How to Use Story Time to Develop Higher-Order Thinking Skills

One of the most useful activities you can do every day while reading to your children at story time or bedtime, is to question them meaningfully in order to develop thinking skills.

Through the use of some very basic types of open-ended questions, you will have your children thinking, analyzing, predicting, comparing, deciding, giving opinions and deducing, amongst other skills.

There are many benefits to be gained from the simple act of reading and listening alone, however, by using the opportunity to add some questioning techniques, you will be developing important higher-order thinking skills.

The famous Bloom’s Taxonomy model helps explain how kids learn. It begins with basic remembering and understanding, and as children progress, they develop critical thinking and higher-order skills like applying knowledge, analyzing ideas, expressing opinions, and being creative.

Notice how being creative is considered the highest thinking skill.

Examples of Higher-Order Thinking Questions for Preschoolers

There are many different types and styles of questions that can be asked, each with a different purpose and to stimulate a different thinking skill.

Here are some examples of the types of questions you could use while reading. It’s important not to turn story time into an inquisition. Pick one question and see if it sparks a discussion.

Questions to stimulate discussion before reading:

What do you think this story is about?
What do you see on the front cover?
What is the title of this book?
Do you think it’s an information book or a story?
Where can you read the blurb of the book?
How do I know who wrote the book?
What is an illustrator?

Questions to encourage predictions:

What do you think is going to happen to Little Red Riding Hood?
How do you think the story ends? (read most first)
What do you think will happen in this story (read the beginning only)
How do you think the story begins? (read the end only)
Do you think this story will end happily?
What do you think character x will do to help character y?

Questions that require summarising or eliciting the main idea:

What is this story about?
What is the main idea of the story? (in one sentence)
Can you tell me about the story in a few sentences? (summarizing)
What was the highlight of the story for you?
What was your favourite part?

Questions that teach cause and effect:

What do you think will happen if…
What did she do that made her friend angry?
What will happen if he does it a different way?
Why did that happen? What caused it? What happened when the brother and sister didn’t listen to their mom?

Questions that are closed (they have a defined answer):

These often begin with what, where, who, how or which.
What is the main character’s name?
Where was Little Red Riding Hood going? What was inside Aladdin’s lamp?
Who found Cinderella’s shoe?
How many dwarfs were there?
Which bed did Goldilocks like the most?

Do you think Cinderella should have gone to the ball? 
Was Jack’s mother right to be upset with him?
How would you feel if you were the wolf and no-one liked you?
Do you think it’s right to go into someone’s house without permission?
Do you think it’s important to be beautiful?

Questions that require deducing from the given information:

The answers are not in the text but are inferred from given clues.
How many bears live in the house? (there are 3 sets of everything)
Is it day or night in this picture? (there are stars in the picture)
Does Cinderella’s real mother live with her? (her step-mother does)
Did the wolf kill granny when he ate her? (no, because she is rescued later)
Do you think it is summer or winter? (they are wearing short-sleeved tops)

Questions specifically about characters and traits:

Who is your favourite character?
Why do you like him/her?
What qualities does he/she have that you admire?
Who is your least favourite character? Why?
Do you think Elephant is brave? Why?
Does the snake learn to share and treat others kindly?          

Questions to stimulate creativity:

Can you tell your own story about a girl lost in the woods?
Let’s make up a new ending to the story!
Imagine Cinderella had not lost her shoe. What would have happened?
I will show you just the pictures and you can make up a story to go with them 
What do you think the house looks like? 
Draw a picture of this story. Write your own story and add illustrations.

Asking these kinds of questions can take as little as 5 minutes a day and will make a huge impact on a child’s ability to think logically and solve problems.