A ready-made tipspromenad (the Swedish quiz walk, where questions are pinned up along a route and each has three answers marked 1, X and 2) for children aged 5 to 9: twelve questions, three options each, an answer sheet and the answer key. Print, pin up, walk. Preparation: fifteen minutes.
The tipspromenad is a Swedish miracle. Children who cannot sit still for a minute walk calmly for twenty, reading, discussing and ticking boxes. It works at the birthday party, at the family gathering, on holiday and on a Sunday when nobody wants to go out. Here are twelve questions that suit the early school years, with the answer key at the bottom, and six extra for those who want more.
How to do it
- Print or copy out the questions below, one per sheet, large and clear.
- Pin them up along a route: in the park, around the block, in the stairwell or in each room at home. Number them.
- Give each child or pair an answer sheet with twelve rows for 1, X and 2.
- Let the little ones walk with an adult who reads. Older children walk on their own, in pairs.
- Mark the answers together, out loud, at the finish. Everyone who walked gets something, whatever their score.
Twelve questions with 1, X and 2
| No. | Question | 1 | X | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Which animal has the longest neck? | 1. The elephant | X. The giraffe | 2. The camel |
| 2 | How many legs does a spider have? | 1. Six | X. Ten | 2. Eight |
| 3 | What is the name of Pippi Longstocking's monkey? | 1. Herr Nilsson | X. Lilla Gubben | 2. Herr Pettson |
| 4 | What is the capital of Sweden? | 1. Gothenburg | X. Stockholm | 2. Uppsala |
| 5 | What do you get if you mix blue and yellow? | 1. Green | X. Purple | 2. Orange |
| 6 | Which animal makes honey? | 1. The ant | X. The bee | 2. The butterfly |
| 7 | How many days are there in a week? | 1. Five | X. Six | 2. Seven |
| 8 | Which planet do we live on? | 1. Mars | X. Earth | 2. The Moon |
| 9 | What is the name of Bamse's tortoise? (Bamse is the Swedish cartoon bear) | 1. Skalman | X. Lille Skutt | 2. Vargen |
| 10 | What is Sweden's biggest lake? | 1. Mälaren | X. Vättern | 2. Vänern |
| 11 | Where do penguins live? | 1. At the North Pole | X. At the South Pole | 2. In Africa |
| 12 | How many months are there in a year? | 1. Ten | X. Twelve | 2. Fourteen |
Answer key
X 2 1 X 1 X 2 X 1 2 X X
Fold this line over or cut it off before you print the questions, otherwise there is always one child who finds the answers.
Answer sheet
| No. | 1 | X | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | □ | □ | □ |
| 2 | □ | □ | □ |
| 3 | □ | □ | □ |
| 4 | □ | □ | □ |
| 5 | □ | □ | □ |
| 6 | □ | □ | □ |
| 7 | □ | □ | □ |
| 8 | □ | □ | □ |
| 9 | □ | □ | □ |
| 10 | □ | □ | □ |
| 11 | □ | □ | □ |
| 12 | □ | □ | □ |
Six extra questions for children from age seven
If twelve is not enough, or you have a couple of eight-year-olds who think the basic questions are too easy: here are six more, in the same format. Pin them up as stations 13 to 18, or swap out the six easiest.
| No. | Question | 1 | X | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | How many legs does a cat have? | 1. Two | X. Four | 2. Six |
| 14 | What is the name of Emil of Lönneberga's little sister? | 1. Ida | X. Lotta | 2. Madicken |
| 15 | What colours is a zebra? | 1. Black and white | X. Brown and white | 2. Green and yellow |
| 16 | How many minutes are there in an hour? | 1. Thirty | X. Sixty | 2. A hundred |
| 17 | In which direction does the sun rise? | 1. West | X. North | 2. East |
| 18 | What is the biggest animal that lives in the sea? | 1. The blue whale | X. The great white shark | 2. The orca |
Answer key for questions 13 to 18: X 1 1 X 2 1
Where to set the route
| Place | Length | Suits | Bear in mind |
|---|---|---|---|
| The stairwell | Ten minutes | Rainy days, parties in a flat | Tell the neighbours, and take the sheets down afterwards |
| Around the block | Twenty minutes | School-age children in pairs | No sheets at crossings, the children look at the sheet and not at the cars |
| The park | Twenty to thirty minutes | All ages, big groups | String around trees instead of tape, tape does not stick to bark |
| At home, one question per room | Five minutes | The littlest ones, on a Sunday | Add a task per room so it takes longer |
| The forest | Thirty minutes | The family gathering | The path needs to be clear, otherwise it turns into orienteering |
For the littlest ones: picture questions
Children under five cannot read, but they can do a tipspromenad if the questions are pictures. Draw or print three animals, and the adult asks: which of these says moo? The child points, the adult ticks. Three options is about right, colours and animals are the topics that work, and six stations is enough. A three-year-old who has done their first tipspromenad wants to do it again straight away, so keep the sheets up.
Making your own questions
Take questions from our Quiz questions for kids and make up two wrong answers for each. One of the wrong answers can happily be a bit silly, it makes the little ones laugh and the older ones feel clever. Mix in questions about the family: what is grandma's cat called, which year was dad born. They are always the most popular.
Let the children write the questions themselves next time. A seven-year-old who gets to write six questions for their parents spends half an hour on it, and the questions are better than you would think. Children know exactly what the adults do not: the name of the class guinea pig, which day is PE, the teacher's surname.
The finish
Mark the answers together out loud, question by question, and let the children shout the answer before you say it. It takes five minutes and for many children it is the best part of the whole walk. Something for everyone at the end: a sticker, a piece of fruit, a small bag. If it is a party, the tipspromenad can end at the fishing pond game, so everyone gets their parcel there. A prize for the most correct answers works from age six, below that it is better if everyone wins.
How we do it with our families
The tipspromenad is the nannies' rainy-day trick. Twelve sheets in the stairwell take twenty minutes to make and keep three children busy for an hour. And next week, when the same nanny comes again, the children want to write the questions themselves and have her walk the route. Nike has her own set of questions in her bag, laminated, and a stack of answer sheets. One Tuesday at four, with the rain bucketing down, she pins them up in the stairwell between the second and fifth floors, and the seven-year-old and the four-year-old walk together: the big one reads, the little one ticks. The note to the parents says how many they got right, and which question they argued about.
Would you like a nanny who comes on the same days every week and whom the children know? Book a free first meeting with the nanny in your home, and we will work out a quote for your hours.
Read more: Quiz questions for kids · Treasure hunt for a kids' party · Party games for kids by age · Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions
How long should a tipspromenad for children be?
Twelve questions and a route of twenty to thirty minutes. Small children tire after eight, so put the easiest questions last if you have three-year-olds along. For school-age children you can add the six extra questions above and get a route of forty minutes, which is roughly the limit before the whining starts.
How do you make a tipspromenad for different ages?
Two sheets per station: one easy and one hard, in different colours. Children under seven take the yellow one, older ones take the green. The answer key for both on the same sheet. The twelve basic questions work as the yellow set and the six extra ones, or your own questions from the quiz, as the green.
What do you need?
Twelve printed questions, tape or string, an answer sheet and a pencil per child or pair, and an answer key that you hold on to. And something for everyone at the end. A clipboard or a book to write against is useful outdoors, you cannot tick a sheet against your thigh in the wind.
Can you do a tipspromenad indoors?
Yes, in the stairwell, along a corridor or around the flat with a question in each room. Works just as well on a rainy party day. Indoors the route goes faster, so space the questions further apart than you think, or have the children do something at each station, like jumping three times before they may read.
Should there be a prize for the winner?
Something for everyone who walked, and by all means a small prize for the most correct answers if the children are over six. Under six, the point is walking the route, not winning, and a child who got two out of twelve should not have to watch someone else get a prize. Mark the answers together out loud, so everyone learns something along the way.