‘What’, ‘why’, ‘where’ and ‘who’ questions can open up conversations with your child as they need to use other words than just 'yes' or 'no' to answer.
Watch the video below to see how this little girl responds to her dad when he asks her open questions at the window together.
How asking open questions can help your child’s language development
This helps them by:
- Encouraging them to respond with a sentence, rather than just ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
- Opening up the conversation, allowing both of you to continue chatting and taking turns to speak, while following their interests.
Spending time at a window with your little one is a great way to start asking them open questions about the things they see. If they show an interest in something, ask them simple questions about it. If they point at a bird, you could ask them 'what is the bird doing?'
Or if they see a neighbour, you might ask something like ‘Mr Jones is in his garden, what is he doing?'
