Would you rather questions for kids are a great way to get your elementary students talking and writing in your classroom. They are an underutilized tool that often gets overlooked. Read below for the list of benefits of implementing would you rather questions in your classroom below, as well as advice for how to use them with your kids!
What are Would You Rather Questions?
Would you rather questions are prompts where kids are given two options to choose from. A simple example is: Would you rather have cookies or ice cream for dessert? They are a great way to increase engagement in your classroom whether it’s during your morning meeting or literacy centers. Students really enjoy thinking about and answering the questions! They are also often called this or that questions, discussion starters, and talking topics.
What are the Benefits of Implementing Would You Rather Prompts?
There are tons of benefits of using would you rather questions and activities with your students. Some include:
1. Promotes Student Engagement
Would you rather questions are a great way to get students engaged and excited. Kids love silly questions that will get them and their classmates giggling. They also love relatable questions that they can connect to. As teachers, we know that when students are invested and engaged, their learning outcomes are much better. It’s also something that all students can participate in.
2. Increases Motivation to Write
Think about it… Would you rather write or talk about something that is interesting to you or about a topic that doesn’t feel timely or relatable? Of course we’d all pick to write or talk about a topic that interests us. Would you rather questions offer students a simple choice to pick from that they can easily get invested in. It’s a great way to get even your most reluctant writers to get pencil to paper.
3. Builds Community
Would you rather activities are also a great way to build community in your classroom. When students share their ideas and find commonalities with others, it helps build the foundation for building relationships with their peers. Also, respectfully disagreeing in a safe environment helps build a health learning community in your classroom.
4. Strengthens Communication Skills
Another benefit to incorporating would you rather questions for kids is that these types of questions help students develop and strengthen their communication skills, which will benefit them for many years to come. They will communicate their opinion and provide reasons for their choice as part of the learning experience.
5. Develops Students’ Ability to See Others’ Perspectives
Perspective taking is such an important life skill. Being able to see a situation from someone else’s point of view helps us to empathize with others and engage with them respectfully.
6. Improves Listening Skills
If you implement would you rather questions in a whole group, small group, or partner format, students will practice their listening skills as their peers state their opinion and share their reasoning.
7. Critical Thinking Skills
These types of questions help students develop and strengthen their critical thinking skills, which has long-term benefits. The prompts encourage students to make a decision and the follow up discussion afterwards is when they need to explain why they made the decision they did by providing reasons.
8. Enhances Flexible Thinking
Students learn that there isn’t always one right answer. There are pros and cons. Listening to others share their ideas and provide their reasoning will help them understand this.
How Can Teachers Use Would You Rather Questions?
There are many different ways teachers can use would you rather questions and activities with their kids. Some of our favorites include:
- morning work
- morning meeting activities
- attendance procedure tasks
- sub plans activities
- literacy center
- writing center
- fast finisher tasks
- homework
- filler activities
- fun seasonal activities
- whole class discussion
- class book
3 Tips for Using Would You Rather Activities
Below are some tips for using the would you rather questions for kids in your classroom.
1. Explicitly Teach How to Respond to a Prompt
Students tend to speak in more informal language because that’s how they often speak with others. One great tool to promote formal or academic language is a sentence starter or sentence frame. This helps structure or frame a students’ thinking into a clear form of communication. An example is, “I would pick ____ because…”. You could also provide a sentence frame for when students are responding to a peer. An example is, “I agree / respectfully disagree with ____ because…”.
2. Make it a Routine
Consider making would you rather activities a part of your daily routine. One idea is to have students answer a would you rather question as they enter the classroom each morning or when they leave at the end of the day. Students thrive with routines. They’ll quickly learn the routine and look forward to it.
3. Have Fun With It!
When your students see you having fun with thinking about and answering the prompts, they’ll have more fun with it too. Don’t be afraid to giggle or be playful!
Would You Rather Activities
We hope you found the information about would you rather questions for kids above helpful! If you are looking for would you rather activities, check out the would you rather activities below!
What’s Included
This would you rather activities bundle includes 700 question cards that you can use as whole class discussion prompts or writing center prompts. It also includes 700 writing pages where students can respond to the prompt with a small illustration and in writing. You’ll also find graphic organizers for students to weigh the pros and cons of each option and blank templates where your students can write their own would you rather prompts.
The following holidays and topics are included:
- Christmas
- elves
- Santa
- reindeer
- gingerbread
- New Years
- snow
- snowmen
- penguins
- Martin Luther King Day
- 100th Day
- Chinese New Year
- The Super Bowl
- Dental Health Month
- Groundhog Day
- Valentine’s Day
- Presidents Day
- polar bears
- Mardi Gras
- butterflies and caterpillars
- leprechauns
- rainbows
- St. Patrick’s Day
- spring
- crayons
- Easter
In closing, we hope you found this information and list of resource recommendations related to would you rather questions for kids helpful!