Which president signed Father's Day into law? Which bird carries water to his chicks in his belly feathers? These 70 Father's Day trivia questions and answers are about the day and about fathers in general, and every answer shows a line on why.
Five topics, 70 facts
How Father's Day began has 14 questions, from a 1909 sermon to the 1972 law. Father's Day around the world has 14 on other countries' dates, such as Thailand's 5 December and Taiwan's 8 August. Animal fathers has 14, Famous fathers and their children has 15, from Daedalus to two Nobel Prize families, and Dad words and sayings has 13.
A round about your own dad
A fixed pack cannot know him. Hand every guest two slips of paper: one true thing about Dad, one invented. He reads each slip aloud, the table votes true or false, and he gives the ruling. Ten guests make a 20-question round.
Tips
With children at the table, open Animal fathers: a catfish father holds eggs in his mouth and a fox father brings food to the den.
Questions and answers
Are these Father's Day trivia questions and answers printable?
Yes. Pick a Topic, then press Print question sheet while question 1 is on the card, and Print answer key for the host. A sheet holds up to 20 questions with lettered choices, so any one topic fits on it whole.
Who started Father's Day?
In the United States, Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington. She proposed it in 1909 to honor her father, a Civil War veteran who raised six children alone. The first celebration was on June 19, 1910, and it became a permanent national holiday in 1972.
Is Father's Day in June everywhere?
No. Spain, Portugal and Italy use 19 March, the feast of Saint Joseph. Germany uses Ascension Day, Australia the first Sunday of September, and Finland, Sweden and Norway the second Sunday of November. The second topic asks why each date was chosen.
How hard are the questions?
We mark 9 easy, 38 medium and 23 hard, and the levels are our estimate. Dad words and sayings is the gentlest start, with a chip off the old block and Father Time's scythe. The two Nobel Prize families sit at the hard end.
How were the answers checked?
Each fact was read on September 20, 2026 in the Wikipedia or Wiktionary article linked under its answer, and a script matched every claim to the sentence that states it. One story stayed out because two articles disagree: what President Wilson did in 1916.
Charades Ideas by Theme and AgeCharades decks by crowd, format and occasion: funny scenes for adults, kids, teens, whole-team and telephone charades, animals, Bible stories and holidays.
A Father's Day service held on July 5, 1908 in Fairmont, West Virginia, followed which disaster?Answer: A coal mine explosion. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day (United States)
Dodd first asked for the celebration to be held on June 5. Why that date?Answer: It was her father's birthday. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day (United States)
Dodd got her idea in 1909 while listening to a church sermon about which other holiday?Answer: Mother's Day. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day (United States)
Dodd's father, William Jackson Smart, was a veteran of which war?Answer: The American Civil War. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day (United States)
Dodd's original petition spelled the holiday differently from the way it is spelled today. How?Answer: Fathers' Day, with the apostrophe after the s. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day (United States)
In 1911 the reformer Jane Addams proposed a citywide Father's Day and was turned down. In which city?Answer: Chicago. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day (United States)
On which day is Father's Day held in the United States?Answer: The third Sunday in June. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day (United States)
Sonora Smart Dodd proposed Father's Day in 1909. In which city did she live and hold the first celebration?Answer: Spokane, Washington. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day (United States)
Sonora Smart Dodd's first Father's Day celebration was held on June 19 of which year?Answer: 1910. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day (United States)
Which president issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, in 1966?Answer: Lyndon B. Johnson. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day (United States)
Which president recommended in 1924 that the nation observe Father's Day, but issued no proclamation?Answer: Calvin Coolidge. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day (United States)
Which president signed Father's Day into law as a permanent national holiday in 1972?Answer: Richard Nixon. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day (United States)
Why did Dodd stop promoting Father's Day for a time in the 1920s?Answer: She was away studying art. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day (United States)
Why was the first Father's Day held two weeks later than the June 5 that Dodd had asked for?Answer: The pastors needed more time to write their sermons. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day (United States)
Father's Day around the world 14
Australia holds Father's Day on the first Sunday of September. Which season has just begun there?Answer: Spring. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day
Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon mark Father's Day on 21 June. What does that date line up with?Answer: The summer solstice. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day
Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Estonia hold Father's Day on the second Sunday of which month?Answer: November. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day
In Brazil, Dia dos Pais honors Saint Joachim, patron of fathers, on the second Sunday of which month?Answer: August. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day
In Denmark, Father's Day is always 5 June. Which national day falls on the same date?Answer: Constitution Day. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day
In Finland and Estonia, Father's Day is an official day for doing what?Answer: Flying the national flag. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day
In Germany, Father's Day falls on a Thursday church holiday forty days after Easter. Which one?Answer: Ascension Day. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day
Nepal's Father's Day, Kushe Aunsi, is set by the Hindu calendar. On what kind of day does it fall?Answer: A new moon day. Source: Wikipedia: Kushe Aunsi
On Father's Day in Germany, groups of men traditionally set off on a hike pulling what?Answer: A small hand wagon. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day
Spain, Portugal and Italy honor fathers on 19 March. Whose feast day is it?Answer: Saint Joseph. Source: Wikipedia: Saint Joseph's Day
Thailand holds Father's Day on 5 December. What does that date mark?Answer: The birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day
Which flower do Thai people traditionally give their fathers and grandfathers on Father's Day?Answer: The canna. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day
Which fried pastry is traditionally eaten in Italy on Saint Joseph's Day, the country's Father's Day?Answer: Zeppole. Source: Wikipedia: Zeppola
Why is Father's Day in Taiwan held on 8 August, the eighth day of the eighth month?Answer: In Mandarin, 'eight eight' sounds like the word for dad. Source: Wikipedia: Father's Day
Animal fathers 14
A male Japanese giant salamander who takes over a nesting den and guards the eggs is given which name?Answer: Den master. Source: Wikipedia: Japanese giant salamander
A seahorse father has a pouch. Where does a leafy seadragon father carry the eggs?Answer: On a patch under his tail. Source: Wikipedia: Leafy seadragon
How does a clownfish father look after his eggs on the rock beside the anemone?Answer: He cleans, guards and fans them with his fins. Source: Wikipedia: Clownfish
How does a father sandgrouse bring water to chicks that may be miles from a water hole?Answer: He soaks it up in his belly feathers. Source: Wikipedia: Sandgrouse
In night monkeys, also called owl monkeys, how long does the mother carry a newborn before the father takes over?Answer: About a week. Source: Wikipedia: Night monkey
In phalaropes, small shorebirds, the male does all the incubating. What else is reversed from most birds?Answer: Females are larger and more brightly colored. Source: Wikipedia: Phalarope
In titi monkeys it is often the father who carries the baby. When does he bring it to the mother?Answer: Only for nursing. Source: Wikipedia: Titi monkey
Male sea spiders carry the eggs and young on a special pair of legs. What are those legs called?Answer: Ovigers. Source: Wikipedia: Sea spider
Ostrich parents share one nest. When does the black-feathered male take his turn on the eggs?Answer: At night. Source: Wikipedia: Common ostrich
What does a male Siamese fighting fish build at the surface of the water before the eggs are laid?Answer: A nest of bubbles. Source: Wikipedia: Siamese fighting fish
What does an African bullfrog father do if the pool holding his tadpoles starts to dry out?Answer: He digs a canal to a bigger pond. Source: Wikipedia: African bullfrog
Where does a father hardhead catfish keep his eggs safe until they hatch?Answer: In his mouth. Source: Wikipedia: Hardhead catfish
Where does the male pouched frog of Australia carry his tadpoles until they turn into frogs?Answer: In pouches by his hips. Source: Wikipedia: Pouched frog
While a red fox mother stays in the den with newborn kits, what is the father's job?Answer: He brings her food. Source: Wikipedia: Red fox
Famous fathers and their children 15
Auguste Piccard rode a balloon into the stratosphere. Where did his son Jacques go in 1960?Answer: To the deepest known part of the ocean. Source: Wikipedia: Auguste Piccard
In Greek myth, which craftsman built wings so that he and his son Icarus could escape from Crete?Answer: Daedalus. Source: Wikipedia: Daedalus
In Homer's Odyssey, who is the son who sets out for news of his long-absent father, Odysseus?Answer: Telemachus. Source: Wikipedia: Telemachus
J. J. Thomson is said to have won his Nobel Prize for showing the electron is a particle. What did his son George win one for?Answer: Showing that electrons can behave as waves. Source: Wikipedia: George Paget Thomson
Johann Strauss I is best known for the Radetzky March. Which nickname did his son Johann II earn?Answer: The Waltz King. Source: Wikipedia: Johann Strauss I
John A. Roebling designed it, and after his death in 1869 his son Washington became chief engineer. Which bridge?Answer: The Brooklyn Bridge. Source: Wikipedia: Washington Roebling
Leopold Mozart, father and teacher of Wolfgang, wrote a well-known textbook for which instrument?Answer: The violin. Source: Wikipedia: Leopold Mozart
Malcolm Campbell and his son Donald both held speed records on land and on water. What were their cars and boats called?Answer: Bluebird. Source: Wikipedia: Malcolm Campbell
Marc Brunel and his son Isambard built the first tunnel known to pass under a navigable river. Which river?Answer: The Thames. Source: Wikipedia: Thames Tunnel
Two French writers, father and son, were both named Alexandre Dumas. Which French words tell them apart?Answer: Père and fils. Source: Wikipedia: Alexandre Dumas
Vincenzo Galilei, father of the astronomer Galileo, was a well-known player of which instrument?Answer: The lute. Source: Wikipedia: Vincenzo Galilei
Which father and son shared the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics for studying crystals with X-rays?Answer: William and Lawrence Bragg. Source: Wikipedia: William Henry Bragg
Who was the father of Alexander the Great?Answer: Philip II of Macedon. Source: Wikipedia: Philip II of Macedon
Who was the father of Charlemagne?Answer: Pepin the Short. Source: Wikipedia: Pepin the Short
Who was the first son of a United States president to become president himself?Answer: John Quincy Adams. Source: Wikipedia: John Quincy Adams
Dad words and sayings 13
Father Time is usually shown as an old bearded man carrying an hourglass and which farm tool?Answer: A scythe. Source: Wikipedia: Father Time
How did the tall longcase clock come to be called a grandfather clock?Answer: From a popular song of 1876. Source: Wikipedia: Grandfather clock
In ancient Rome, who was the pater familias?Answer: The oldest living male, head of the household. Source: Wikipedia: Pater familias
In Irish surnames Mac means 'son'. What does the O in a name such as O'Donnell mean?Answer: Descendant. Source: Wikipedia: Irish name
In livestock breeding, which word names the male animal that fathered a particular young one?Answer: Sire. Source: Wiktionary: sire
In surnames such as Fitzgerald, what does the Norman prefix Fitz mean?Answer: Son of. Source: Wikipedia: Fitz
The name of the Roman god Jupiter goes back to two ancient words. What did they mean together?Answer: Sky father. Source: Wikipedia: Jupiter (god)
What does it mean to call a child 'a chip off the old block'?Answer: The child takes after a parent. Source: Wiktionary: chip off the old block
What is a name that is based on the first name of your father, such as Johnson, called?Answer: A patronymic. Source: Wikipedia: Patronymic
Which church title goes back to pappas, a Greek child's word for 'daddy'?Answer: Pope. Source: Wiktionary: pope
Which English poet wrote the line 'The Child is father of the Man'?Answer: William Wordsworth. Source: Wikipedia: My Heart Leaps Up
Which little Welsh word meaning 'son of' is hidden at the start of the surnames Powell, Price and Pugh?Answer: Ap. Source: Wikipedia: Welsh surnames
Why do words like mama, papa, baba and dada turn up for parents in so many unrelated languages?Answer: They are among the first sounds babies babble. Source: Wikipedia: Mama and papa
How this list was compiled
Written for this site; nothing was copied from another list. Every question, wrong choice and explanation is our own wording. Each answer, and every extra claim in an explanation, was read on 2026-09-20 in the English Wikipedia or English Wiktionary article named and linked beside the question: the article text was fetched that day, a script matched each claim to the sentence, caption or infobox row that states it, and every matched sentence was then read. Levels are our estimate. No question repeats word for word in the site's other grade, crowd, subject or occasion trivia packs as they stood on 2026-09-20. Set aside because a sibling pack already asks it: the seahorse, emperor penguin, emu, cassowary, Darwin's frog, midwife toad and giant water bug fathers (baby shower pack), Icelandic surnames (world culture pack), the father of geometry and Ada Lovelace's father (math pack), the Father of the Constitution (7th grade pack) and the month of Mother's Day (Americana pack). Not asked because the articles disagree: what President Wilson did for the 1916 celebration in Spokane (one article says he spoke there, another that he sent a telegraph). Not asked because the fact moves with time or names a living person: this year's dates, spending figures, and any living father and child. Dates for other countries follow the country sections of Wikipedia's Father's Day article as they read that day. Licence: own work