Tonight with your 9 to 12 year old
The prompt
“What's something you love building or drawing when you're bored and nobody told you to?”
What to listen for
The things kids make with no assignment attached are the truest window into what actually interests them, pay attention to whether it's the same thing every time (a sign of real focus) or always something different (a sign of a wide-open, exploring mind).
If they get genuinely animated describing it, that's them telling you they need more unstructured time, not more scheduled activities, to feel like themselves.
If they say they don't really build or draw anything, ask what they do instead when they're bored, everyone has some private default mode, even if it's not art.
What this tells you
What they create with no one watching shows you who they are when they're not performing for anyone.