Big Imagination
Invent animals, planets and impossible machines.
Family conversation cards · ages 4–12
One question. A real conversation.
Cards Junior turns dinner, the school run and bedtime into the best five minutes of your day. Draw a card, read it out loud, and listen to what your child says next.
- 8 themed packs, 32 questions each
- A new card for everyone, every day
- No ads, no chat, no sign-up
For iPhone, iPad and Android · ages 4–12
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Three steps, five minutes
No setup, no reading homework for the grown-ups. Open it and talk.
- 1
Pick a pack
Feelings, imagination, family, dreams — choose the mood you are in tonight.
- 2
Read it out loud
One card at a time, big friendly type, easy enough for an early reader to take a turn.
- 3
Keep the best ones
Save the questions that made everybody laugh and share them with grandparents.
How to use conversation starters with your kids
A few small habits make the difference between "fine" and a real conversation.
- 1
Pick a calm moment
Dinner, a car ride or bedtime work best. Many children need a snack and a little quiet before they want to talk.
- 2
Ask one question
Draw a card, read it out loud, and wait. Count to five in your head before you add anything.
- 3
Answer too
When a parent answers first, honestly and with a laugh, the child learns that this is play and not a test.
- 4
Keep it short
Five minutes most days beats a long talk now and then. Stop while everyone is still having fun.
Eight packs for every mood
Every question is written by hand for young children — open-ended, kind and never a quiz.
How I Feel
Name the feeling, then talk about it together.
Family & Friends
Who is in your family, and what makes them yours.
Curious Minds
The questions that start with why and never end.
Dreams & Goals
What you want to be, make, see and try.
Silly Stuff
Deliberately ridiculous. Guaranteed giggles.
Kind Things
Small acts of kindness, noticed out loud.
Best Memories
The moments you want to keep forever.
Inside the app
Exactly what you get — no clutter, no dark patterns, nothing to tap by accident.
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Kind Things
If you could invent a brand new animal, what would it look like?
What's something tiny that makes you really happy?
Best Memories
What's something tiny that makes you really happy?
If you could invent a brand new animal, what would it look like?
Cards Junior
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Made for real family moments
Cards Junior is a five-minute app, not a five-hour one. That is the point.
Screen down, faces up
One question fills the screen. The phone goes down and the talking starts.
Works everywhere
Dinner table, back seat, waiting room, bedtime. No internet needed once installed.
Grows with them
A four-year-old and a ten-year-old answer the same card in wonderfully different ways.
Written, not generated
Every question was written and read aloud by parents before it made the deck.
Cards Junior
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Safe by design
Built to the standards children’s apps should meet before a family ever installs them.
- No ads and no third-party advertising SDKs
- No accounts, no names, no child profiles
- No chat, no user content, no external links in the kids area
- Purchases sit behind a grown-ups-only parental gate
Questions parents ask
What age is Cards Junior for?
It is written for roughly ages 4 to 12. Younger children answer with a grown-up reading the card; older kids happily read for the whole table.
Do we need an internet connection?
No. After installing, every pack works offline — ideal for the car, the plane and the restaurant.
Are there ads?
None. There is no advertising anywhere in the app and no third-party ad code.
Is it free?
The Big Imagination pack is free forever. A family subscription unlocks the other seven packs and everything added later.
How many questions are there?
Eight packs with 32 hand-written questions each, plus a new Card of the Day for everyone.
What data do you collect about my child?
None. There are no accounts, no profiles and nothing that identifies a child.
What are good conversation starters for kids?
Good ones are open (no yes or no answer), concrete and playful, like "What made you laugh today?" or "If you invented a new animal, what would it look like?". Cards Junior has hand-written cards for ages 4 to 12, and our free question lists below give you plenty to start with.
How do I get my child to talk about their day?
Pick a relaxed moment, ask about one small detail instead of the whole day, and share your own answer first. Avoid correcting or judging what you hear. A card from the app can take the pressure off, because the question comes from the deck and not from you.
Can we use Cards Junior at dinner and in the car?
Yes. Once installed, every pack works offline, so it is fine for the dinner table, the back seat, the waiting room and bedtime. One card fills the screen, and the phone goes down while everybody talks.
Are there free conversation starters for kids?
Yes. The Big Imagination pack in the app is free, and this site has free lists you can read or print: would you rather questions for kids, this or that questions, conversation starters by age, and family dinner conversation starters.
Is Cards Junior safe for children?
It was built with children in mind: no ads, no third-party advertising code, no accounts, no chat and no user content. Purchases are behind a grown-ups-only parental gate.
Which devices does Cards Junior run on?
Cards Junior is available on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. The questions are written for kids ages 4 to 12 and work for the whole family.
Free question lists for kids and families
Read them, draw a random question, or use them to see if Cards Junior fits your family.
- Would you rather for kids154 questions
- This or that for kids105 questions
- Conversation starters for kids211 questions
- Family dinner conversation starters64 questions
In other languages
The Cards Junior journal
Short, practical reading for the five minutes before dinner.
20 conversation starters for the dinner table
Why “how was school?” never works, and what to ask instead.
4 min read
20 conversation starters for the dinner table
Why “how was school?” never works, and what to ask instead.
“How was school?” is a closed door. It asks for a verdict, and children hand back the shortest one they have: fine. A better question asks for a story, and stories are what children are actually good at.
Try the smallest possible frame. What made you laugh today. Who did you sit next to. What was the hardest thing you did. Each one has a beginning and an end, which is exactly what a tired child can manage.
Then do the hardest part: say nothing. Count to five in your head. The pause is where the real answer arrives, usually about twenty seconds after the first one.
Why kids open up when the question is better
A little psychology behind open-ended questions.
3 min read
Why kids open up when the question is better
A little psychology behind open-ended questions.
Children answer closed questions defensively because they sound like a test. An open question has no right answer, so there is nothing to fail, and the pressure disappears.
Imagination questions work even better. Asking what a brand new animal would look like lets a child say something true about themselves while talking about something else entirely.
Take a turn yourself. When a parent answers first — badly, honestly, with a laugh — the child learns the game is play, not performance.
Screen time that ends in conversation
How to use a question app without it becoming another app.
3 min read
Screen time that ends in conversation
How to use a question app without it becoming another app.
Not all screen time is the same. A five-minute app that ends with the phone face down and four people talking is doing something different from an infinite feed.
Give it a slot. One card at dinner, one in the car, one before lights out. A ritual beats a rule, and children remember rituals.
Let the child hold the phone and be the host. Reading the card out loud is a small, real job, and it turns the device into a prop instead of the point.