by: Brian Fong

Q. I don't like my children spending so much time on the computer and playing video games. Can you help me find or develop a fun quiz to stimulate their thinking?

A. A fun quiz is an excellent way to keep kids occupied especially during the vacation months when learning takes a hiatus.

The key to designing a fun quiz is to keep the subjects relevant to things that interest your children while managing to stretch the limits of their knowledge.

A fun quiz does not have to be so easy that it's seen as a joke, nor does it have to be boring. Here's an example:

Let's say that one of your children enjoys playing with American Girl dolls and her favorite is Kirsten. Now, we all know that Kirsten moved to the United States from Sweden when she was a little girl, right?

Instead of asking a fun quiz question like "Where did Kirsten live before moving to the United States?", which any devoted Kirsten fan knows the answer to already, you could ask: "What colors are on the Flag of Sweden, where Kirsten used to live?". This serves the purpose of bringing subjects into the fun quiz that your children are interested in, yet it stretches the limits of their knowledge and forces them to learn while having fun!

Sneaky parents, aren't we?

You can create fun quiz contests where you design the quiz, print out multiple copies, and distribute them to your child's play group, Brownie or Cub Scout Troop, or other occasions where two or more children are gathered together. You can have prizes for the most interesting answer, or for any other metric that you care to use.

Remember that the key word in fun quiz is fun. If the kids catch on that you are actually making them learn something then the magic may disappear and your fun quiz will turn into just another dumb thing that Mom or Dad wants them to do.

A fun quiz does not have to be limited to small children. You can create a fun quiz that allows your teenager to earn "borrow the car" points by answering traffic safety questions.

Employees can also participate in a fun quiz where you award points or prizes for answering questions about your products or services or, perhaps, questions about your biggest and smallest clients.

The point that I am trying to make here is that a quiz does not have to be something dreadful. A fun quiz can be used to teach and entertain at the same time. Go ahead, try it yourself. My challenge to you is to create a fun quiz that will entertain, stimulate, and teach the people who take it.