5 Playful Ways to Get Your Child Talking About School

When "How Was School Today?" Doesn't Cut It

It’s a familiar scene: You pick up your child from school, their backpack slung low and their face unreadable. You muster your best warm tone and ask, "How was school today?"—only to be met with a shrug or the all-too-common, "Fine." For an exhausted parent hoping for a window into their child’s day, the conversation shuts down before it begins. But here’s the good news: talking about school doesn’t have to feel like pulling teeth. With a dash of playfulness and the right approach, you can invite your child to open up—and maybe even have fun doing it.

1. Use Their Favorite Medium: Storytelling

Children love stories. They consume them in books, cartoons, games, and increasingly, podcasts and audio adventures. So why not use this universal format to encourage them to share their own daily story?

Try sitting down with your child and co-creating a “School Storytime.” Start with a sentence like, “Today, on the planet of Schoolonia, Captain [Your Child’s Name] faced a new mission.” Let them narrate their day as if it were an adventure. Was math class a dragon to be slayed? Was recess a mysterious jungle? Not only does this format tap into their imagination, it helps you decode their feelings about different parts of their school life.

Interestingly, tools like audio adventures can double as both motivation and reflection. Some educational apps now allow written lessons to turn into personalized audio stories, with your child as the hero. Hearing their name in a custom narrative can make abstract school content—and their emotions tied to it—suddenly come alive.

2. Make Silence a Safe Place

Sometimes, what feels like resistance to opening up is just a child protecting their inner world. They may need trust, time, or a different environment to talk. Car rides, bedtime, or even quiet drawing sessions can be moments when deeper conversations emerge organically.

One parent shared that her 7-year-old only opens up when they work together on puzzles. With their hands busy and no direct eye contact, the child feels safer talking about the minor (and sometimes major) dramas of the day. Think about what rhythms quietly support your child’s openness. Is it baking cookies? Sorting laundry together? The activity may not be verbal, but it’s a gateway nonetheless.

For more on creating these listening-friendly moments, read why what they say about their teachers matters more than we assume.

3. Turn the Table: Play Interviewer

Children often love role reversal. Invite them to interview you as if they’re the journalist and you’re “the famous grown-up who survived school.” Let them ask any questions they want about your own experience—your hardest subject, your best friend, your recess snack of choice. After the fun of turning the spotlight on you, ask if you can turn the tables and interview them next.

Structure can help here. Use fun prompts like:

• "If today were a color, what color would it be and why?"
• "Did you feel more like a detective, a ninja, or a robot today at school?"
• "If lunchtime were a TV show, what was the most exciting scene?"

With questions like these, you're not just learning what happened; you're learning how they felt.

4. Bring Their School World to Life at Home

Sometimes, children don’t want to talk about school because it feels like a separate world. By integrating parts of their school life into your home routines, you help bridge that gap. For example, ask them to teach you something they learned that day. Let them lead the “lesson” and pretend to be their student.

Even better, turn it into a game. Take a photo of their worksheet or textbook page and create a home quiz night. Some learning apps like Skuli allow parents to snap a picture of a lesson and turn it into a 20-question quiz tailored to your child’s level. Let your child quiz you! They’ll delight in watching you “struggle” with multiplication facts or misspell science terms. The laughter lowers defenses—creating priceless chances for conversation.

Through these playful exchanges, children often begin to volunteer their feelings about schoolwork, which might otherwise stay buried.

5. Use Art and Creativity as Expression Gateways

Not every child processes their world through words. For some, drawing, building, or crafting can bring out what they can’t say directly. Invite your child to draw “their day” using stick figures, emojis, or even crafting materials. You might learn from a drawing that they felt lonely at lunch or proud during reading time—nudging you closer to conversations that matter.

One dad discovered that his 10-year-old son wouldn’t talk much but loved filming short videos on a tablet. So, each day, they began a ritual: the son would create a short “news report” recapping his school day. A green screen taped to the wall turned their garage into a full-on studio. Week by week, the child’s confidence and openness grew.

These moments help children process their experiences in formats that fit their way of communicating. To understand why that choice of format matters, this deep dive on helping kids express their true academic needs is worth your time.

Let Curiosity, Not Pressure, Lead the Way

As a parent, you naturally want to know what's going on inside your child’s world. But the truth is, forcing the conversation will usually close more doors than it opens. What does work is showing up consistently, with openness, warmth, and a genuine curiosity that respects their pace.

Each child has a different way of expressing themselves. Your job isn’t to extract information—it’s to create safe, playful, and varied ways for them to share. Over time, they’ll sense that home is where their school feelings and thoughts can land, no matter how tangled or joyful they may be.

And when they do start talking—really talking—you’ll be there to listen.

Need help encouraging those early steps? This guide to getting your child to speak freely about their school day is a powerful place to start.