Are slugs waterproof and why is lava so hot? Try our kids’ quiz

Molly Oldfield
·2-min read
<span>Illustration: Hennie Haworth/The Guardian</span>
Illustration: Hennie Haworth/The Guardian

  1. Freddie, 6, asks: are slugs waterproof?

    1. No!

    2. Yes

    3. Their heads are waterproof, but their bodies are not

    4. Baby slugs are not waterproof, but adults develop a waterproof layer

  2. Finn, 6, asks: why does poo smell?

    1. Poo has tiny gremlins in it creating smells

    2. Poo smells because of the food you eat and bacteria

    3. Poo doesn’t smell at all! What are you talking about?

    4. Poo only smells when your body is really hot

  3. Julia, 7, asks: where were croissants invented?

    1. Paris

    2. Vienna

    3. Istanbul

    4. Barcelona

  4. Darsha, 11, asks: how do flowers get their colour?

    1. Flowers are painted their colours by flower fairies

    2. Pigments called carotenoids and anthocyanins give flowers their colour

    3. Flowers get their colours given to them after they have grown, by gardeners

    4. Scientists aren’t sure

  5. Wren, 8, asks: why is lava so hot?

    1. It comes from deep inside the Earth, where it is extremely hot

    2. The sun shines a lot into the top of a volcano, heating up the lava inside

    3. There is a giant kettle inside a volcano that boils the lava

    4. There are giant fires inside volcanoes heating up the lava, so it shoots out in explosions

Solutions

1:A - Slugs are not waterproof. They dry out quickly and need to conserve moisture, so they come out at night when temperatures are cooler. When the air is dry they can put a cocoon around themselves and wait until it rains., 2:B - Bacteria and diet can make poo smell. When bacteria in your body breaks down food you eat, gases like hydrogen sulfide might make poo smell. Normally it should not smell too bad., 3:B - Vienna! The first croissant-type food was made in Austria, where it was called the kipferl. , 4:B - Pigments in flowers, called anthocyanins and carotenoids, are usually what give flowers their colours. Flower colour can also be affected by things such as the amount of light they receive and the temperature around them., 5:A - Lava is hot because it comes from at least 100km or deeper inside the Earth where it is super-hot – so hot that rocks melt to make a substance called magma. Magma rises, and eventually some of it pushes through vents and fissures to the Earth’s surface. Magma that has erupted is called lava.

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 the new Everything Under the Sun: Quiz Book.

Does your child have a question? Submit one here

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