The "What If…?" Game — Possibility Thinking

Pose a wonderful impossible question and explore it together: “What if it rained lemonade? What if animals could talk? What if your bed could fly? What if shoes were made of jelly?” Then chase the idea — what would happen, what would be good or tricky, what would you do? “What if” thinking is the engine of imagination: it lets the child step out of how things ARE and into how they COULD be.

  1. Drop a “what if” into an ordinary moment — at dinner, in the bath, on a walk: “What if we were as tiny as ants?”

  2. Wonder out loud together. Ask follow-ups that open more doors: “What would we do? What would be the best part? What would be tricky? How would we fix that?”

  3. Pile on possibilities rather than landing on one answer — every idea is a yes. Build on theirs (“ooh, and if we were tiny, a puddle would be a whole lake!”).

  4. Let the child pose their own “what ifs” — these are often the wildest and the most telling.

  5. Stretch a favorite into a story, a drawing, or a pretend game: act out the tiny-people adventure, draw the lemonade rain.

Variation: tie “what if” to a real problem for inventive solutions (“what if we have no umbrella — how could we stay dry?”). Use “what if” to remix stories (“what if the three pigs built with jelly?”). Try “as if” — move and play AS IF the floor were ice, AS IF you were a robot.

Requirements

  • Space: Anywhere — it's a thinking-and-talking game
  • Surface: None
  • Materials: None; optional paper or props if an idea grows into a drawing or pretend play
  • Participants: 1 adult + 1 child; lively in a small group where ideas spark off each other
  • Supervision: Light — conversation, unless an idea becomes an active pretend game

Rationale & Objective

“What if?” and “as if” questions are the heart of what Anna Craft calls possibility thinking — the engine of everyday (little-c) creativity in the early years, marked by a shift from “what is this?” to “what might it be?” and “what can I do with this?” (Craft, 2000, 2002). Observing young children, Cremin, Burnard and Craft (2006) found possibility thinking shows up as question-posing, imaginative play, self-determination, risk-taking, and innovation — all of which a “what if” game invites. Generating many possibilities (rather than one answer) exercises divergent thinking, and Beghetto and Kaufman’s (2009) mini-c idea reminds us a child’s personally novel “what if” is genuine creativity worth nurturing. The game builds toward the subdomain’s divergent-thinking and multiple-solutions markers and the EYFS characteristic of creating and thinking critically.

Progress Indicators

  • Early: takes the question literally or says ‘I don’t know’; may give one short answer or echo yours; the leap into the hypothetical is still new
  • Developing: offers one or two ideas about the imaginary scenario and enjoys the silliness; begins to ask their own simple what-if questions
  • Proficient: generates several ideas, reasons about consequences (‘if it rained lemonade everything would be sticky!’), and poses imaginative what-ifs of their own
  • Advanced: spins out rich chains of possibility, weighs good and bad sides, solves problems inside the fantasy (‘we’d need tiny umbrellas’), and links what-if to real-world problem-solving

Safety Notes

  • This is a low-risk thinking game; the main caution is emotional — keep what-ifs playful and avoid frightening hypotheticals with anxious children, who may take them literally
  • If a child fixates on a worrying what-if, answer reassuringly and steer back to playful, in-their-control scenarios
  • If an idea turns into active as-if movement or pretend play, apply normal supervision for the space
  • Follow the child’s comfort — some love the absurd, others prefer gentler wonderings, so let them set the tone

Hints

  • Playfulness: the more delightfully impossible the question, the better — lemonade rain, a pet dragon, jelly shoes. Treat every answer as a ‘yes, and…’ and let it snowball.
  • Sustain interest: keep a stash of fresh what-ifs for dull moments, take turns being the one who asks, and follow the child’s current fascinations (space, bugs, superheroes) for questions that grab them.
  • Common mistake: answering your own question, judging an idea as ’that couldn’t happen,’ or always steering to a single sensible answer — the point is many possibilities, so protect the silliness and keep asking ‘what else?’
  • Limited space / no equipment: this is the ultimate no-equipment game — perfect for cars, queues, and bedtime; nothing needed but a question.
  • Cross-domain: reasoning about consequences builds problem-solving and early science (cause and effect); what-if remixes of stories feed narrative; as-if movement links to dance and dramatic play; new ideas grow vocabulary.
  • Progression: answer a playful what-if with one idea → generate several ideas for one question → reason about consequences and trade-offs → pose original what-ifs → apply what-if and what-else thinking to solving a real, everyday problem.

Sources

  • Craft, A. (2002). Creativity and Early Years Education: A Lifewide Foundation. Continuum
  • Craft, A. (2000). Creativity Across the Primary Curriculum: Framing and Developing Practice. Routledge
  • Cremin, T., Burnard, P. & Craft, A. (2006). “Pedagogy and possibility thinking in the early years.” Thinking Skills and Creativity, 1(2), 108–119
  • Kaufman, J. C. & Beghetto, R. A. (2009). “Beyond big and little: The Four C Model of Creativity.” Review of General Psychology, 13(1), 1–12
  • UK EYFS — Characteristics of Effective Learning — creating and thinking critically (having their own ideas, making links)
  • Head Start ELOF — Goal P-ATL 13 (child uses imagination in play and interactions with others)
  • HighScope KDI 5 (use of resources — gathering information and formulating ideas)