The most important thing of all is that your reading to your child so if that is all you can fit in in a day that is perfectly fine. You’re already knocking it out of the park! However if your kiddo likes to extend that time before bed or your looking to add something extra to your story time, asking your child questions before, during and after reading can help boost your child’s comprehension of the story and take it a step deeper. I have listed some examples of questions you can ask during the different parts of the story. These questions are meant for fiction stories. I will make another post sharing some examples of questions for non-fiction books. Please do not ask your child ALL of the questions on the same day, during the same story. Pick a couple each time you read a different book. I have added questions that are appropriate for different ages and developmental levels so you can pick the ones that are appropriate for your child.

Questions before reading:

• What do you think will happen in the story?
• What do you see on the cover of the story?
• Does anything on the cover remind you of something you have seen before?
• What characters do you think you might see in this story?
• What do you think the setting of the story might be?

* If your child does not know the vocabulary for cover, character, or setting yet you can use this as an opportunity to teach them that new vocab or you can adjust the questions to words they already know. For example: What animals do you think you might see in the story?

Questions during reading:

• What do you think might happen next?
• How do you think the character is feeling? Why are they feeling that way? How do you know they are feeling that way?
• What has happened so far in the story?
• Do you have any questions about what has happened so far?

* Vocab- When you come across a new word that you think your child might not know stop and talk about the meaning of that word. By doing this you are building your child’s vocabulary and it will give them a better understanding of what is happening in the story.

Questions after reading:

• What was your favorite part of the story?
• Did you like the story? Why? Why not?
• What happened in the story?
• How did the character feel at the end of the story?
• Did this story make you think of anything similar that has happened to you?
• What do you think might happen if the story kept going?

If your child is not quite ready for these questions that is ok! Even something as simple as asking your child what he/she sees on the pages gets them thinking/talking about the story and that’s a win!