The "Why" Room Coloring Page

About this page

Now we get a peek inside the place where wondering lives. This gloriously cluttered bedroom, with its maps, globes, and planets dangling from the ceiling, shows children that curiosity has a home, and it is often a little messy. The page teaches a quiet but important idea, that research does not start in a laboratory. It starts wherever you are, the moment you wonder how something works. Fans of Curious Bunny will love spotting the clues to her interests scattered around the room, and kids may notice their own rooms hold clues about them too.

The research skill

This cluttered bedroom holds books, maps, a globe, a telescope, and hanging planets. The skill it practices is turning the things around you into research questions. Every object in the room points to a topic Curious Bunny has already wondered about, and each could spark a new "how" or "why." Researchers often find their best questions in their own surroundings, and teachers use the same approach when they ask students to write a "wonder" about something on their desk. Seeing questions everywhere is the heart of Chapter 1.

Try it at home

Go on a question hunt in your child's own room. Set a timer for ten minutes and pick five objects together, such as a stuffed animal, a flashlight, a book, a window, and a sock. For each one, your child asks one question that starts with "how" or "why": How does the flashlight turn on? Why do socks come in pairs? Write every question down. At the end, let your child circle the one they most want answered, and plan together how you might find out this week.

Talk about it while you color

• What things in your room show what you love to wonder about?
• Which object in Curious Bunny's room would you want to play with first?
• If you hung something from your ceiling like those planets, what would it be?