Think about the difference between passive and active learning. When children consume information online, do they tend to accept it without question? When they hit a problem, do they default to the same approach every time, rather than looking for a different way through?
These are not simply habits — they reflect how a child has learned to think. And paired reading, approached with intention, is one of the most natural ways to change that.
Critical Thinking — Learning to Think for Yourself
Research from the Department of Educational Sciences at the University of Perugia found that children who engage in daily paired reading develop stronger critical thinking skills than their peers. Critical thinking equips children to evaluate whether information is accurate, assess whether reasoning is sound, and resist the pull of accepting things at face value. The study also highlighted that the quality of parent interaction during reading is a key factor in developing this ability.
Two simple prompts that open the door:
Express a view — “Do you think the character made the right decision? Why?”
Explore the reasoning — “Why do you think they made that choice?”
Creative Thinking — Opening Up Possibilities
Research from Yale University found that the imagination children bring to stories — exploring multiple possibilities rather than converging on a single answer — reflects genuine creative capacity. When parents invite children to predict what might happen next, or imagine how a story could have unfolded differently, they are actively engaging that capacity and giving it room to grow.
These higher-order thinking skills are not innate. They develop through guided practice — through the habit of being asked to question, analyse, imagine, and create. Paired reading, done with curiosity and intention, is one of the most accessible ways to build them.
Two prompts that encourage creative exploration:
Predict — “What do you think is going to happen next?”
Reimagine — “If the character had made a different choice, how might the story have gone?”
A Note on How to Ask
The way a question is framed matters as much as the question itself. Open-ended questions — built around “why,” “what if,” and “how” — give children the space to think deeply and express themselves freely. Questions with a single right or wrong answer tend to close that space down. The goal is not to test what children know, but to invite them to think in ways they might not have tried before.
The ability to question, reason, imagine, and create — these are not just useful for school. They are the tools that will help children navigate a world that increasingly rewards those who can think beyond the obvious.
