Are you teaching your kiddos all about the weather and looking for a fun activity that you all can do as a whole group? Then you’ll absolutely love these fun weather trivia for kids questions with answers!
Perfect for group work, road trips, rainy day fun, and everything in between.
Children are naturally curious about the world around them.
Why is the sky blue?
How do rainbows form?
Can it really snow when it’s sunny?
These are the kinds of questions that make weather trivia such a fun and educational activity.
Why Weather Trivia Is Great For Kids?
Before we jump into the questions, let’s take a moment to talk about why weather trivia is such a fantastic learning tool.
First of all, trivia encourages critical thinking.
Kids aren’t just memorizing facts; they’re thinking, guessing, and connecting what they already know to new information.
Secondly, weather trivia builds science literacy. It helps children learn about topics like climate, precipitation, temperature, and natural weather events in a way that feels more like play than study.
And finally, trivia is versatile. You can use it in the classroom, at home, or even outside on a sunny day. You can turn it into a team competition, a quick-fire quiz, or simply read the questions aloud and let kids shout out their guesses.
Fun Weather Trivia Questions For Kids
These weather trivia questions are designed for elementary-age kids, but they can also be enjoyed by older children (and even adults who love learning new things). Each question is followed by its answer, so no peeking until you’ve guessed!
1. What do we call frozen raindrops that fall from the sky?
Answer: Hail.
Hail forms when strong winds carry raindrops high into cold areas of a thunderstorm, causing them to freeze into balls of ice.
2. Which gas makes up most of the Earth’s atmosphere?
Answer: Nitrogen.
About 78% of our atmosphere is nitrogen, while oxygen makes up around 21%.
3. True or False: It can snow when it’s above freezing.
Answer: True.
Snowflakes can survive slightly above freezing temperatures if the air is cold enough higher up in the atmosphere.
4. What do we call the water that falls from the sky as rain, snow, sleet, or hail?
Answer: Precipitation.
This is a key part of the water cycle, moving water from the clouds back to the Earth’s surface.
5. Which instrument measures temperature?
Answer: A thermometer.
Thermometers can be digital or use liquid, such as mercury or alcohol, to show temperature changes.
6. What’s the fastest wind speed ever recorded on Earth?
Answer: 253 miles per hour (about 407 km/h).
This happened during Cyclone Olivia in 1996 in Barrow Island, Australia.
7. What do meteorologists study?
Answer: The weather.
Meteorologists predict and explain weather patterns by studying data from satellites, radar, and weather stations.
8. What do we call the thin white lines that form behind airplanes in the sky?
Answer: Contrails.
These are actually clouds formed from water vapor in the airplane’s exhaust mixing with cold air.
9. What type of cloud looks like fluffy cotton balls?
Answer: Cumulus clouds.
These clouds are usually a sign of nice weather—unless they grow very tall, in which case they can produce thunderstorms.
10. What does a barometer measure?
Answer: Air pressure.
Changes in air pressure help meteorologists forecast the weather.
11. What’s the name for a storm with rotating winds that forms over land?
Answer: A tornado.
Tornadoes are also called twisters and can be extremely powerful.
12. What do we call a rainbow that appears at night?
Answer: A moonbow.
Moonbows are rare and happen when moonlight reflects and refracts through water droplets in the air.
13. True or False: Lightning is hotter than the surface of the sun.
Answer: True.
Lightning can reach temperatures of about 30,000 Kelvin—five times hotter than the surface of the sun!
14. Which ocean weather event is known for bringing warmer-than-normal water temperatures to the Pacific?
Answer: El Niño.
El Niño can affect weather patterns all around the globe.
15. What is the calm center of a hurricane called?
Answer: The eye.
While the eye itself is calm, the surrounding eyewall is where the most dangerous winds occur.
16. What causes thunder?
Answer: The rapid expansion of air around lightning.
When lightning strikes, it heats the air so quickly that it expands with a loud boom—this is thunder.
17. What’s the white, frozen dew on grass called?
Answer: Frost.
Frost forms when water vapor freezes directly onto surfaces.
18. Which weather instrument measures wind speed?
Answer: An anemometer.
It usually has cups or blades that spin in the wind to measure speed.
19. What type of cloud is shaped like a thin, wispy feather?
Answer: Cirrus clouds.
These clouds form high in the sky and are made of ice crystals.
20. What’s the name for a giant wave caused by an underwater earthquake or volcano?
Answer: A tsunami.
Although it’s not exactly “weather,” tsunamis are often studied alongside natural disaster topics.
21. Which is generally larger—hailstones or sleet?
Answer: Hailstones.
Sleet is small frozen raindrops, while hailstones can be as big as golf balls—or larger!
22. What’s another name for a rain gauge?
Answer: Pluviometer.
It’s a tool used to measure how much rain has fallen over a period of time.
23. What weather event happens when air quickly rises and cools, causing water vapor to condense into a spinning column?
Answer: A waterspout (if over water) or a tornado (if over land).
24. Which layer of the atmosphere contains most of Earth’s weather?
Answer: The troposphere.
It’s the lowest layer, where clouds, storms, and winds occur.
25. True or False: All deserts are hot.
Answer: False.
Some deserts, like Antarctica, are cold deserts because they receive very little precipitation.
26. What’s the term for rain that freezes when it hits the ground?
Answer: Freezing rain.
It can create a dangerous layer of ice on roads and sidewalks.
27. What weather phenomenon creates colorful arcs in the sky besides rainbows?
Answer: Sun dogs.
These bright spots appear on either side of the sun when light passes through ice crystals.
28. Which is faster—sound or light?
Answer: Light.
This is why we see lightning before we hear thunder.
29. What’s the name for a severe snowstorm with strong winds and low visibility?
Answer: A blizzard.
30. True or False: The Sahara Desert is the hottest place on Earth.
Answer: False.
The hottest temperature ever recorded was in Death Valley, California.
31. What is a dust devil?
Answer: A small whirlwind of dust and debris.
It usually forms on hot, sunny days in dry areas.
32. What kind of precipitation is made of raindrops that are supercooled into ice pellets before hitting the ground?
Answer: Sleet.
33. Which planet in our solar system has the most extreme storms?
Answer: Jupiter.
Its Great Red Spot is a massive storm that has been raging for centuries.
34. What’s the term for a long period without rain?
Answer: A drought.
Droughts can cause serious problems for plants, animals, and people.
35. What type of clouds are gray and blanket the sky, often bringing steady rain?
Answer: Stratus clouds.
Tips for Making Weather Trivia Even More Fun
While simply reading trivia questions aloud can be a blast, you can make the experience even more engaging with a few simple ideas:
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Use visuals – Show kids pictures of clouds, weather instruments, or rare weather events before asking the question.
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Incorporate movement – If the answer is “snow,” have kids pretend to be snowflakes drifting down. If it’s “lightning,” have them make a flash with their hands.
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Turn it into a game show – Divide kids into teams, give each team a buzzer (or just have them clap), and keep score.
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Add bonus challenges – Ask kids to explain why the answer is correct or share an extra fact they know.
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Take it outside – If the weather is nice, hold your trivia session outdoors for a hands-on connection to the topic.
How to Use This Trivia in the Classroom?
Teachers, you can easily weave this trivia into your lesson plans. For example, start the day with a “Weather Question of the Day” on the board. Or use trivia as a brain break between subjects. Have your kids learn something cool while giving their brains a rest from heavy academic work.
You can also combine trivia with weather journals, where students record the daily weather, draw pictures of what they see, and write down any new weather facts they’ve learned.
How Parents Can Use Weather Trivia at Home?
Parents, trivia can turn into a fun dinner table tradition or a weekend family activity. You might even keep a little “weather trivia jar” in the kitchen. Write each question on a slip of paper, then pull one out each day.
It’s also a great way to spark curiosity during a road trip. If you’re driving through rain, snow, or bright sunshine, you can connect the trivia to what’s happening outside the window.
Snag Your Free Weather Quiz Cards
I’ve created a set of 20 free quiz cards for you.
Click on the link below to snag your free weather quiz cards.
Fun Weather Trivia For Kids (With Answers) (4 downloads )
Weather Quizzes Your Kids Will Love
Weather isn’t just something we talk about when we don’t know what else to say; it’s a fascinating subject full of science, wonder, and surprises.
By sharing fun weather trivia with kids, we can help them understand the amazing world around them, build their scientific knowledge, and develop a love for learning.
So the next time you’re stuck indoors on a rainy day or looking for an easy, no-prep educational activity, pull out these trivia questions.
You’ll spark curiosity, inspire questions, and maybe even get a few “Wow, I didn’t know that!” moments.
Who knows?
You might even find yourself learning something new right alongside your kids.
After all, the world of weather is always changing, and there’s always more to discover!
More Fun Trivia Questions & Answers
Here are some more fun trivia questions and answers to keep your kiddos learning:
- 75 Best trivia questions and answers for kids
- 30 Space trivia questions and answers for kids
- English grammar quizzes for kids
- 50 fun camping quizzes for kids
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