Question Cube — Who, What, Where, When, Why, How

A dice game played over your own family photos. Each face of a homemade cube carries one question word; whatever is rolled, you ask that kind of question about the photo. The child’s job is to give the right kind of answer — a person for “who,” a place for “where,” a time for “when,” a reason for “why.”

  1. Make the cube. Tape paper over a tissue box or large block and write one word per face: WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY, HOW. Add a small drawing to each (a face, a box, a map pin, a clock, a question mark, a spanner) so a non-reader can tell them apart.
  2. Choose 5–6 photos of real events the child was part of — a birthday, a beach day, a broken-arm cast, baking with grandma.
  3. Roll and ask. The child rolls; you ask a question of that type about the photo: “WHEN did we go there?” “WHY is everyone wearing coats?” “HOW did we get the kite up?”
  4. Listen for the kind of answer. If “When did we go?” gets “the beach,” say warmly, “That’s where. When was it — summer or winter? Morning or night?” and let them try again.
  5. Swap. Every few turns the child rolls and asks you the question.
  6. Stop after about ten rolls.

Variation: no photos to hand? Play it about today (“WHO did you sit next to at lunch?”), about a page in a picture book, or about what you can see out of the window.

Requirements

  • Space: A sofa, bed or table
  • Surface: Any flat surface for rolling the cube
  • Materials: A tissue box or large block, paper, tape and a pen; 5–6 family photos (printed or on a phone)
  • Participants: 1 adult + 1 child; works well with a sibling or grandparent joining in
  • Supervision: Full — the adult asks the questions

Rationale & Objective

Wh-questions are learned in a fairly steady order. Studies by Tyack and Ingram and by Parnell, Patterson and Harding found that what, where and who are understood earliest, while when, why and how stay difficult through the preschool years — children often answer a “when” question as if it were “where.” Blank, Rose and Berlin’s Language of Learning model, widely used by speech-language therapists, describes the same climb from questions about what is in front of the child to questions that need reasoning beyond it. The CDC milestone for five-year-olds includes answering simple questions about a story, and UK early-years guidance singles out understanding “why” questions. Real family photos help because the child already knows the events, so all their effort can go into working out what kind of information the question word is asking for.

Progress Indicators

  • Early: answers what, who and where correctly; answers “when” with a place and “why” with a description of the picture
  • Developing: gives a time-type answer to “when” (even if vague, such as “a long time ago”) and a “because” answer to simple “why” questions; “how” is still shaky
  • Proficient: gives the right kind of answer to all six question words about a familiar event, usually on the first try
  • Advanced: answers why and how questions that go beyond the photo (“Why do you think the baby was crying?”); asks you well-formed questions with all six words

Safety Notes

  • There is no physical risk; keep the mood light so it never feels like a quiz
  • Choose photos with happy or neutral memories — a picture of a lost pet or a hospital stay can open feelings the child is not ready to talk about at that moment
  • Accept short answers; this game is about understanding the question, not about speaking in long sentences
  • If a 5-year-old often answers a different question from the one asked, echoes the question back, or cannot answer simple who/what/where questions, raise it with a speech-language therapist

Hints

  • Playfulness: give each question word its own voice — a spooky “whooo,” a detective “whyyy?” — and let the child choose the voices
  • Sustain interest: swap in new photos each time, including baby pictures of the child and old pictures of you as a child
  • Common mistake: turning a wrong answer into a correction. Name what they answered (“that’s where”) and offer two choices for the real question instead
  • Limited space: skip the cube — hold up fingers one to six, each standing for a question word, and play in the car about the day so far
  • Cross-domain: talking over shared memories supports autobiographical memory and family closeness; reading the words on the cube supports print awareness
  • Progression: who/what/where only → add when with two choices offered → add why → add how → questions that go beyond the photo → child asks all the questions

Sources

  • Blank, M., Rose, S.A. & Berlin, L.J. (1978), The Language of Learning: The Preschool Years — four levels of questioning
  • Tyack, D. & Ingram, D. (1977), “Children’s production and comprehension of questions,” Journal of Child Language
  • Parnell, M.M., Patterson, S.S. & Harding, M.A. (1984), “Answers to wh-questions: a developmental study,” Journal of Speech and Hearing Research
  • CDC/AAP Developmental Milestones (5 years) — answers simple questions about a book or story
  • UK EYFS Development Matters — understanding “why” questions
  • CELF Preschool-3 — receptive language subtests