It is clear that the education of children is a fundamental factor for our society, since through it we can form and prepare the youngest to face life.

One of the pillars of that education is the family. Another of the most relevant is the institution that is in charge of training them and providing them with sufficient knowledge to favour their development: the school.

And already at the most basic levels, during primary school, children receive a great deal of useful information and learning.

But even outside of school it is good to do a little review of what you have learned from time to time, and it is even possible to do it as a little game of questions to make it more enjoyable. That is why throughout this article we are going to see a selection of questions for primary school children , with which we can make them reflect and encourage their mental activity.

Several questions for primary school children

Below we leave you with a total of fifty questions that can be asked to primary school children, which can be more or less challenging depending on the level they are at and which allow them to encourage reflection and subsequent learning relatively quickly and easily.

It should be borne in mind that during primary school there is a great variety of developmental levels and abilities, so many of the following can only be resolved from certain courses.

1. How many minutes are there in an hour? And a day?

The first is a simple question that should be able to be answered without looking at a watch, with the possible exception of the smallest ones. The second one can be a bit more complicated and requires knowing how to multiply two-digit numbers . The correct answers are 60 and in the second case from the 60×24 calculation we get 1440.

2. How many legs does a spider have?

An appropriate question for children in the primary phase and that can help differentiate between arachnids and insects. The correct answer is eight.

3. What is the world’s largest river?

A question of general culture, in this case linked to geography. The correct answer would be the Amazon.

4. How often do we have a leap year?

This question makes us reflect at least on how we organize our schedule, and it also tells us about the general culture of the minor. The correct answer would be every four years.

5. How many months have 28 days?

This is a question asked in a somewhat malicious way, since it will easily make us think of February as the only month that usually has 28 days. However, every month of the year reaches that amount, so the correct answer would be twelve.

6. What is a century?

Concepts such as century will be constant in matters such as history, so knowing what this concept means is necessary. We would consider it valid to say that it is a hundred years, although it is interesting to encourage them to categorize it as a unit or period of time.

7. Who was Cleopatra?

This question can be answered in many ways, but we will consider it valid to be told that she was the last Pharaoh of Egypt.

8. Which planet is the closest to the Sun?

The correct answer is Mercury.

9. Which is the highest mountain today?

Geography question, the correct answer would be Everest.

10. What is the name of the sound a sheep makes?

Asking about animals is a little less common than asking about what a dog, cat or cow does, as well as having to use a noun and not a verb. In this case the answer would be bleating.

11. In which city and country is the Eiffel Tower located?

Again a geography question. In this case the correct answers are Paris and France.

12. What are arteries and veins for?

Anatomy is a subject that is already dealt with throughout primary education . A simple answer to this question would be that the arteries allow the oxygenated blood to be carried from the heart to the rest of the body while the veins carry the blood with carbon dioxide and residues of cell function back to the heart so that it can be reoxygenated there (with the exception of the lungs, which carry the oxygenated blood from the lungs to the heart).

13. What is a delta?

Knowing that this is a geographical accident that occurs at the mouth of a river and in which sediment is deposited as it descends is something that at least the last grades of primary school should begin to know.

14. If someone from Spain speaks Spanish, someone from Portugal Portuguese and someone from France French. What does someone from Brazil speak?

This question is about getting the children to reflect a little and not just follow the examples given. The correct answer would be Portuguese.

15. What bones did we find in the forearm?

Cubitus and Radius are the answer to this question, which corresponds to basic anatomy and which children of a certain age see in Natural Sciences.

16. What kind of word is “here”?

During elementary school, the types of words also begin to be identified, so many children at this stage will be able to say that here it is an adverb of place.

17. What does it mean that a triangle is isosceles?

The answer to this question is that we understand an isosceles triangle as all those that have two sides of equal length, whose vertices will have the same degrees of inclination respectively .

18. If we say that we are in the XIX/XI/MMXVIII, what date are we talking about?

Roman numerals and how to write with them are also something you learn during elementary school. In this case making the relevant transformation we would obtain the date 19/11/2018

19. What is a mammal?

A simple answer to this question is that we consider mammals to be all vertebrate animals that give birth to their young (with the exception of monotremes) and have mammal glands with which they produce milk to feed them.

20. What are the five continents?

Traditionally it has been taught that there are a total of five continents: Europe, Africa, Asia, America and Oceania. In addition, we can consider the Antarctic as one more, so we would actually have six.

21. When does the Ancient Age end?

The different ages of history begin to be studied throughout primary school. In this case, the Ancient Age would give way to the Middle Ages with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. (more precisely, in 476).

22. What are the states of matter?

Solid, liquid and gaseous are the three basic states usually taught throughout primary school, to which plasma should also be added.

23. At what temperature does water freeze? At which temperature does it boil and evaporate?

Water changes from a liquid to a solid state and vice versa at 0ºC, while its boiling point is at 100ºC.

24. Who’s your cousin?

Learning vocabulary and the meaning of words is something fundamental in primary school , especially the most basic. In this case, it would be a matter of knowing that the cousin is the child of the sibling of one of our parents.

25. Who is the most famous character of Miguel de Cervantes?

The classics of literature can also start to be known in primary school. And since Don Quixote de la Mancha is one of the best known universal classics, knowing the answer to this question may not be uncommon among older people.

  • You may be interested in: “Miguel de Cervantes’ 70 Best Sentences”

26. What is an adjective for?

The answer to this question would be to supplement the name and give us more information about it.

27. In music, how many beats does a white woman equal?

Music and art education is also important, and in this sense along the first one you start to learn about the meaning of the notes and their beats on the staff. In this case, the white is equivalent to two beats.

28. What is the most populous country in the world?

This question can be answered by primary school students and is also part of the general culture. The correct answer is China .

29. What are the main economic sectors?

During the third cycle of primary school, it is common for children to learn about the different economic sectors that exist. Traditionally, three have been considered: primary sector (production and obtaining of resources), secondary sector (industry or transformation of resources) or tertiary sector (services). They may also mention a quaternary sector, that of information and communications.

30. How many syllables does the alphabet word have?

It is during elementary school that we learn to distinguish the syllables of a word, separating the spellings by voice strokes, as well as distinguishing diphthongs and hiatuses. In the alphabet word we have a total of five syllables.

31. What does it mean when two words are synonymous?

The fact that two words are synonymous means that they have the same meaning and weight, and that they have a different form.

32. What kind of instrument is a piano?

The types of musical instruments are also one of the skills that begin to be worked on during primary education. In the case of the piano, we are dealing with a percussion instrument.

33. What is the syllable of the word dawn?

Locating tonic syllables may seem easy for an adult, but that is because throughout childhood he has been trained to do so. In this case the tonic syllable of sunrise would be on the last syllable, -cer.

34. What are the Ural Mountains?

This is one of the most famous mountain ranges in the world, being considered the border between Europe and Asia. They are mostly found in Russia.

What were the names of the three caravels that went to America with Christopher Columbus?

The Santa María, the Pinta and the Niña are the three great caravels with which Christopher Columbus left Cádiz on his journey to America.

36. How much do the angles of a triangle add up to? And the angles of a square?

Throughout primary school, some geometry is also taught. Regarding the sum of the interior angles, in the case of triangles they add up to 180º regardless of the type of triangle, and in the case of squares and quadrilaterals in general the degrees add up to a total of 360º.

37. If I have 25 apples and I give my best friend 25% of them. How many apples have I given him?

The percentages also begin to be worked on in the last years of primary school, when one learns what they imply and how to calculate them. In this case, the answer to the question is that we would have given a total of five blocks to our friend.

38. What are the planets of the solar system?

There are a total of eight planets that are currently considered as such within the solar system and which are taught in the school: Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

However, we must take into account that the answer to this question has been changing throughout history , with situations such as Pluto no longer considered a planet of the solar system from 2006 or the discovery of dwarf planets such as Eris, Ceres, Makemake and Haumea. However, the latter are little known by the general population and are not usually discussed in primary schools.

  • You may be interested in: “The 8 planets of the Solar System (ordered and with their characteristics)”

39. In what realms do we classify living beings?

The kingdom of animals, the kingdom of vegetables, the kingdom of fungi, the kingdom of protocysts and the kingdom of moneras (bacteria) are considered to be the five great kingdoms of living beings, and they are the ones that will be known by children.

At an informative level and although it will probably not be treated in primary school, other beings such as viruses (and prions, but this last concept will hardly be known even by most adults), strange as it may seem, are not considered living beings as such but replicants.

40. What does it mean when one word is a scorpion?

Distinguishing between sharp, flat words and spurs is another knowledge obtained during primary school. The fact that a word is a “esdrújula” implies that its tonic syllable is the antepenultimate syllable of the word, and they are always accentuated.

41. If I overtake the runner-up in a race, where was I before and where am I now?

A question that not only tries to identify the position at the ordinal level but to reflect on the situation itself in a hypothetical case. The correct answer is that he was the third and now that he has surpassed the second he is also in the same position: second.

42. What are the three verbal modes?

In the third cycle of primary school, children learn the existence of verb tenses and modes. With regard to the latter, they must know the existence of the indicative mode (in which direct communication takes place as information), the subjunctive mode (which speaks of suggestions or wishes) or the imperative mode (in which orders or prohibitions are transmitted).

43. What is a prime number?

Prime numbers are understood to be those that are only divisible by one or by themselves , and cannot be obtained by dividing or multiplying other integers.

44. How many kilos is a ton?

One ton equals a thousand kilos.

45. What are the names of the little bones of the ear in which the sound bounces to the cochlea?

The three small bones of the inner ear behind the eardrum that allow the transmission of the sound wave to the cochlea are the hammer, anvil and stirrup.

46. What is the capital of Italy?

Learning some of the world’s best-known capitals, such as Spain, France, Germany or Italy, can be something that is worked on at the level of geography. In this case, the correct answer is Rome. This is one of the easiest questions for primary school children.

47. How many lustrums does a century go by?

This question is somewhat complex and requires not only calculation but also understanding of concepts such as five years or century. The answer is 20.

48. What is the indirect supplement?

Typical of the sixth grade, other knowledge obtained at this time is that relating to the bases of syntax. In this sense, we also learn the meaning of terms as an indirect complement, which tells us about a part of the predicate that refers to and provides information about the person who is the recipient or beneficiary of the action of the verb.

49. In a narrative text, what is the name of the main character? and the one who opposes him?

In primary school they start to work with different texts, roles and functions. In this case, the main character is the protagonist and his opposite is the antagonist.

50. Who painted the Mona Lisa?

This question has as an answer the name of one of the inventors and of those considered geniuses of humanity, Leonardo da Vinci.

Bibliographic references:

  • Edson, E. and Savage-Smith, E. (2007). “Medieval Views of the Cosmos. International Journal of the Classical Tradition. 13:3: 61–63.
  • Mazzarello, P (May 1999). “A unifying concept: the history of cell theory”. Nature Cell Biology. 1 (1): E13–15.