Here are some of the best questions for an elementary school student survey about recess experience, along with tips on how to create them. If you want to build your own tailored survey in seconds, you can generate one with Specific—our AI survey platform for conversational feedback.
Best open-ended questions for student recess surveys
Open-ended questions give students the freedom to express their true feelings, stories, and suggestions without constraints. They’re powerful when you want nuanced feedback, context, or to uncover things you didn’t expect. However, some students may skip these or provide only brief answers; research shows open-ended survey questions can see nonresponse rates around 18% on average, but, when invited, 76% of people still add thoughtful comments [1][2]. Use these when you want to dig deeper and truly understand what recess means to your students.
What do you enjoy most about recess at school?
Describe a memorable moment you had during recess.
Are there any activities or games you wish were available at recess?
If you could change one thing about recess, what would it be and why?
How do you usually feel after recess is over?
Tell us about your favorite game or activity during recess. Why do you like it?
Is there anything that sometimes makes recess less fun for you?
How do you decide who to play with during recess?
Have you ever helped someone during recess or been helped by another student? What happened?
What do you think teachers or playground supervisors could do to make recess better?
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for student recess surveys
Single-select multiple-choice questions help us quickly identify popular options and make it easier for students who might struggle with writing. They’re essential when you want to quantify experiences or preferences, and they keep surveys brief—studies show surveys with closed-ended questions are completed 40-50% faster than those with mostly open-ended ones [3]. You can also use them to spark conversation or make students comfortable before following up with open-ended or “why” questions.
Question: How do you usually spend your time during recess?
Playing team sports
Playing tag or running games
Talking with friends
Reading or drawing
Sitting quietly or alone
Other
Question: Which location do you like best for recess?
Playground equipment area
Open field
Basketball court
Indoor recess room
Other
Question: How do you feel about the amount of time given for recess?
Way too short
A little short
Just right
A little too long
Way too long
When to followup with "why?" Follow-up “why” questions work well after a closed-ended question reveals a strong preference or dissatisfaction—especially if you want to understand the reasoning or hear suggestions. Example: If a student selects “Way too short” for recess length, asking “Why do you feel it’s too short?” helps you uncover root causes you can address.
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Include an “Other” option when you can’t guarantee your choices cover every student’s experience. After a student picks it, follow up with “Can you tell me more about your answer?” to capture unique or unexpected insights that you might otherwise miss.
NPS-type question for student recess experience
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) question—traditionally used to measure loyalty or satisfaction—can be reframed for students: "On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our school’s recess to a new student?" This helps you gauge overall sentiment at a glance, and makes it easy to compare trends over time or across grades. Since elementary students may need clearer language, tweak the wording to ensure clarity, and always ask for an explanation after they choose a number. Try building one instantly with this pre-made NPS survey generator.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-up questions—especially when powered by AI—make your surveys conversational and gather context in real time. It’s a big leap from the old “one and done” paper forms. With automated follow-up questions, Specific can dig deeper, clarify unclear answers, and adapt based on each student’s unique response. Instead of chasing responses over email or in-person, you get richer, more complete insights right from the start.
Student: "I don’t always like recess."
AI follow-up: "Can you tell me what would make recess more enjoyable for you?"
How many followups to ask? In general, 2-3 targeted follow-ups are enough to clarify and uncover deeper reasons, but you can set the AI to move on whenever you have the needed info. Specific lets you adjust this for each question.
This makes it a conversational survey—each reply builds on the last, making the experience feel like a real conversation, not a quiz.
AI analysis of free-text responses is now painless. Even with a lot of open-ended answers, you can quickly analyze survey responses with AI, identifying trends and the “why” behind students’ feelings.
Automated, dynamic follow-ups are a new standard. Try generating a survey and see how the experience changes when your questions evolve with your students’ answers.
How to prompt ChatGPT for great student recess survey questions
If you want to experiment with ChatGPT or another GPT tool to brainstorm survey questions, start with a simple request:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for elementary school student survey about recess experience.
For better results, give more detail about the context, your goal, or the audience:
I'm a school counselor designing a survey for 3rd to 5th graders to understand what they like and don’t like about recess. I want both open-ended and multiple-choice questions, and I care about improving playground safety and inclusivity. Suggest 10 open-ended questions.
Once you have a list, organize them with:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Next, drill down further by asking:
Generate 10 questions for categories such as "Feelings about recess," "Preferred activities," and "Suggestions for improvements."
This helps you quickly produce a broad set of questions—and then tailor your survey to focus on what matters most.
What is a conversational survey?
A conversational survey goes beyond traditional forms by adapting to each answer—asking timely follow-ups, clarifying details, exploring tangents, and making respondents feel truly heard. Instead of filling boxes or clicking through static pages, the student interacts in a chat-like flow that’s familiar and comfortable. Specific’s AI survey builder brings this experience to life for any topic.
Manual Survey Creation | AI-Generated Conversational Survey |
|---|---|
Requires careful manual drafting, testing, and editing | Built quickly by describing your needs—the AI suggests and refines |
Static, fixed questions | Dynamic, adaptive questions and follow-ups |
Limited clarification, no real-time probing | Responsive follow-ups for richer, clearer answers |
Time-consuming analysis of free-text | AI summarizes responses instantly and allows chat-based analysis |
Why use AI for elementary school student surveys? Kids are used to chatting—conversational AI makes them comfortable, validates their experiences, and helps them open up. Plus, you save hours creating, running, and analyzing your surveys. Conversational AI survey examples consistently show higher-quality feedback and more authentic suggestions than rigid forms.
Ready for hands-on? Learn how to create a survey in minutes, or try the generator yourself. Specific delivers sharp insights and the smoothest conversational survey UX—so it’s easier for you and more fun for your students.
See this recess experience survey example now
Create your own elementary school student survey about recess experience and discover firsthand how AI-driven, conversational surveys unlock honest, insightful feedback from students—effortlessly and at scale.