Where Questions
Teaching children to understand and answer "where" builds spatial awareness, location vocabulary, and environmental understanding.
What Are Where Questions?
Where questions ask about location, position, or place. They help children understand spatial relationships and learn to describe where things are.
- "Where is the ball?"
- "Where did the dog go?"
- "Where do you sleep?"
Answering where questions requires understanding prepositions (in, on, under, behind) and having vocabulary for locations and places.
When Do Children Learn Where Questions?
Where questions typically develop alongside spatial language, usually emerging between ages 2-3:
Ages 2-2.5
Children begin responding to "Where is [object]?" by pointing or looking toward the location.
Ages 2.5-3
Children can verbally answer where questions using simple location words (here, there) and prepositions (in, on).
Ages 3-4
Children use more complex prepositions (under, behind, between) and can describe locations in stories.
Ages 4-5
Children answer abstract where questions about places they can't see ("Where does grandma live?").
Where questions are closely tied to preposition development. Children who struggle with spatial language may need targeted teaching of location words.
Teaching Where Questions
Play hide and seek
Hide objects and ask "Where is the [toy]?" This makes learning location words fun and meaningful.
Teach prepositions explicitly
Practice in, on, under, next to, behind, between with physical objects before asking questions.
Use daily routines
"Where do we put the dishes?" "Where are your shoes?" Natural contexts for practice.
Describe picture scenes
Point to items in pictures and ask where they are relative to other objects.
Build to community places
"Where do we buy food?" "Where do you go when you're sick?" connects to real-world knowledge.
Examples by Difficulty
Easier (visible location)
- Where is the cat? (sitting on a chair)
- Where is the book? (on the table)
- Where is mommy? (in the kitchen)
Medium (common places)
- Where do fish live?
- Where do we cook food?
- Where does the teacher work?
Harder (abstract/inference)
- Where did the boy go? (inferring from a story)
- Where would you find a penguin?
- Where should we look for the lost keys?
Coming to Our App
Where questions will be part of our expanded WH Questions app, with illustrated scenarios that help children practice location vocabulary.
Learn more about our Why app→