How the assessment works
You can see exactly how KidType works without taking the assessment. The item format and the response scale change with age, scores are calculated as an average across five dimensions, and those scores are then expressed as one of 32 animals. Every number below is pulled directly from the live configuration.
How to take the KidType personality assessment
Assess your child's personality and temperament with KidType in a few minutes. Free, no account required.
Choose the child's age
Select the child's age group (3-4, 5-6, 7-9, or 10). The quiz format adapts to the age.
Choose the mode
Pick parent-observation or child self-answer mode.
Answer the questions
Complete the age-adapted questions (picture forced-choice for younger, scale for older).
See the result
Get one of 32 animal friend types with Big Five temperament scores. Optionally save or email the result.
What is measured — five dimensions
The substance of KidType is not the animal; it is the five dimension scores. Each is shown from 0 to 100, and neither end is better than the other — they are directions, not rankings. Wherever there is a strength at the high end, there is a corresponding strength at the low end.
- Energy
- Calm · careful ↔ Lively · social
- Warmth
- Independent · own view ↔ Caring · cooperative
- Self-control
- Spontaneous · free ↔ Planful · patient
- Sensitivity
- Relaxed · stable ↔ Delicate · sensitive
- Curiosity
- Prefers the familiar ↔ Imaginative · exploring
The assessment changes with age
The same items are not used at every age. Children aged 3 to 6 find it hard to read a statement and rate how much it applies, so they choose between two pictures instead (forced choice). Scales begin at age 7. The number of items is also set to match how long a child of that age can stay with it.
Ages 3-4
- Response format
- Choose 1 of 2 pictures
- Child answering
- 8 items
- Parent answering
- 10 items
- Dimensions measured
- Energy · Warmth · Self-control · Sensitivity
Ages 5-6
- Response format
- Choose 1 of 2 pictures
- Child answering
- 13 items
- Parent answering
- 16 items
- Dimensions measured
- Energy · Warmth · Self-control · Sensitivity · Curiosity
Ages 7-9
- Response format
- Picture + 3-point scale
- Child answering
- 16 items
- Parent answering
- 16 items
- Dimensions measured
- Energy · Warmth · Self-control · Sensitivity · Curiosity
Age 10
- Response format
- Picture + 5-point scale
- Child answering
- 20 items
- Parent answering
- 20 items
- Dimensions measured
- Energy · Warmth · Self-control · Sensitivity · Curiosity
Ages 3 to 4 have no curiosity (O) items. Curiosity cannot be measured reliably at that age, and we do not describe a child using an axis we did not measure — the result says so explicitly.
Who answers
You can choose between a parent answering from observation and the child answering directly. For ages 3 to 6, research shows self-report is unreliable, so parent observation is recommended — and even the child mode uses forced choice between pictures rather than an emoji scale (the Berkeley Puppet Interview approach). From age 7 self-report becomes reasonably reliable, so direct answering is available; running both and reading them together gives the most accurate picture.
How scores are calculated
Scale responses are first converted to a value between -1 and +1. On a 5-point scale, the middle option becomes 0 and the two ends become -1 and +1. Forced choice gives +1 or -1 depending on which side was chosen. Reverse-keyed items have their sign flipped back to the original direction. Those values are then averaged per dimension and converted to a 0-100 figure. Because the number of items is small, extremes like 0 and 100 are not used — the range is capped at 4 to 96.
52 and 92 are not read the same way
With only two to four items per dimension, the scores are not precise. A score near 50 genuinely means "neither direction is pronounced," but attaching a label to it invites reading it as a fixed trait. So scores are shown in three bands, and a child is never described using a dimension that falls in the middle band.
- Middle — neither direction pronounced
- 45 - 55
- Somewhat this way
- 35 - 44 / 56 - 65
- Pronounced
- < 35 / > 65
How the animal is decided
Each of the five dimensions is read as above or below the midpoint of 50. That gives 2×2×2×2×2, or 32 combinations, and each combination has an animal name. The animal is a device for making the scores memorable; the substance is always the dimension bars. Two children with the same animal can still have quite different score profiles.
What this assessment cannot do
- It is not a medical or psychological diagnosis. If anything about your child's development or emotional life concerns you, speak to a child psychologist.
- Results for ages 3 to 6 vary considerably. Temperament at that age is still settling, so a repeat a few months later may produce a different animal.
- The small number of items means the scores are not precise. That is why results are shown in three bands rather than as decimals or rankings.
- No study has validated the 32-animal scheme itself. What has evidence behind it is the five dimensions underneath and the way they are measured.
- Do not let one result define your child. This is a snapshot of a moment, not a description of who they are.
What this guide rests on
The sources below apply to the measurement model, the response scales, stability, and the decision not to use a typological model. They informed KidType — that does not mean these works validate KidType.
- Temperament model for ages 3-6 — Rothbart et al. (2001), Child Development 72(5)
- Item design, CBQ short form — Putnam & Rothbart (2006), Journal of Personality Assessment 87(1)
- Children's “Little Six” dimensions — Mervielde & De Fruyt (1999), HiPIC
- Development of self-report by age — Soto et al. (2008), JPSP 94(4)
- 3-point (ages 7-9) and 5-point (age 10) scale — Maćkiewicz & Cieciuch (2016), PPTQ-C, Frontiers in Psychology 7:498
- Illustrated forced choice for ages 3-6 — Ringoot et al. (2013), Berkeley Puppet Interview
- Why the result is presented as a snapshot — Roberts & DelVecchio (2000), Psychological Bulletin 126(1)
- Anchor-item equating for tracking change — Kolen & Brennan (2014), Test Equating, Scaling, and Linking
- Why an MBTI-style typological model is not used — Pittenger (2005), Consulting Psychology Journal 57(3)
⚠️ This description is a temperament snapshot for reference, not a medical or psychological diagnosis. Temperament shifts as children grow, and results for ages 3-6 are especially changeable. If something worries you, speak with a child psychology professional.
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