Question Quest — Curious Minds Ask Why
A comprehension and questioning activity where the parent reads a short picture book page and the agent guides the child to ask 'why' and 'how' questions about it. The agent observes the complexity and depth of the child's questions, as well as their understanding of the content, to assess questioning skills, comprehension, and reasoning.
Opens a guided voice session in TogetherTime.
What you'll need
Parent should select a picture book with a page that has a rich illustration showing characters doing something — ideally with some action, emotion, or a scenario that invites curiosity. The page should have enough visual detail for the child to wonder about.
How it works
- 1~30s
Great! Go ahead and read that page to your child, and then both of you look at the picture together. Once you've read it, tell me a little about what's on the page so I know what we're working with.
Watch for: Child shows interest and engagement when hearing the page read aloud
- 2~35s
Okay, here's the fun part! Can you say to your child: 'Look at this picture — what do you want to know more about? Can you ask a WHY question about what's happening?' For example, if there's a dog running, your child might ask 'Why is the dog running?' Let me know what your child asks!
Watch for: Child formulates a 'why' question about the picture book content
- 3~30s
Wonderful! Now let's try a 'how' question. your child, can you look at the picture and ask a HOW question? Like 'How did that happen?' or 'How does that work?' This one is about figuring out the way things happen. Go ahead, your child — what HOW question can you ask?
Watch for: Child formulates a 'how' question about the picture book content
- 4~40s
One last challenge! This time, your child can ask ANY question about the picture — why, how, what if, anything! But here's the twist: after your child asks the question, I want them to try to answer it too. Ask the question, then guess the answer! What does our question detective come up with?
Watch for: Child generates an open-ended question and attempts to answer it