40 fun questions from parents to encourage children's imagination

Children ask a lot of questions. Sometimes the questions are repetitive. Studies have shown that young children ask over 300 questions a day, and so we really can't answer them all.

Children should really be encouraged to ask more questions, not less. It is important that we show them that imagination is magical, not by answering endless questions, but by asking them lots of them.

Let's skip the classic question "How was your day?" and see the 40 suggested questions below to talk with your child.

1. What do you like to daydream about?

2. What makes you happy?

3. If you could do anything right now, what would you do?

4. What do you look forward to when you wake up?

5. Which character makes you laugh the most?

6. If you opened a store, what would you sell?

7. What is your superhero name and what powers do you have?

8. You are at the beach. What is the first thing you do?

9. If you could plant any tree in your yard, what would it be?

10. What makes you brave?

11. What makes you feel loved?

12. How can I show people that I care about them?

13. How do you feel when your mom/dad hugs you?

14. If your stuffed animal could talk, what would it say?

15. How would you design a tree house?

16. What do you like to give to people?

17. If you wrote a book, what would it be about?

18. If you could draw everything that came to your mind, what would you draw?

19. If you designed clothes, what would they look like?

20. What do you like to help others most?

21. Pretend to be a chef and tell me about your restaurant. What kind of food will you have?

22. Where do you want to travel? How can you get there?

23. If you make a cave in the woods, what is inside it?

24. If you could ask a wild animal any question, what would it be?

25. If you were outside all day, what would you do?

26. If you were acting, what would your character be like?

27. How do you think animals communicate with each other?

28. What are the best things about nature?

29. If you were a photographer for a day, what would you take pictures of?

30. What memory makes you happy?

31. Describe a perfect day. What did you do that made it special?

32. Which animal would make a great driver?

33. Do you have any inventions in mind?

34. If you could create a new holiday, what would it be?

35. What makes a person intelligent?

36What will we do together?

37. If you were a teacher and could teach your students anything, what would you teach them?

38. Come up with three silly new traditions for this world, or for aliens on another planet!

39. Who is your favorite story character?

40. If you had to give everyone in your family new names, what would you name them?

Don’t worry if your child isn’t enthusiastic about answering your questions at first. Don’t rush them to answer or move on too quickly. Take your time to show your child that you’re genuinely interested in what they have to say, and not just asking them questions.

And for adults, asking and answering those questions is also a great way to exercise our own creativity and imagination.