Funny Questions to Ask Preschoolers
Twenty simple questions for preschool-age kids, worded so they can answer without help: the animal they want to be, the silliest sound they can make, what grown-ups do that is silly, and what they think is under the bed.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What's your favorite color? Can you find something that color in this room?
Why ask it
The second half is what makes this a good opener for a three year old, because it turns an answer into a small task they can succeed at. Preschoolers relax once they have done something right, and then they will keep talking.
What animal do you want to be? Can you show me how it moves?
Why ask it
Preschoolers think with their bodies, so acting it out gets a fuller answer than words alone. Expect no explanation of why, which is normal at this age. Asking why twice will only produce because.
What's your favorite food? What food is yucky?
Why ask it
Two easy answers, and the yucky one comes out with far more energy. Small children are absolute about disliked food, and the specific dish they name is usually the one currently causing trouble at dinner.
What's the silliest sound you can make?
Why ask it
A pure performance question with no right answer, which is why it works when a child has gone shy. Once they have made a noise and somebody laughed, the rest of the conversation gets much easier.
Who makes you laugh the most? What do they do?
Why ask it
Naming a person is easy, describing what they do is the interesting part. Answers are usually a sibling, a cousin, or one specific adult who does one specific silly thing, and the detail is often very precise.
What's the funniest word you know?
Why ask it
Preschoolers love the sound of a word before its meaning, so expect nonsense or something with a rude edge to it. Laughing rather than correcting is what keeps them offering answers for the rest of the list.
What's the biggest thing you've ever seen?
Why ask it
Size is one of the few comparisons a preschooler handles confidently. Answers are usually a digger, a plane, a whale in a book, or a very tall building, and the certainty is the funny part.
If you had a pet dinosaur, where would it sleep?
Why ask it
This gives them a concrete problem rather than an open invitation to imagine, which is the difference between a real answer and a shrug. Most children put it in the garden and then worry about the rain.
What do grown-ups do that's silly?
Why ask it
Preschoolers notice everything adults do and have no filter about reporting it. Expect dancing, singing badly, talking to the dog, or falling asleep in a chair. Do not perform the answer back to the adult in question while the child is listening.
What color would you paint your bedroom if you could pick anything?
Why ask it
A safe question with an easy answer, and the reasoning that follows is often better than the color. Many children pick several colors at once and describe exactly which wall gets each one.
If your toys came alive at night, what would they do?
Why ask it
Familiar territory from books and films, so most preschoolers already have a picture ready. Answers split between toys having a party and toys getting into trouble, which usually reflects the child's own week.
What does your teacher say the most?
Why ask it
Children repeat frequently heard phrases with startling accuracy, including the tone of voice. Ask lightly and never in a way that invites them to complain about a specific adult, since a preschooler will happily go further than you meant.
What's the best snack in the whole world?
Why ask it
Immediate and unanimous participation, which makes it a good question when a child is tired or when you need to restart a stalled conversation. It also often produces a request for that snack, so ask it at a convenient time.
What's under your bed?
Why ask it
Some children answer honestly about socks and lost toys, and others answer imaginatively. Both are useful. If the answer is something frightening, stay calm and matter of fact rather than turning it into a game.
What would you buy with a hundred dollars?
Why ask it
Preschoolers have no sense of what money buys, so the answer is either one small toy or a house, with nothing in between. That gap is the whole joke and it disappears by about age seven.
If it rained something instead of water, what should it rain?
Why ask it
Almost always food, and usually sweets. Follow up by asking what would happen to the cars, because the problem-solving is more entertaining than the choice and it keeps a one-word answer going.
What do you want to be when you're big? What will you wear?
Why ask it
The clothing question is the good one, since at this age the job is mostly a costume. Firefighters, vets and astronauts all come with an outfit, and the outfit is what they have actually thought about.
If we had a party right now, what would we do at it?
Why ask it
Better than asking who they would invite, which can go somewhere sad in a room full of children. Party plans from a four year old are pure logistics: cake first, then a bouncy castle, then more cake.
What are you really good at? Can you show me?
Why ask it
Preschoolers are not modest, so this gets a confident answer and usually an immediate demonstration of jumping, counting or a particular face. Say yes to the demonstration, since that is most of the value of asking.
What was the best part of today?
Why ask it
The right closer, and far better than asking how their day was, which reliably gets nothing. Small children answer about the most recent thing rather than the best thing, so ask it in the evening and expect something from the last hour.
How to use these questions with preschoolers
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
How three to five year olds answer
- Words like ever, favorite and best are hard at this age. Concrete versions work better: what is under your bed beats what is the strangest place you have looked.
- They often repeat whatever they heard last, especially in a group. If an answer sounds copied, come back to them later on their own.
- Preschoolers will invent an answer to please an adult who seems to want one. Avoid leading questions, and never treat an invented answer as a report of something that happened.
- Expect five to ten minutes of attention, and less at the end of a long day. Three good questions is a full conversation.
Where and when to ask
- Ask while doing something else: snack time, playdough, the walk home, the bath. Sitting a preschooler down for questions makes it feel like a test.
- In a classroom, ask small groups rather than the whole circle. In a circle of twenty, the first answer becomes everyone's answer.
- Late afternoon is the worst window for anything requiring thinking. Save the imaginative questions for the morning.
- Ask the same few questions again in a month. The answers change completely, and the change is the interesting part.
Getting more than one word
- Ask them to show you as well as tell you. Movement, noises and faces unlock speech that a direct question will not.
- Use and then what happened rather than why. Why sounds like a challenge at this age and usually ends with because.
- Give them two options when they are stuck. Would it sleep in the garden or in the bath restarts a child who has gone quiet.
- Write down the exact words afterward. Paraphrasing loses everything that made it funny, and nobody remembers the phrasing an hour later.
What to avoid
- Do not correct the imagination or the facts. A wrong answer here is not a problem to solve, and correcting it teaches them to answer cautiously.
- Skip questions that ask them to rank the people they love or to compare themselves to another child.
- Do not repeat their answer as a performance for other adults while they are standing there. Tell it later, out of earshot.
- If they say I don't know twice, stop cheerfully and go back to whatever you were both doing. There is nothing here worth pressing for.