Critical Thinking for Kids: Activities and Questions

Critical thinking for kids means learning to stop and ask “Is that true? How do I know? What else could it be?” before believing something or making a choice. It is not about being negative or arguing with everyone. It is about giving reasons, checking them, and changing your mind when a better reason comes along. Children can start practicing it long before they can define it, mostly through good questions and everyday conversation.

Below you’ll find a simple meaning you can explain to your child, questions to use at home, activities by age, ideas for homemade worksheets, and what research says about teaching these skills.

Critical thinking for kids: the meaning in plain words

The philosopher Robert Ennis, one of the best-known writers on the subject, defines critical thinking as “reasonable and reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do.” Two parts of that are worth pointing out to a child:

• What to believe. Is this story, ad or rumor true? What is the evidence?
• What to do. Which choice makes the most sense, and why?

For a young child, you might say: “Critical thinking is when you use your brain like a detective. You look for clues before you decide.”

In practice, a child who is thinking critically does things like these:

Skill	What it sounds like
Asking for reasons	“Why do you think that?”
Checking evidence	“How do we know? Who said so?”
Spotting facts vs. opinions	“Is that a fact or just what someone thinks?”
Considering other views	“What would Grandpa say about this?”
Looking for other explanations	“Could something else have caused it?”
Predicting consequences	“What will happen if we do that?”
Changing their mind	“Oh, that’s a better reason. I think I was wrong.”

Critical thinking for kids: questions to ask every day

The simplest way to build critical thinking is to ask open questions and wait for the answer. Here are some to keep handy:

• “How do you know?”
• “What makes you say that?”
• “Is there another way to look at it?”
• “What would happen if…?”
• “What’s the evidence?”
• “Who made this, and why?”
• “What questions do you still have?”
• “Would you change your mind if…?”

Tip: After you ask, wait. Count to five in your head before you help. Kids often need a few seconds to put a reason into words, and rushing in teaches them that you’ll do the thinking.

Use the questions on ordinary things: a news story, a YouTube video, a cereal box, a disagreement between siblings, a character’s choice in a book.

Critical thinking activities for kids (free, at home)

Each activity takes 5 to 15 minutes and needs little or nothing. Ages are a rough guide.

Ages 4–6

• Odd one out. Show four objects or pictures. Which one doesn’t belong, and why? Accept any answer your child can explain. There is often more than one good answer.
• What happens next? Pause a picture book before you turn the page. What do you think will happen? What clues tell you that?
• Sorting game. Mix up toys and ask your child to sort them in one way (by color), then in a completely different way (by size, or things that roll).
• Silly or sensible? Say a sentence: “Fish live in trees.” Silly or sensible? How do you know?

Ages 7–9

• Fact or opinion? Read short sentences aloud: “Dogs have four legs.” “Dogs are the best pets.” Your child decides which is which and explains.
• Ad detective. Look at a toy ad or cereal box together. What does it want you to believe? What doesn’t it tell you?
• Would you rather, with reasons. “Would you rather be able to fly or be invisible?” The answer doesn’t matter. The rule is two reasons for each choice.
• Mystery bag. Put an object in a bag. Your child asks yes/no questions and must explain what each answer rules out.
• Logic puzzles. Short puzzles where every step must be justified. We have logic puzzles for kids with answers.

Ages 10–13

• Check the claim. Pick a surprising claim from social media. Where did it come from? Can you find the same fact from two or three sources that don’t copy each other?
• Argue the other side. Pick a family topic (later bedtime, a pet, screen time). Your child argues the side they disagree with. Then swap.
• Plan a decision. Planning a day out or spending birthday money: list options, pros and cons, and decide. Then look back afterward: what went well, what would you change?
• Spot the missing piece. Read a short news story and ask: what information is missing? Whose voice isn’t in the story?

Critical thinking for kids worksheets: make your own

If you want critical thinking worksheets or a PDF, homemade ones often work better because you can match them to your child’s interests. Some easy formats:

1. Fact or opinion sheet. Write 10 sentences about your child’s favorite topic (dinosaurs, football, space). Your child marks each F or O.
2. Three reasons sheet. Write a question at the top (“Should kids have homework?”). Your child writes three reasons for, three against, and their own conclusion.
3. Cause and effect sheet. Two columns. Write an effect (“The plant died.”). Your child lists as many possible causes as they can, then circles the most likely one and says why.
4. Picture puzzle. Paste a photo of a scene. Your child writes three things they know for sure, and three things they are guessing.

Tip: Keep finished sheets and revisit them a few weeks later. Kids enjoy seeing that they now spot things they missed before.

Can critical thinking be taught? What research says

Yes, at least to some degree. In 2015, Philip Abrami and colleagues at Concordia University published a large meta-analysis of studies that tested ways to teach critical thinking, from elementary school students to adults. Overall, teaching critical thinking had a small positive effect, and it showed up across school levels and subjects.

Three approaches stood out as helpful:

• Dialogue. Discussing questions and arguing them out, whether as a whole class or in small groups.
• Authentic problems. Working on real or realistic problems and examples, not only abstract exercises.
• Mentoring. One-to-one talks with someone more experienced who models and coaches the thinking.

The strongest results came when all three were combined. For parents, that’s good news: talking through real questions with your child, and showing your own reasoning, is close to what worked best in the research.

Two honest limits:

• The overall effect was small, so expect gradual change, not a sudden transformation.
• Puzzles are fun practice, but real topics (school subjects, news, family decisions) give your child more chances to use these skills where they matter. This is our practical advice, not a research finding.

Model critical thinking yourself

Children learn as much from how you think aloud as from any activity.

• Say “I’m not sure. Let’s check” when you don’t know something.
• Explain your reasons for decisions: “We’re taking the bus today because parking will be hard.”
• Admit when you change your mind: “You made a good point. I was wrong about that.”
• Show respect for people you disagree with, and talk about their reasons fairly.

A simple weekly plan

One way to fit critical thinking into a busy week. It’s an example to adapt, not a research formula.

Day	Activity	Time
Monday	Fact or opinion (spoken or on paper)	10 min
Tuesday	“How do you know?” at dinner	During dinner
Wednesday	Ad detective with a cereal box or video	10 min
Thursday	Two logic puzzles	10 min
Friday	Would you rather, with reasons	10 min
Weekend	A real family decision, planned together	Any

A structured option

Our Emotional Intelligence and Life Skills page describes Skills for Success, a 12-month program by educator Shamil Ahmadullin for ages 7–10 and 11–15, already taught in Russian. Critical thinking is one of its six modules, alongside confidence, emotions, independence, communication and motivation. Each week includes a live group session, video lessons and practical tasks. These are the formats of the current Russian edition. The English edition is in development, and you can join the waitlist on the program page.

Sources

• Robert H. Ennis (2011), The Nature of Critical Thinking: An Outline of Critical Thinking Dispositions and Abilities, University of Illinois
• Alec Fisher, What Critical Thinking Is (Windsor Studies in Argumentation)
• Dictionary.com: Lexical Investigations: Critical Thinking (2013)
• Abrami, Bernard, Borokhovski, Waddington, Wade & Persson (2015), Strategies for Teaching Students to Think Critically: A Meta-Analysis, Review of Educational Research
• Clearinghouse Unterricht, Technical University of Munich: Critical thinking as an instructional goal (short review of Abrami et al., 2015)
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Critical Thinking
• The International Educator, Gordon Eldridge: The best strategies for teaching critical thinking (2015)