100 examples of Open-Ended Questions to ask During Play:

• What do you think about _____ (insert what you are doing)

• Can you tell me about what you are doing? Can you tell me about your craft?

• Why do you think _____ happened?

• What would happen if we added _____?

• What would happen if we didn’t add _____?

• How did you do _______?

• Could you have done this activity differently?

• Would you have had the same result/same thing happen?

• What happened when you did _____?”

• How is _____ and ______ alike?

• How are they different?

• What is another shape you could make with your blocks?

• What do you think would come next in the pattern?

• That car is dirty. What does he need to do? Where could the car go to get cleaned up?

• What happened when you ______?

• What do you think this book is going to be about?

• Why do you think the boy is sad?

• That boy looks very happy. What is something that made him happy?

• What happened before ______?

• What happened after ______?

• Describe what you know about _____?

• Tell me what all you used to build the tower?

• Why did you choose those items to build the tower?

• List everything you would find in _____?

• What did it look/smell/feel/sound/taste like?

• What do you remember from our trip to the library?

• Give examples of ______?

• What is another way to sort those toys?

• Name all the vegetables you can think of?

• What happened first? Second? Third?

• Tell me about a time when you felt excited?

• How do you think we could build a tower with _____?

• What does this make you think of?

• How does the broccoli feel in your mouth?

• How can we organize these animals?

• How can we solve this problem?

• Show me what you can do with these Magnetic blocks?

• Why is this important?

• How many ________ would we need to _______? Why?

• Is there anything you would change to make this better?

• Why do you think ______ happened?

• What could you do differently next time?

• What would you do the same next time?

• Tell me about a time when ________ happened to you?

• What other ending can you come up with?

• How else could you use _____?

• We are going to make a smoothie. What items do we need to get out?

• This smoothie looks very thick. What things could we add to thin it out?

• What do we need to prepare before we start this craft?

• What could you have done instead?

• How could you assemble _______ to make _______?

• Tell me how you will _______?

• What is one solution to this problem?

• How could we make this stronger/better/taller?

• How could you put these together to make a pattern?

• What changes would you make to _____?

• How many different ways could you ______?

• Why did you choose ______?

• Why do you think it is important to _______?

• Rank these items. Why did you choose to rank them that way?

• How are you planning to do this?

• How did it make you feel when your sister let you use that block? Why did it make you happy?

• How did these water beads get so big?

• What do you suppose would happen if we ______?

• What else do you need to finish the train track?

• Who all could you ask for help?

• How does it make you feel when you pretend to be a police officer?

• What steps did you take to build this train track?

• Why did _____ happen that way?

• Where did _______ come from?

• What do you predict would happen if we ______?

• How do you know that is the answer?

• Why are you excited to play dress up?

• Who could you dress up like? Why did you choose that person?

• Tell me what you saw while we were outside?

• Who are some other people that we can tell about this?

• What are some ways we can include sisters in this game?

• Why do you think that worked?

• Why do you think that didn’t work?

• How does it make you feel when you play dress up?

• What can you do when you don’t know how to solve a problem?

• Why did you choose this book for bed tonight?

• What was your favorite part of the book?

• Who was you favorite character in the book? Why did you like that person?

• What would happen if ______ was different?

• What could we add to this hamburger to make it taste better?

• How could we put these Legos together in a different way?

• Which item doesn’t belong? Why not?

• What would you include to this group? Why?

• How does this sensory bin make you feel?

• What do those dark clouds mean?

• It is cold outside. What do you think we should wear?

• What items do we need to play outside in the rain?

• What was your favorite part of playing at the park? Why did you like ____ so much?

• Who did you meet at the park today? Tell me about what you played together.

• Where do you think we could look for the lost teddy bear?

• Which tools do you think we could add to our water table today?

• Why do you think we should use our inside voices while we are at the library?

• That was a creative choice. Can you tell me why you choose to do it that way?

• Let’s build a ramp for the cars together. What parts should you build? What parts should I build?