are the three main layers of the Earth?
- A crust, mantle and core
- B crust, lava and ash
- C rock, water and air
7.About how much of Earth's land is desert?
- A about one-third
- B about two-thirds
- C about one-tenth
8.The Ring of Fire, a belt of volcanoes and earthquakes, circles which ocean?
- A the Pacific Ocean
- B the Indian Ocean
- C the Atlantic Ocean
9.What instrument records the shaking of an earthquake?
- A a thermometer
- B a barometer
- C a seismograph
10.Near Grand Canyon Village, about how deep is the canyon from rim to river?
- A about 100 feet
- B about one mile
- C about 10 miles

🔑 Show the answers

B: Yellowstone. Its geysers and hot springs were a big reason it was protected. Source: National Park Service
B: the Arctic Ocean. The Arctic Ocean is covered with ice for most of the year. Source: NOAA Ocean Service
B: igneous rock. Granite, basalt and obsidian are all igneous rocks. Source: U.S. Geological Survey
A: the Bay of Fundy in Canada. In the United States, the highest tides are near Anchorage, Alaska. Source: NOAA Ocean Service
A: Pangaea. Its name means all lands, and it began breaking up about 225 to 200 million years ago. Source: U.S. Geological Survey
A: crust, mantle and core. The core in the very middle is made mostly of the metals iron and nickel. Source: U.S. Geological Survey
A: about one-third. Deserts can be hot or cold, but they are always dry. Source: U.S. Geological Survey
A: the Pacific Ocean. Deep ocean trenches run along the Ring of Fire, next to chains of volcanoes. Source: U.S. Geological Survey
C: a seismograph. It draws a zig-zag line called a seismogram. Source: U.S. Geological Survey
B: about one mile. That is about 5,000 feet straight down from the South Rim. Source: National Park Service

🦉 Big round: ages 12 and up (grades 6 and up)

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1.Mount Fuji and Mount St. Helens are which type of volcano?
- A cinder cones
- B composite volcanoes
- C shield volcanoes
2.Octopus blood is blue because its oxygen-carrying protein contains which metal?
- A copper
- B silver
- C iron
3.The Challenger Deep, the deepest known part of the ocean, lies in which trench?
- A the Puerto Rico Trench
- B the Aleutian Trench
- C the Mariana Trench
4.The Great Barrier Reef is made up of nearly how many individual reefs?
- A about 300,000
- B about 3,000
- C about 30
5.As Earth spins, which layer's motion creates Earth's magnetic field?
- A the liquid outer core
- B the solid inner core
- C the crust
6.Which is Earth's thickest layer, at about 2,900 kilometers?
- A the mantle
- B the crust
- C the inner core
7.Rock changed by great heat and pressure deep underground, without melting, is called what?
- A igneous rock
- B metamorphic rock
- C sedimentary rock
8.Which earthquake waves usually arrive first at a faraway place?
- A S waves
- B surface waves
- C P waves
9.The Hawaiian Islands formed as the Pacific Plate moved over what?
- A a plate boundary
- B a hotspot in the mantle
- C a deep ocean trench
10.Which mountain's peak is the farthest from the center of the Earth?
- A Mount Kilimanjaro
- B Mount Everest
- C Mount Chimborazo

🔑 Show the answers

B: composite volcanoes. They are also called stratovolcanoes, built from layers of lava and ash. Source: U.S. Geological Survey
A: copper. The protein is called haemocyanin; human blood uses iron-based haemoglobin. Source: Natural History Museum, London
C: the Mariana Trench. It is about 10,935 meters deep, in the western Pacific Ocean. Source: NOAA National Ocean Service
B: about 3,000. It stretches for about 1,429 miles off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Source: NOAA Ocean Service
A: the liquid outer core. The outer core is liquid metal, while the inner core is solid. Source: U.S. Geological Survey
A: the mantle. NASA compares the hot rock of the mantle to thick, slow-moving caramel. Source: NASA
B: metamorphic rock. Schist and gneiss are metamorphic rocks, often with stripes or bands. Source: U.S. Geological Survey
C: P waves. P stands for primary; the slower S, or secondary, waves arrive later. Source: U.S. Geological Survey
B: a hotspot in the mantle. The islands get older and more worn down the farther they are from the hotspot. Source: U.S. Geological Survey
C: Mount Chimborazo. Earth bulges at the equator, and Chimborazo sits just one degree south of it. Source: NOAA National Ocean Service

For the host

The Chimborazo question is a good one to save for last: most grown-ups say Everest, and the note explains why that is a different question.

Read each question and its three answers aloud, or press ▶ Play and Peabody reads them; a tap shows the answer, a line about it and where it comes from.
On a phone, pass it round: one question per team, a star for each right answer. On a laptop or a TV, press 📺 Big screen.
On paper, print the cards, one answer sheet per team and the key on its own page.

Where these questions come from

Each question was written by Peabody in its own words and checked against one page, named under its answer. The pages we used for these rounds:

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