Reading Comprehension: Five Questions to Ask About a Story Your Child Created
Reading comprehension is understanding what a text says, what it means and why. A story your child created is a friendly place to practise, because they already care about it. Ask five questions: retell it, put events in order, explain why a character acted, notice a word choice, and name the big idea. Then ask the same five about a library book.
By ArtifyTales Team, Nell AI Labs LLC · Published · 6 min read
Reading comprehension is often practised with worksheets: a passage about a stranger’s trip to the zoo, followed by ten questions. Many children find it dull, and dull is hard to think carefully about.
There is a friendlier place to start: a story your child made. They know the characters, they care what happens, and they are the world expert on it. That makes it a low-pressure way to practise the questions good readers ask. The catch is that they already know the answers to some of them, so the last step is always to try the same questions on a book someone else wrote.
The five questions
1. Retell: "Tell me what happened, in your own words."
Retelling checks that the main events are clear. Listen for a beginning, a middle and an end. If your child tells you every detail, ask for the "short version" in three sentences. Summarising is a skill.
2. Sequence: "What happened first? What happened just before the ending?"
Sequence questions check how events connect. Try mixing up two events and asking, "Could this have happened the other way round?" If the answer is no, ask why. That is cause and effect.
3. Why: "Why do you think the character did that?"
This is the inference question, and the most important one. Choose a moment where the story shows what a character did but not why. Even in their own story, children often haven’t decided, and they have to think about it. Follow up with "What in the story makes you think so?"
4. Word choice: "Why did you choose that word?"
Pick one vivid word in the story, such as crept, enormous or whispered, and ask what it tells the reader. Then ask what would change if you used a plainer word, like walked or big. This helps children notice that authors choose words on purpose.
5. Big idea: "What is this story really about?"
Not the plot, but the idea behind it: friendship, being brave, not giving up, telling the truth. There is no single right answer. Ask "What would you want a reader to learn from it?"
Then take the questions to a book
The final step matters most. After practising on their own story, ask the same five questions about a library book or a class read-aloud. Now your child doesn’t know the answers in advance, and they have to find them in the text. Because they have already practised the questions, the thinking feels familiar.
A worked example
Here is an illustrative short story of the kind a second or third grader might create, with the five questions. It is not a real child’s work.
Milo the mouse lived under the big clock. Every night the clock went BONG and Milo covered his ears. One night the clock went quiet. The other mice cheered, but Milo crept out and looked up. The clock’s key was missing. Milo found it under a rug, dragged it back and wound the clock himself. BONG. Milo smiled and covered his ears.
| Question | A strong answer |
|---|---|
| Retell | Milo hated the clock’s noise, but when it stopped he fixed it. |
| Sequence | The clock went quiet before Milo found the key. It couldn’t be the other way round, because he only looked because it was quiet. |
| Why | He fixed it because he missed it, or because the clock was his home. The story doesn’t say, so we have to guess from the clues. |
| Word choice | Crept shows Milo was careful and maybe nervous. Walked wouldn’t show that. |
| Big idea | Sometimes you miss things you thought you didn’t like. |
The "why" answer is the most interesting one, because the story never states it. That is inference.
Where ArtifyTales fits
ArtifyTales can give your child a story to ask questions about, made from their own ideas. Photograph their drawing and it becomes a character with a name and personality. Type their story or write it on Story Papers, and it comes back as illustrated, narrated pages they can read and listen to.
The illustrations add a useful extra question: "Does the picture show the same thing as the words? What did the illustrator add?" Generated pictures sometimes include details that aren’t in the text, which is a good prompt for close reading. For bedtime reading ideas, see making bedtime stories from the drawings your child already loves, and for the writing side, how to encourage your child to write stories without taking over.
Drawings, voices and privacy
A child’s drawing, handwriting and voice are personal. Read how ArtifyTales handles children’s drawings and voices before uploading anything.
Frequently asked questions
- What is reading comprehension?
- Reading comprehension is the ability to understand what you read: what happens, what it means, and why the author wrote it that way. It includes recalling details, understanding sequence, making inferences about things the text does not say directly, understanding word meanings and identifying the main idea or theme.
- Why practise comprehension on a story my child made?
- Because your child cares about it and is not worried about getting it wrong. It lets them practise the kinds of questions readers ask, especially “why” questions, in a low-pressure way. The limitation is that they already know the story, so always follow up with the same questions about a book someone else wrote.
- What is an inference question?
- An inference question asks about something the text suggests but does not say directly. “Why do you think the dragon hid in the cave?” is an inference question if the story never states the reason. Children answer by combining clues in the text with what they already know.
- How often should I ask comprehension questions?
- Two or three questions after a story is plenty. Asking all five every time can turn reading into a quiz. Rotate the questions, keep it conversational and stop while your child is still enjoying it.
- What if my child gives a one-word answer?
- Ask “what makes you think that?” or “show me where in the story.” Pointing to the page is a skill in itself. If they are still stuck, share your own answer first, then ask whether they agree.
- Do these questions work for younger children?
- Yes, with adjustments. For younger children, focus on retelling and sequence using the pictures. Save the word-choice and big-idea questions for when retelling is comfortable, usually around second grade.
- Will making stories improve my child’s reading comprehension?
- Making and discussing stories gives children practice with the parts of comprehension, such as sequence, character motivation and main idea. It is one activity among many, not a guaranteed route to better scores. Reading widely and talking about books remain the foundation.
Try two questions tonight
Pick the "why" question and one other, and ask them about the next story you read together. See how ArtifyTales can turn a child’s drawing into an animated story, or explore creative activities by child-development stage.
Teachers: the Kindergarten–Grade 8 Common Core ELA alignment shows which reading standards these questions practise.