What was the first dragon and how big is Everest? Try our kids’ quiz

Illustration: Hennie Haworth/The Guardian

1. Lachlan, 7, asks: what dragon was the first one to come along?

   1. The first dragon walked out of the mist in Skye, Scotland, when time began

   2. Dragon myths have been around for so long, it’s not possible to find the first

   3. The first dragon was born in China; its mother was a snake, its father an eagle

   4. Puff the Magic Dragon was the first

2. Audrey, 4, asks: how big was a megalodon?

   1. 8-10 metres long

   2. 15-18 metres long

   3. 20-30 metres long

   4. 100-120 metres long

3. Lidewij, 7, asks: how big is Mount Everest?

   1. 6,225 metres tall

   2. 8,849 metres tall

   3. 15,221 metres tall

   4. 18,000 metres tall

4. Zoya, 7, asks: who invented slides?

   1. A man called William Slide, from Boston, Massachusetts, US

   2. A man called Charles Wicksteed, from England

   3. A lady called Madame Glissant, from Paris

   4. A child who lived in Pembrokeshire, whose name was Amelia

5. Charlotte, 7, asks: why do diamonds shine?

   1. Diamonds on rings are cut cleverly to give them lots of surfaces, which reflect lots of light and make them shine

   2. They are full of sunlight which shines out of them

   3. They contain a gas that sparkles inside when you shine a light on diamonds

   4. Because they’re polished a lot to make them sparkle

Solutions

1:B - The idea of dragons came along in Europe, the Near East, ancient Mesopotamia – perhaps also in the Americas and Australia – as far back as we can know. Ancient people might have discovered dinosaur bones, whalebones, fossilized crocodiles or monitor lizards and thought they were dragons. They’ve been in folk tales for so long, it’s not possible to find the first., 2:B - Megalodon fossils have been found that are 20m years old. The enormous shark was 15-18 metres long – three times longer than the largest great white – and had 276 teeth, which could be 18cm long (megalodon means “large tooth”). Its bite was 100 times more powerful than a human’s!, 3:B - Mount Everest, on the border of Nepal and Tibet, is the world’s tallest mountain, at 8,849 metres., 4:B - In 1922, Charles Wicksteed made children’s slides, out of planks of wood, for a park in England, then he sold them around the world., 5:A - Diamonds on jewellery shine because they are cut to give them many surfaces, called facets. When light reflects off these, the diamonds sparkle.

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 weekly podcast answering children’s questions, out now as a book.

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