Looking for ways to better connect with your kids? I completely get it. It can be so tricky to come up with fun and fresh activities for your kids that will engage them in family time. These 55 Get to Know You Questions for Kids will help you strengthen your bond with your children and have fun in the process. Designed for fun exploration of interests, preferences, hopes, and dreams, these questions are the perfect activity for family bonding time.
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Family Bonding & Get To Know You Questions for Kids
Question-based games provide an excellent bonding activity for kids. And the free PDF printable below features over 50 questions designed to tap into your kid’s experience, no matter what their age.
How These Questions Target Bonding
When creating this PDF, I drew upon my experience as a parent, my understanding of child & family development, and years of observing family interactions as a family-based therapist and licensed counselor. More than just trivial icebreakers, these questions are crafted to encourage positive family interaction. They are written in a way that expresses gentle curiosity in order to promote safety, but they use clear, direct language in order to evoke honest, thoughtful answers.
The questions are designed specifically for kids at various stages of their development. Additionally, several questions target family relationships and bonding. Some inquire about personal experiences to be shared, providing an opportunity for family members to respond with support & empathy. While other questions directly elicit your child’s perspective on their family.
Why Use These Get To Know You Questions for Kids
Let’s be honest – these days, finding time to have actual conversations with your kids can be a real challenge. These questions offer a simple (and free) way to spend quality time reconnecting.
In addition to the interactive nature of these get to know you questions for kids, they also attend to your child’s developmental needs. Your kids will relish the opportunity to be in the driver’s seat of the discussion. They will also enjoy the special attention. Using these questions gives you the chance to set aside special time, free of technology, that feels protected and sacred – a shared experience just for your family.
Kids Enjoy Your Undivided Attention
There are aspects of attention-seeking behavior that parents should keep their eye on (i.e. if kids mistakenly learn to equate constant attention with love & acceptance). For more on that, pick up a copy of Positive Discipline by Dr. Jane Nelsen. But providing your child with undivided attention during designated family time is a great way to strengthen your bond.
Kids Love to Talk About Themselves
Developmentally speaking, most kids are self-centered. In fact, the ability to consider the perspective of others develops over the course of many years. Kids are in what is called the preoperational stage of cognitive development from ages 2 to about 7.
During this stage and beyond, kids are learning how the world works, and that includes how other people come into play. Through learning, play, interaction, and experiments, kid develop empathy, relationships to others, and a clearer perception of their environment. There are things you can do to foster that development to help your kids move from me (egocentrism) to we (empathy), and using this set of questions is one of them.
What’s more, because these questions are mostly focused on your child’s point of view, it gives them a chance to speak from a place of authority. They will be more than happy to share their expertise on the subject they know best – themselves. But because of the way these questions are written, they provide a way for you to model curiosity about other people’s experiences.
Using Questions to Encourage Empathy
As a parent, you probably already know that your child learns most by watching and mirroring what you do, and not always by listening to what you say. Modeling is key when it comes to teaching your child the skills they need. That includes social skills and empathy.
Depending on your child’s age, they may not be fully ready to consider or understand another’s point of view. However, the more you model this kind of behavior, the more readily your child will embody it once their brain is ready. Additionally, you can periodically use curiosity questions to help your children think about how others experience them.
55 Get To Know You Questions for Kids PDF Download
As mentioned above, Get To Know You Questions for Kids can help with learning, development, and family bonding. Using this PDF during family time can also help build self-esteem, emotional intelligence, communication skills, and social skills.
About The Questions
The questions in the printable handout below are geared toward eliciting interesting information on your child’s perspective. They focus on the following areas:
- Interests
- Preferences
- Relational Connections
- Social-Emotional Development
- Personal Experiences
- Life Goals, Hopes, & Dreams
- Family Identity and Meaning
About the PDF
The free printable PDF download features the following sections:
- Get To Know You Questions divided by age (from 3 to 18+)
- Select Questions for the Entire Family to answer together
- Suggested Activity Ideas for additional ways to use the questions during family time
NOTE: Although the questions are divided by age group, that in no way implies you have to use certain questions for certain ages. You know your kids best so feel free to ask them any questions on the list, regardless of their age. The age groups are there as a guide so you can use questions that work well for specific developmental stages. But that doesn’t mean you can’t experiment. 🙂
Keep scrolling for instructions on how to get the the free 55 Get To Know You Questions for Kids PDF.
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Sample Questions from the PDF
To give you a sense of the kinds o questions on the free PDF 55 Get to Know You Questions for Kids, I have included a handful of sample questions below.
Ages 3-5
- What are your 3 favorite foods?
- How do you know if someone is angry with you? What do you do if you find out someone is angry with you?
Ages 6-8
- What are 3 things that make someone a really good friend?
- What is your favorite thing about the way you look?
Ages 9-12
- What is something you would like to accomplish in the next month? How about in the next year?
- What would your friends say they like the most about you?
Ages 13-17
- If you could give one piece of advice to younger kids about being a teenager, what would it be?
- In the movie of your life, who would play you and why?
Ages 18+
- What family traditions, if any, do you hope to carry on in the future?
- What is your absolute favorite thing to do for fun? Why do you enjoy it so much?
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Get the Free PDF
Click the image below (or enter your information in the box above) to get your free copy of the questions PDF. By doing so, you will also join The Centered Parent mailing list, where you will receive awesome stuff like:
- Positive Parenting Strategies
- Self-Care Tips
- Fun Activities for Kids
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Thanks so much for your interest in the 55 Get To Know You Questions for Kids handout. I hope you and your family have a blast getting to know each other even better!
For more fun activities for kids, check out this post on sensory play.
