20 Questions to Ask Your Kids After School That Aren’t “How Was Your Day?”
That time between after school and bedtime can often feel like a blur. Backpacks are being dropped in the middle of the room, snacks are being devoured, homework is being completed, and everyone’s energy is all over the place. In the middle of that chaos, it can be tough to connect with the kids and get them to open up about their day before you rush off to practices, activities, or bedtime.
If your family is anything like mine, you have probably asked what every other parent asks: “How was your day?” or “how was school?” and you probably get a standard response: “Fine.”
That’s why I started switching it up with more fun, simple questions that my young kids actually want to answer in a way that is more on their level. They are quick and easy, and help you peek inside their day without it feeling like an interrogation.
Here are 20 questions you can try today:
1. What was your favorite part of the day?
2. Who did you play with at recess?
3. What made you laugh?
4. What was the hardest part of your day?
5. What game did you play at recess?
6. Did you help anyone today? Did anyone help you?
7. What’s something new you learned?
8. Did anything surprise you?
9. If your day was an emoji (emotion), which one would it be? ???? ???? ????
10. What are you excited about for tomorrow?
11. What was the yummiest thing you ate today?
12. Did your teacher read a story? What was it about?
13. Who made you smile today?
14. What part of your day went by the fastest?
15. What did you do in art, music, or P.E.?
16. Did you try something new today?
17. What’s one word you would use to describe your day?
18. If you could be the teacher tomorrow, what would you do first?
19. Did anything happen that made you feel proud or happy inside?
20. What’s one thing you want to tell me about today that I don’t know yet?
The beauty of these questions is that they’re open-ended but simple. They meet kids right where they are with stories, little details, and bursts of emotion they don’t always know how to share.
Pro tip: Don’t ask all ten at once. Pick one or two each day. You can even make a “conversation jar” with these written on slips of paper and let your child draw one at dinner. It turns sharing into a game, and before you know it, you’ll get more than one-word answers.
Because at the end of the day, what our kids really want is the same thing we do: to feel heard, loved, and connected. And those small, silly, heartfelt conversations in the middle of the after-school chaos? That’s where the magic happens.
