Question of the day on a whiteboard (list of 97)

Whiteboards are wonderful platforms. A centralized area where people can collaborate. The temporary nature of the erasing medium allows people to let down their guard. Whatever is written will be erased. Then a new fresh surface is ready for more ideas and sharing. On my creativity blog I share a list of whiteboard games.

My daughter’s kindergarten after-school program at the YMCA has a Question of the Day. Every day one of the teachers writes a question on a white board. As each child answers the question, the teacher writes the child’s name along with his/her response.

Here is an example, with the kids’ names blurred out for privacy.

97 whiteboard questions

1. If you had a pet dragon what would you name it?
2. What is your most favorite food?
3. Who is your friend?
4. Would you rather go camping or stay at a hotel
5. What makes you happy?
6. What makes you smile?
7. If you could go back in time, where would you go?
8. What is your favorite breakfast food?
9. What is your favorite movie?
10. What is your favorite part of the school day?
11. If you could invent a robot, what could it do?
12. What is your favorite zoo animal?
13. If you were a desert, what would you be?
14. What do you think is in outer space?
15. What is the ickiest food you’ve ever tasted?
16. If you could fly, where would you go?
17. What do you like to do the most when you are not in school?
18. What do you want to be when you grow up?
19. What is your favorite season?
20. What is one thing you could do all day without stopping?
21. If you could make up a new holiday, what would it be?
22. What is your favorite thing to do with your family?
23. If you could grow anything in your yard, what would it be?
24. What makes the best fort?
25. What do you enjoy doing with your mom?
26. If you could combine two animals, what would they be?
27. If you could learn another language, what would it be?
28. What is your favorite thanksgiving food?
29. If you were invisible for a day, what would you do?
30. What is your favorite part of thanksgiving?
31. Name one thing you would like to have in the future
32. If you could get rid of one food forever, what would it be?
33. What is the first thing you do Christmas morning?
34. What you rather spend Christmas on the beach or in the snow?
35. Would you rather swim in the ocean or the pool?
36. Where is your favorite hiding spot when playing hide-n-seek?
37. Would you rather hibernate or stay awake?
38. Would you rather rake leaves or shovel snow?
39. Would you rather eat spaghetti or tacos?
40. Would you rather go water skiing or snow skiing
41. Would you rather live in a cave or a treehouse?
42. Would you rather see the world in black-and-white or glow-in-the-dark?
43. Would you rather go to the zoo or go to the aquarium?
44. Would you rather be able to stop time or go back in time?
45. Would you rather be a detective or a pilot?
46. Would you rather have tiger stripes or porcupine needles?
47. Would you rather eat pudding or Jello?
48. Would you rather make a snowman or build a sandcastle?
49. Would you rather be able to talk to animals or read people’s minds?
50. Would you rather drive a police car or a fire truck?
51. Would you rather have ten siblings or one sibling?
52. Would you rather be the president or a celebrity?
53. Will the groundhog see his shadow? Yes or no
54. If you could teach one subject, what would it be?
55. What sound do you like to hear?
56. Would you rather discover a new animal or planet?
57. Would you rather ride a flying car or unicorn?
58. Would you rather help clean the room or help for dinner?
59. What wild animals have you seen this winter?
60. Would you rather eat one giant meal per day or ten tiny meals per day?
61. Would you rather buy one $100 toy or 100 $1 toys?
62. Would you rather live in a mansion in the city or on a farm with animals?
63. Would you rather eat pizza or mac-n-cheese?
64. Would you rather teach someone a new joke or a new dance?
65. Would you rather sleep late or get up early?
66. If you could be invisible for one day, what would you do?
67. If you could pick a name for yourself, what would it be?
68. If you could draw anything right now, what would it be?
69. You’re a photographer for a day, what would you take a picture of?
70. Would you rather play inside or outside?
71. Would you rather have a food fight or water balloon fight with your family?
72. Would you rather be an athelete at the Summer Olympics or the Winter Olympics?
73. Would you rather move to a different city or different state?
74. Would you rather have pancakes for breakfast everyday or pizza for dinner everyday?
75. What spells do leprechauns do?
76. Would you rather be able to control the weather or talk to animals?
77. Would you rather go to the doctor or the dentist?
78. Would you rather live with your parents or grandparents?
79. If you could spend a day with a character from a book, TV show, or movie; who would you choose?
80. Would you rather swim with dolphins or turtles?
81. Would you rather have a bowl full of candy or bowl full of ice cream?
82. Would you rather have unlimited art supplies or unlimited LEGOs?
83. If you found a genie, what would you wish for?
84. Would you rather have a treehouse or a hideout underground?
85. What are you thankful for?
86. If your house was on fire and you had time to safely grab one thing before running out, what would it be?
87. Would you rather jump in a pool of slime or a pool of mud?
88. Would you rather find something you lost or get something brand new?
89. Would you rather be shrunk down to the size of a bug or become the size of a whale?
90. How do you like best helping others?
91. Would you rather be stranded on a desert island or in the forest?
92. If you could be any age for the rest of your life, what age would you be? Why?
93. Which sense is your favorite? Seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling
94. If you were the only person on earth, what would be the first thing you would do?
95. Would you rather go to school or attend online school?
96. Would you rather be alone in the desert or in the jungle?
97. Would you rather play a board game or a card game?

Naturally, seeing my daughter’s answers every day is fun. We could ask her a question like this at home. But what happens when she is asked the same question in a classroom setting? I love seeing how her answers potentially shift in this context.

Being able to see all her classmates’ answers is also a blast. It’s a great way to get to know her classmates more. The range of answers shows fun creativity. You’ll also see how one child answers something; then, a bunch uses a similar response. For instance, “What makes you smile?” Once someone answers a flavor of ice cream, many other kids use a type of ice cream in their response.

I’m considering making this a series on my Twitter where I answer the Circle Time Question of the Day. All my answers will be under the hashtag #CircleTimeQuestionOfTheDay. (Given the length of this hashtag, nobody has ever used it. Which is kinda cool; this will group all these tweets nicely).

For now, I’ll answer some of the first questions.

• If you had a pet dragon what would you name it? Fireball (or Tulli—Finnish for fire)
• What is your favorite food? Gnocchi with corn and other stuff my wife puts into the dish.
• Who is your friend? Abhay
• Would you rather go camping or stay at a hotel? Camping
• What makes you happy? When people comment on my blog posts
• What makes you smile? Seeing my daughters after a day of work
• If you had your own store, what kind of store would it be? Ok, I have a hard time answering this one, so I’m going to break this off into multiple points…
  • I would say comic book store, because I love reading comic books. I wouldn’t be a good comic book store owner, because I’m not an expert in comic books. I read mostly Transformers comics. So maybe my store would be an Everything Transformers Store. Oh man. That would be incredible.
  • I would say toy store, because I love toys. But cleaning up messy aisles would get old.
  • I would say art store, but then I wouldn’t want it to be a snooty gallery.
  • I’d like to have a store where I sell fun posters and art that I make.
  • I absolutely love art museum stores. That would be fun too.
  • I’d also be open to something completely quirky and niche. Like a rope store. All sorts of ropes sold. I don’t know anything about ropes. But I bet there are lots of types of ropes for all different uses.

Make sure to check out the daily hashtag #CircleTimeQuestionOfTheDay on Twitter.