How do hot air balloons steer and what makes frogs ‘ribbit’? The kids’ quiz

1. Zadie, 11, asks: how do hot air balloons steer?

   1. A large fan inside the balloon is used to steer it

   2. You can’t steer them – the pilot just hopes for the best

   3. Wind direction changes at different heights in the air, so the pilot descends or ascends to catch different wind currents

   4. The pilot blows hard to move the hot air balloon

2. Ira, 7, asks: what makes frogs “ribbit”?

   1. If they’re in danger

   2. If they want to mark their territory

   3. If they want to find another frog to mate with

   4. All of the above

3. Sam, 7, asks: how big was the biggest biscuit ever made?

   1. One metre wide – the size of the biggest oven

   2. 30 metres wide – the size of the biggest blue whale

   3. 96 metres wide – the height of Big Ben

   4. 120 metres wide – the length of a football pitch

4. Tom, 8, asks: how many species of bugs are there in the world?

   1. There are 1 million that we know about, but possibly up to 10 million – we haven’t discovered them all yet

   2. Exactly 3 million

   3. 5 million

   4. About 500 species of bugs in total

5. Emily, 7, asks: what was the first type of dinosaur?

   1. Diplodocus

   2. Nyasasaurus

   3. Tyrannosaurus rex

   4. Velociraptor

Solutions

1:C - Piloting a hot air balloon is a tricky business! The wind blows in different directions at different heights, and the pilot can lower or raise the altitude of the balloon to meet those wind currents., 2:D - Frogs croak, or “ribbit”, when they’re scared, when they want to mark their territory or when they’re looking for a mate! You can hear them best near fresh water, when it’s raining or at night-time., 3:B - The biggest biscuit ever made measured 30.7 metres in diameter. That’s the same size as the biggest ever blue whale! It was made by the Immaculate Baking Company in 2003, in North Carolina in the US., 4:A - About 1 million species of insects have been identified, but experts estimate that there may be as many as 10 million! We haven’t discovered them all yet., 5:B - Because it was so long ago it’s hard to be certain, but 240 million-year-old fossils have been found that suggest the Nyasasaurus was the first dinosaur. They were quite small – about 2-3 metres in length – and walked on two legs.

Scores

1. 5 and above.

2. 4 and above.

3. 3 and above.

4. 2 and above.

5. 0 and above.

6. 1 and above.

Molly Oldfield hosts Everything Under the Sun, a podcast answering children’s questions. Do check out her books, Everything Under the Sun and Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book, as well as her new title, Everything Under the Sun: All Around the World.