Wonder Question Jar

A simple ritual that turns the child’s spontaneous “why” and “what if” questions into a respected, durable thing. Questions go on slips of paper into a jar. Some get investigated together. The child learns that asking is itself the work.

  1. Decorate a clear jar (label it “My Wonder Jar”) and place it in a visible, reachable spot — kitchen counter, bedside table, by the back door.

  2. Keep small slips of paper and a pencil next to it.

  3. The rule: any time the child asks a “why” or “what if” or “I wonder” question that you can’t easily answer in 30 seconds, you say: “That’s a great wonder. Let’s put it in the jar.” You scribe the child’s exact words on a slip and the child drops it in.

  4. Once or twice a week — Sunday morning, after dinner — sit together and pull out one or two questions. Read them aloud. Ask the child: “What do you think? What’s your theory?” Then choose:

    • Investigate now — go look at the thing, run a small experiment, sketch.
    • Look it up together — a child-friendly book, a 2-minute video, a knowledgeable adult.
    • Save for later — back into the jar with a star sticker.

  5. Whatever you investigate, draw or write the finding on the back of the slip and put it in a separate “Solved Wonders” box or pinned to a wall.

Variation: family jar — every member contributes their own wonder once a week. Question swaps — the child asks a question, the parent has to predict the child’s theory before the child shares it. Wonder Walks — every “why” on the walk gets a leaf token in the pocket; tokens become slips at home.

Requirements

  • Space: A small kitchen-counter / shelf footprint
  • Surface: Any
  • Materials: A clear jar, slips of paper (cut from any paper), a pencil, a small "Solved Wonders" box or pinboard, optional star stickers
  • Participants: 1 adult + 1 child; works in families and small groups
  • Supervision: Light — the structure is the parent honoring questions; safety only enters when an investigation has its own hazards (which then need their own safety review)

Rationale & Objective

Susan Engel’s research (The Hungry Mind, 2015) documents that children’s question-asking declines in school unless explicitly modeled and rewarded — making the jar a structural intervention. Reggio Emilia’s “Hundred Languages” pedagogy (Edwards, Gandini & Forman 2012) treats child wonderings as the source of the curriculum. PMC11428670 documents that preschoolers ask roughly 100+ information-seeking questions per day, and that responsive caregiving — taking questions seriously, returning to them, investigating — predicts later academic curiosity. The activity directly targets HighScope’s Experimenting and Communicating ideas KDIs and Head Start ELOF P-SCI 4 (“asks questions, gathers information to answer them”), and is the only activity in this pool that explicitly trains the inquiry-asking skill rather than the inquiry-resolving skill.

Progress Indicators

  • Early: asks questions but doesn’t connect them to the jar; forgets the slips; loses interest in revisiting; expects an immediate answer
  • Developing: contributes 1–2 questions per week with reminders; sits through one investigation; offers a theory when asked
  • Proficient: contributes 3–5 questions per week without prompting; offers theories spontaneously (“I think it’s because…”); asks follow-up questions during the investigation; revisits old slips and remembers the answers
  • Advanced: asks investigable questions (“what would happen if…” rather than “why is the sky blue”); proposes how to investigate; updates a theory after evidence (“I thought ___, but actually ___”); seeks information from books and adults independently

Safety Notes

  • The jar itself is low-risk — physical safety enters when an investigation has its own hazards (water, fire, sharp tools, climbing, food, animals). Treat each investigation as its own activity with its own safety review
  • Use a sturdy plastic jar if the child has full access; glass on a high shelf is also fine
  • Be ready for emotionally heavy questions — about death, illness, family conflict, scary news. Don’t dismiss; give an honest, age-appropriate answer or “I don’t know but we can find out together”
  • Don’t pretend to investigate something genuinely dangerous (taste an unknown plant, light a match) — name the limit honestly: “That’s a great wonder, but we won’t try it because…”
  • If the child asks something embarrassing, racist, or sad in front of others — handle it privately later; never shame the question

Hints

  • Playfulness: the jar gets a name (“the Wonder Vault”). The child stamps each new slip with a star. Pulling a slip from the jar gets ritual: lights low, dramatic voice
  • Sustain interest: publicly date the slips and pin solved ones on a wall. After a month, leaf back through and re-read — children love seeing how many they have. Run “Wonder Sundays” so the investigation becomes a reliable family rhythm
  • Common mistake: answering the question immediately (“It’s because the sun heats the water and water turns into a cloud”) — this collapses inquiry into trivia. Always ask for the child’s theory first. Also: filling the jar but never investigating — the child learns questions are decorative; aim for at least one investigation a week
  • Limited space: a mug instead of a jar; index cards instead of slips. No equipment needed. The activity is a posture, not a product
  • Cross-domain: writing the slips (literacy if the child writes); counting slips per week (numeracy); sorting slips by theme — animal, weather, body, machine (classification); illustrating the answer (visual art)
  • Progression: parent scribes everything → child copies one word from the parent’s slip → child writes a key word themselves → child illustrates the slip → child writes the answer on the back → child investigates one question per week independently with adult support

Sources

  • Engel, S. (2015). The Hungry Mind: The Origins of Curiosity in Childhood. Harvard University Press
  • Edwards, C., Gandini, L. & Forman, G. (2012). The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach (3rd ed.). Praeger
  • Helm, J. H. & Katz, L. G. (2016). Young Investigators: The Project Approach in the Early Years. Teachers College Press
  • Gelman, R., Brenneman, K. et al. (2009). Preschool Pathways to Science (PrePS). Brookes Publishing
  • PMC11428670 — “Young Children’s Directed Question Asking in Preschool Classrooms” (research review)
  • NAEYC — “Inquiry” topic resources; Spotlight on Young Children: Exploring Science (2013)
  • HighScope KDIs — Observing, Experimenting, Communicating ideas
  • Head Start ELOF — Scientific Reasoning (P-SCI 4 — asks questions and gathers information)
  • Teaching Strategies GOLD Objective 24 (scientific inquiry); UK EYFS Communication & Language ELG (asks how/why questions)
  • NSTA / NAEYC Joint Position Statement on Early Childhood Science Education (2014)