Teaching your toddler to answer yes or no questions about facts
When your child responds to yes or no questions about facts, you gain valuable insight into what they know.
Most toddlers begin to answer factual yes or no questions at around two and a half years old.
Working on responding to these factual yes or no questions for kids will challenge your child to observe their environment and pull learned information from past experiences.
Tips for teaching kids to answer factual yes or no questions
Tip 1 - Ask questions about activities at home
We’ll start by teaching your child to answer yes or no questions about the environment that is most familiar to them: their home! Take advantage of things you see and hear in everyday experiences as opportunities for your child to share their knowledge with you.
For example, as someone comes in the front door, ask your child —“Who is that? Is it Daddy?... Is Daddy home?...” Then, wait for your child to respond. You might also ask your child, “Is the doggy sleeping?” or “Did you eat your carrots?”
Use anything related to everyday experiences. When working on factual yes or no questions, it’s important to help your child respond to questions CORRECTLY. After giving them adequate time to respond, if they answer incorrectly or don’t answer at all, model the correct answer for them, either “yes” or “no.” It helps to nod or shake your head when you model these answers.
Tip 2 - Play the yes or no questions for kids game
The Question Game is a really fun way to practice answering factual yes/no questions with your child. To play, have your child hide an item inside of a box or bag. When your child hides the item, you should sneak a glimpse of it so you know what it is. Then, start asking yes/no questions about what’s in the bag. For example, “Is it a ball? Is it a pig? Is it a spoon?” Again, you may have to help your toddler by providing the correct response, but by repeatedly observing your examples over time, their ability to respond correctly will improve.
Tip 3 - Ask questions about things outside your home
Once your child is able to answer some yes/no questions about things at home, you can start asking these questions when you’re outside the house. This will expand the variety of yes/no questions you can ask, ultimately helping your child grow their knowledge.
For example, if you are driving and hear a loud noise, ask your child to help you identify it — “Is that a helicopter? Is that a fire truck?” Remember to help them and provide the correct response, if necessary. As children learn to understand this activity and acquire the language they need to respond, they often love being the “teachers” and sharing their knowledge to help you understand what is happening around you.
Download our activities guide for yes or no questions ↓
At home activity for practicing factual yes or no questions for kids
Getting Dressed
Materials:
Your child’s clothing that they will be wearing that day
Set-up:
Have your child’s clothes for the day in the same room as you and your child. Set aside a little extra time for getting ready so that you can be relaxed while you talk about the clothes.
What to do:
For this activity, you will be helping your child learn to answer simple yes/no questions about where clothing items go.
Say, “it’s time to get dressed! Get an item of clothing, and pretend that you are going to put it on the wrong body part. For example, get your child’s socks. Say, “do socks go…. On YOUR HEAD?” and touch them on your child’s head. Wait a few seconds. If your child doesn’t respond, say, “nooooo!” while shaking your head no and smiling to show them that you think that it’s silly. Repeat a few more times (“do socks go…. On YOUR EAR?” “no!”). FInally, place the socks on their feet and say in the same voice, “do socks go… on YOUR FEET?” Keep your voice the same so that your child is listening to your words, not your tone.
If they don’t answer your question, repeat the question and answer “yes!” while nodding. Do this a few times while getting dressed, keeping it silly. Even if your child doesn’t answer a lot the first time you play this game, remember that you are still helping them with the skill by having them listen to your answers.
When you say “no,” make sure to keep your voice cheerful and lighthearted. Sometimes kids only hear the word “no!” when they are in trouble. It is important that they also learn “no” as an answer to a question.
Although asking and answering questions is important, make sure that you also spend time talking about other stuff too. Aim to spend just as much time making statements about the clothes as you do asking questions, especially if your child is still learning to answer.
What to say:
When you’re practicing with yes or no questions while getting dressed, it might sound like this:
You: Do your pants go on… YOUR EAR? [waits up to 5 seconds]
Child: [says nothing or says something unrelated]
You: Do your pants go on… YOUR EAR? No! [shakes head and waits to see if child copies]
You: Do your pants go on… YOUR ARM?
Child: No!
You: You’re right! Silly me!
You: Do your pants go on… YOUR LEGS?
Child: No! [copying the tone and head shaking from before]
You: Do your pants go on your legs? Yes! Yes they do! [nods dramatically and sees if child copies]
Download our activities guide for yes or no questions (This activity + 2 More!)↓
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Created In Collaboration By:
Stephanie Keffer, MS CCC-SLP
Stephanie Burgener-Vader, MA CCC-SLP
Melissa Sartori, MS CCC-SLP
Yvette Faire-Bostick, MS CCC-SLP
© 2020-2022. Stephanie Keffer, MS CCC-SLP. All Rights Reserved.
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