Children have the gift of asking questions.
- Why does the sky change colors at sunset?
- Who decided what the words meant?
- Why do we call it a building when it is built?
- Do fish know they are wet?
- Why should we read this?
Those questions—even the tricky or silly ones—are signs of something significant going on in the child’s brain. Curiosity is one of the most powerful elements of learning, yet it is rarely considered as something we teach. We expect it to reveal itself, or we hope it will survive the school day intact. But a 2022 study by the University of Virginia found that by 5th grade, curiosity in the classroom has almost died out. It turns out we can do more than hope. We can nurture it, model it, and create opportunities for intentional curiosity in the way we teach.
Read on to learn more about what curiosity really is, why it’s so important to children, and how you can teach curiosity in the classroom every day. Also, check out seven curiosity-building activities from the Van Andel Institute for Education.
So, What Exactly Is Curiosity?
At its core, curiosity is the drive to seek new knowledge, experience, and understanding. It’s what makes a child tear a flower apart to see what it’s made of, asking “what’s inside?” about everything, or spend the whole break trying to figure out how to climb the slide. It’s not just interest, it’s the drive to act on that interest and you’ll get it.
Psychotherapist and owner of Polaris Counseling & Consulting Jennifer Weaver puts it simply: “Curiosity in children looks like children asking a lot of questions.
He also notes that curiosity can seem like nonsense. “‘Who are you talking to on the phone?’ ‘What video are you watching?’ These are examples of a child learning about the world and trying to understand it.”
In other words, when kids can’t seem to stop asking questions or are angry about everything around them, they’re usually doing what their developing brains are supposed to do. According to Dr. Todd Kashdan, a psychologist and researcher at George Mason University, curiosity is not just one thing. His research, published in Journal of Research in Humanitiespresents five different dimensions of curiosity: joyful exploration (enjoyment of learning new things), vulnerability sensitivity (frustration due to not knowing something at the moment), stress tolerance (ability to move beyond uncertainty), social curiosity (wanting to understand other people), and pleasure seeking (longing for new and challenging experiences).
Seeing all five dimensions is important because research tells us that they cannot sustain themselves. A University of Virginia study found that curiosity in all ways tends to wane the longer children are in school. That means teachers aren’t just content providers—keeping kids curious requires intentional teaching.
Why Curiosity is Important for Children
Curiosity isn’t just a good thing to have. It is deeply tied to how children learn, grow, and develop their sense of the world.
Curiosity fuels deep learning
When students are curious about a topic, they engage with it deeply and remember it for a long time. UC Davis neurologist Dr. Charan Ranganath has shown that curiosity activates the brain’s reward system, and this feedback puts the brain in a state ready to learn and retain. In other words, curiosity not only makes learning fun, it makes it stick.
It builds resilience and problem solving skills
Inquisitive children may not give up easily when the going gets tough. They may reframe obstacles as puzzles to solve. A student who wonders “why” something didn’t work is on the way to finding out what will happen.
Curiosity shapes a child’s relationship with learning itself
This may be the most important reason of all. According to Weaver, “When a child’s curiosity is encouraged or suppressed, we reinforce it to learn more or show that learning should not be valued. The way we answer a child’s questions sends a strong message about whether their questioning is acceptable. Over time, that message shapes whether they see themselves as learners and whether they feel that their thoughts are important or not.”
Curiosity supports social-emotional development
Curiosity about other people—”Why do they do things differently than my family?” “What is it like to be them?”—is the basis for developing empathy and connection. Students who are curious about their classmates can be more open, more engaged, and more involved.
How to Teach Curiosity in the Classroom
You don’t have to add a new unit to your curriculum to teach curiosity. It’s about changing the way you answer questions, the way you design tasks, and create space for discovery. Here’s how to make it happen.
Validate questions—even when times are tough
Weaver’s advice to teachers is straightforward: “Teachers can verbally affirm and reinforce children who are asking questions.” He admits the truth of the full class: “When it’s bad question time, [try saying]’Thank you very much for asking that. We can’t talk about it now, but I’ll be sure to answer that question later.’”
That small moment of acknowledgment tells the reader that their curiosity is important and that they will return to it. A sticky note on the board, a “wonder wall,” or a simple notebook designed with questions can help you keep that promise.
Engaging activities that invite exploration over instruction
Some of the best activities to create curiosity are those where the outcome is not yet decided. When students have to discover something rather than follow the steps of a predetermined answer, curiosity automatically kicks in. The Van Andel Institute for Education (VAI) has developed a number of curiosity activities and resources that do this and:
- Make It Float!in the STEM Parade Timely Topic, challenges students to explore outcomes using just a few simple and flexible items—perfect for evoking the “I wonder what would happen if …” mindset.
- Twin To Winfrom VAI Games and Activities, uses Pentominoes to make students curious about how different shapes can come together to form something familiar. It uses space, it is tactile, and it involves infinity.
- Bernoulli’s principlein VAI’s STEM @ Home Newsletter, takes abstract science and connects it to students’ everyday lives through a variety of simple experiments. When children realize that physics is already happening around them, their questions quickly multiply.
- Wind Powered Pinwheel asks students to build their own wheels and discover what it takes for wind to generate electricity. The engineering challenge keeps the curiosity swirling all the time.
- Flight Schoolfrom VAI’s Books to Builds, invites readers to explore how birds fly and what makes a paper airplane soar. A Construction Book activity that pairs reading with hands-on discovery.
- would you ratherin Daily SEL Games & Activities, encourages students to be curious about their classmates in a classroom game—perfect for SEL time.
- Habitat Heroes encourages students to be curious about how they can protect animals in their community.
Simulate your curiosity
One of the easiest and most effective things you can do is to let your students see you wonder out loud. “I’m not sure about that—let’s find out” or “This makes me curious about…” or “I’ve always wondered why …” When curiosity is something that teachers freely do, students get the message that it’s not just for kids—it’s a lifelong habit.
The Bottom Line
Curiosity is not something children have or don’t have. It is something that grows or shrinks because of the environment around them. When classrooms feel safe enough to ask questions, interesting enough to spark wonder, and functional enough to support authentic exploration, curiosity thrives. But it also requires intentional teaching to keep curiosity alive. And when curiosity flourishes, so does everything else: engagement, resilience, empathy, yes, success, because it produces the kind of deep learning that really sticks. That’s a great payback for endlessly asking “why”!
