20 interesting facts for the school assembly, new and true

In many schools, reading out an interesting fact along with the "thought of the day" and the news is part of the morning assembly. A good fact is short, true and makes the listener think. Here are interesting facts for the school assembly — twenty in all, each with a one-line reason, so that children do not just remember them but understand them too.

From space

1. Mercury's long day: on Mercury, one sunrise to the next takes about 176 Earth days, because the planet spins very slowly on its axis.
2. Venus, the hottest planet: Mercury is closest to the Sun, yet Venus is the hottest planet (about 465 degrees Celsius), because its thick atmosphere traps heat.
3. Saturn is lighter than water: Saturn's average density is less than that of water. If there were a pond big enough, Saturn would float in it!
4. Moonlight is 1.3 seconds old: light reflected from the Moon takes about 1.3 seconds to reach us.

From the Earth

1. Everest is growing: the Indian plate moves a few centimetres north every year, so the Himalayas and Everest rise by a few millimetres a year.
2. India has one of the wettest places: Mawsynram in Meghalaya is counted among the rainiest places on Earth — it gets more than 11 metres of rain a year on average.
3. The biggest desert is icy: a desert is a place that gets very little rain or snow. By that measure the largest desert in the world is Antarctica, not the Sahara.
4. A stone from the sky made a lake: Lonar Lake in Maharashtra lies in a crater made by a meteorite that fell thousands of years ago.

Did you know? In summer the Eiffel Tower in Paris grows taller by up to about 15 centimetres. Heat makes the iron expand — this is called "thermal expansion".

From animals and plants

1. Tasting with feet: butterflies taste with their feet, so they know at once whether a flower has nectar when they land on it.
2. Giraffes and humans: a giraffe's long neck has the same number of bones (seven) as ours — each bone is just much longer.
3. Bamboo is a grass: bamboo, one of the fastest-growing plants in the world, is actually a member of the grass family.
4. A starfish without blood: starfish have no blood; sea water carries food and oxygen around their bodies.
5. An almost blind dolphin: the Ganges river dolphin can barely see. It finds its way and its prey using echoes of sound (echolocation).
6. Why flamingos are pink: flamingos are not born pink; the pigments in their food (algae and shrimp) turn them pink.

From our body

1. Taller in the morning: we are about 1 centimetre taller in the morning than at night, because the cushions between the bones of the spine get slightly squeezed during the day.
2. How fast nails grow: fingernails grow faster than toenails.
3. Onions and tears: when an onion is cut, a gas it releases reacts with the moisture of the eyes and stings, which is why we cry.

From India

1. The first Indian grandmaster: Viswanathan Anand became India's first chess grandmaster in 1988.
2. The biggest library: the National Library in Kolkata is the largest library in India.
3. An airport that runs on sunshine: Cochin International Airport in Kerala became the world's first fully solar-powered airport in 2015.

How to read a fact in assembly

• Before the fact, ask a question — "Did you know that…?" Everyone listens more closely.
• Give the reason with each fact; the reason is what makes a fact worth remembering.
• Only read facts from reliable sources — not every "amazing fact" on social media is true.

For more facts, read 15 amazing science facts and 10 interesting facts about India.

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