Explain Like I’m 5 (ELI5) Prompt
Explain [topic] to me like I'm five years old. Use simple words, a short relatable comparison to something a young child would already understand (a toy, a game, a family routine), and keep it to no more than three or four short sentences. Avoid technical terms entirely -- if you need to use one, immediately explain it in the same simple way. After the simple explanation, add one sentence starting with "In grown-up terms," that gives a slightly more accurate but still brief version, so I can check the simple explanation did not lose anything important.
The classic “explain like I’m five” prompt works because it forces a genuinely simple explanation instead of a lightly-simplified technical one — this version adds one extra step most versions skip: a quick grown-up-level check afterward, so you can confirm the simple version did not quietly get something wrong.
What this produces
Expect a short, plain-language explanation using an everyday comparison a child would recognize, followed by one sentence that fills in the more accurate, adult-level version. That second sentence is what keeps this useful for genuinely learning a topic, not just getting a cute simplified answer.
Variations
Want a different version of this prompt rather than a small edit? Here are two full alternates, ready to copy on their own.
Explain [topic] to me like I’m a curious middle schooler. Use clear, everyday language and one relatable comparison, but you can include a bit more real vocabulary than a five-year-old version would, as long as you briefly define any term you use. Keep it to a short paragraph, no more than five or six sentences. After the explanation, add one sentence starting with “In more advanced terms,” that fills in a more precise, slightly technical version, so I can check what the simple version left out.
Explain [topic] to me using only a single visual comparison I could picture as a simple drawing or diagram. Describe that comparison in enough detail that I could sketch it myself, and walk through how each part of the comparison maps onto the real concept. Avoid technical terms entirely unless you immediately explain them using the same visual comparison. Keep the whole explanation under six sentences.
FAQ
Is this only for explaining things to actual five-year-olds?
No — “five” is shorthand for zero assumed background. The analogies land for any adult new to a topic, and you can dial it up with “explain like I’m a smart high-schooler.”
What if the simple explanation is too simplified?
Follow up with “now add the two most important caveats the simple version leaves out” — you keep the intuitive base and patch its inaccuracies.
Which topics does it work best for?
Systems and processes — inflation, DNS, the immune system — simplify well through analogy; heavily mathematical topics keep their difficulty and simplify less cleanly.
