What Are These and Those? WH Questions – Animals (Printable PDF)

Understanding WH questions is essential for children’s language development, communication, and comprehension skills. Among WH questions, learning “What are these?” and “What are those?” helps children grasp demonstrative pronouns, which are crucial for sentence formation and describing objects.

The What Are These and Those? WH Questions – Animals (Printable PDF) is a structured learning resource that helps children recognize the difference between nearby objects (“these”) and distant objects (“those”) using real animal images. It encourages critical thinking, observation skills, and sentence building, making it an excellent tool for early learners, ESL students, and children in speech therapy.

This 9-page printable resource is designed for teachers, speech therapists, and parents to use in classrooms, therapy sessions, or at home.

Product Details

• Resource Name: What Are These and Those? WH Questions – Animals (Printable PDF)
• Format: Printable PDF
• Total Pages: 9
• Content:
  • Each page contains two sets of WH question activities (total of 18 sets).
  • Each set includes a real animal image with a hand pointing to nearby objects (these) or distant objects (those).
  • The answer is provided as a complete sentence (e.g., "These are ants.")
• Designed For:
  • Early learners (ages 3-7)
  • Speech therapy sessions
  • ESL learners (English as a Second Language)
  • Special education and language intervention

Examples of Included Sets:

✔ What are these? – Image of ants close by → These are ants.
✔ What are those? – Image of birds far away → Those are birds.
✔ What are these? – Image of puppies near a child → These are puppies.
✔ What are those? – Image of cows in a distant field → Those are cows.

This fun, interactive format helps children practice WH questions while building their vocabulary and sentence structure.

Educational Benefits

The What Are These and Those? WH Questions printable offers numerous language and cognitive benefits for children.

1. Strengthens WH Question Understanding

• Helps children identify and answer WH questions correctly.
• Provides structured practice with real-life images to reinforce learning.

2. Develops Speech & Language Skills

• Encourages proper sentence formation (e.g., These are elephants Those are elephants).
• Expands vocabulary related to animals and objects.
• Supports ESL learners in demonstrative pronoun usage.

3. Improves Observation & Comprehension

• Helps children distinguish between near and far objects.
• Encourages visual scanning and spatial awareness.

4. Supports Special Education & Speech Therapy

• Ideal for children with autism, speech delays, and communication disorders.
• Offers structured, predictable learning with visual supports.
• Helps in speech articulation and expressive language development.

5. Boosts Confidence in Communication

• Helps children form complete sentences confidently.
• Provides an engaging, non-intimidating learning method for early language development.

Instructions for Use

1. Print & Prepare the Cards

• Download and print the 9-page PDF on standard A4 or Letter-sized paper.
• For long-term use, laminate the pages or store them in a protective folder.

2. Basic Activity – Ask & Answer the WH Question

• Show the child a page and read aloud the WH question ("What are these?" or "What are those?").
• Encourage the child to observe the image and answer using a complete sentence ("These are turtles.").
• Repeat the activity with different images to reinforce learning.

3. Sorting Activity – These vs. Those

• Print and cut out the images.
• Ask the child to sort the images into two groups:
  ✅ “These” (close-up animals)
  ✅ “Those” (faraway animals)
• Once sorted, have them say a sentence for each category (e.g., "These are kittens." / "Those are deer.").

4. Matching Game

• Print out the WH question cards separately.
• Lay out the animal images and WH question cards face down.
• The child flips over one image card and one question card and tries to match them correctly.
• Once matched, they must answer the question aloud.

5. Role-Playing & Real-Life Extension

• Take the learning beyond the printable by using real-world examples:
  • Point to birds in the sky and ask, "What are those?" → Answer: "Those are birds."
  • Show a pile of books nearby and ask, "What are these?" → Answer: "These are books."
• This helps children apply their learning to everyday life, improving retention.

Activities Using the Resource

These What Are These and Those? WH Questions printable sequencing cards provide engaging ways for children to practice WH questions, understand demonstrative pronouns, and improve sentence formation. Below are several interactive activities that can be used in classrooms, therapy sessions, and home learning.

1. Ask & Answer Activity (Basic WH Question Practice)

Objective: Help children identify and answer WH questions correctly using real-life images.

How to Play:

• Show the child an image and read the WH question:

• "What are these?" (pointing to close objects)
• "What are those?" (pointing to far objects)

• Encourage the child to observe the image and respond with a complete sentence, e.g.:

• "These are ants."
• "Those are giraffes."

• Reinforce correct responses by repeating the sentences together.

✅ Skills Developed:
✔ WH question comprehension
✔ Sentence-building skills
✔ Vocabulary expansion

2. Sorting Game – These vs. Those

Objective: Strengthen children’s understanding of near and far objects by categorizing images.

How to Play:

• Print and cut out all the images.
• Create two labeled sections:
  ✅ "These" (close-up objects)
  ✅ "Those" (faraway objects)
• Ask the child to sort the images into the correct category.
• Once sorted, they say a sentence for each card, e.g.:

• "These are frogs."
• "Those are zebras."

✅ Skills Developed:
✔ Demonstrative pronoun understanding
✔ Visual discrimination
✔ Logical thinking

3. Matching Game – WH Question & Answer

Objective: Help children practice matching WH questions with the correct answer.

How to Play:

• Print the WH question cards separately.
• Place all the animal image cards face down on one side.
• Place all the WH question cards face down on another side.
• The child flips over one WH question card and one animal card.
• If they match (e.g., "What are these?" + Picture of cats), the child answers the question aloud.

✅ Skills Developed:
✔ WH question comprehension
✔ Memory recall
✔ Speech & language development

4. Describe the Scene (Expanding Vocabulary)

Objective: Help children expand their vocabulary and descriptive skills.

How to Play:

• Show the child an image (e.g., a group of ducks in a pond).
• Ask the WH question ("What are these?" or "What are those?").
• The child answers, but also describes more details, e.g.:

• "These are ducks. They are yellow and swimming in water."

• Encourage additional details:

• "What sound do they make?"
• "Where do ducks live?"

✅ Skills Developed:
✔ Observation skills
✔ Expressive language development
✔ Sentence expansion

5. Real-Life WH Question Hunt

Objective: Help children apply their learning in real-world settings.

How to Play:

• Take the child on a walk outdoors or inside the classroom.
• Ask spontaneous WH questions based on what they see:

• "What are these?" (pointing to a set of crayons on a desk)
• "What are those?" (pointing to birds in the sky)

• Encourage them to answer in full sentences.

✅ Skills Developed:
✔ Real-world language application
✔ Confidence in communication
✔ Attention to surroundings