Playing with playdough is a great sensory activity that develops fine motor strength while inviting creative play. Try this recipe together!
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 tbsp oil
1 cup cold water
2 drops liquid food coloring
Combine flour and salt, then add oil, water and food coloring. Mix until all ingredients are combined. If the dough is too wet or dry, add more flour or water as needed.
Tools of the Mind has a new portal!
Visit https://portal.toolsofthemind.org or click below.
Tools of the Mind has a new portal!
We’ll be providing access to everyone engaged in workshops with us in school year 2020-2021 and retiring this version of eTools. Until this version of eTools is retired, existing users can continue to access all resources here.
If you have already received access to the portal and need help logging in, please contact us; otherwise please stay tuned — more information coming later this summer!
A Teacher
A Program Director or School Administrator
A Parent
Someone Else
Thank you for your interest! We have some resources that we think might be right for you, or you can get in touch with us if you’re a researcher who wants to discuss prospective studies:
I’m interested in Tools approach for my professional knowledge.
I’m interested in researching more about or with Tools of the Mind.
I’m interested in Tools as part of my academic learning and development.
I’m interested in learning more about Tools and sponsoring or funding Tools development projects or partnering with Tools in some way.
Yes — I have funding or strong prospects for funding.
No — I’m worried about making funding available.
Thank you for your interest! Our partnerships with sponsors, funders and friends have been instrumental in getting us to where we are today. Click below to be in touch with us. we look forward to exploring possible partnerships with you!
That’s great! We have links to journal articles and academic research that may interest you. Which of these resources would you like to explore?
Thank you for your interest! Many professionals outside the field of early childhood education express interest in our approach. We have some resources that we think might be right for you:
I want to continue the conversation and see if Tools is right for my program!
I’m not sure––can you direct me to more information I can read about your program, or a way to talk directly with someone to get answers to my questions?
Yes
No
I’m not sure yet — I need to learn more.
Yes — I have funding or strong prospects for funding.
No — I’m worried about making funding available.
Kindergarten
PreK
Yes
No
I’m interesting in finding a Tools program for my child.
I’m interested in learning more about how to support executive functions at home.
I’m interested in learning more about how the Tools program my child is in supports my child’s development.
Yes — we’re looking for a new program.
We’re beginning to think about it.
I’m personally interested, but the discussion hasn’t been initiated at the program level.
Yes
No
We’re so glad you’re interested! We have many great Tools PreK and K classrooms across the country. Click the link below to find a program near you, and if there’s not a program near you, we encourage you to print and share some of the articles about Tools on our Resources page or send the link to our website to your local school administrator. Parents have led the initiative to bring Tools to several of our great programs!
No, not yet.
Yes, we have funding available.
We have some resources for you!
Yes
Some may be, some may not be — or I haven’t yet discussed this with them.
That’s great! Our approach has many small group activities, each led by a teacher, as well as activities in which teachers circulate to provide 1:1 scaffolding to each child, individualizing instruction.
Classroom practices, management, and individualized instruction are all informed by the same theoretical underpinnings and knowledge of child development. For this reason, we train both lead and assistant teachers together and consider both instructional leaders in the classroom.
It sounds like your program is ready for Tools––would you like to learn more about Tools approach, programs that have successfully implemented Tools, or are you ready to register your program for Tools training?
Yes
No
We have some resources for you!
That’s great! It sounds like Tools of the Mind is right for you and you’ve got everything you need in place for a strong start. You can continue to build teacher’s background knowledge about Tools and enthusiasm before beginning training by starting a Tools study group, having a Tools staff member present to your staff on the Tools PreK, and/or K curriculum and approach, by sending teachers to one of our presentations at a state or national conference, or starting a study group reading our book, Tools of the Mind: The Vygotskian Approach to Early Childhood Education. Once registered, we’ll provide you and your teaching teams with more information and they’ll be able to begin learning with one of our eLearning modules before their first in person workshop. Are you ready to register or do you want to learn more?
Register for Tools Training Workshops
Learn About the Tools Approach
Resources
Get in Touch
Yes
No
We have lots of experience helping administrators with the transition to a new approach and curriculum. We suggest downloading some of the research articles on our website to share with teachers, sending them to a regional state or national conference where we are presenting or starting a study group reading our book,Tools of the Mind: The Vygotskian Approach to Early Childhood Education. We can do an overview presentation for your teachers, and you can contact us with teacher questions and concerns so we can address them before teachers get started. As soon as your teachers are registered for training, they’ll have access to eLearning modules and we’ll provide more information to help teachers learn more about our approach and curriculum before their first in-person workshop. Are you ready to register, or would you like to access more information to learn more?
Register for Tools Training Workshops
Learn About the Tools Approach
Resources
Get in Touch
PreK
Kindergarten
Don’t give up! We’ve had program administrators and teachers who applied for and secured grants to fund additional staffing and Tools training! We encourage you to explore grant and other funding opportunities.
We also have an annual Carolyn Boyles Scholarship you can apply for, which covers the cost of training for one classroom team.
Many of the programs working with us began with a study group reading our book, Tools of the Mind: The Vygostskian Approach to Early Childhood Education. You can also get together and read research articles on the development of self-regulation and executive functions skills.
Choose from one of the these resources to learn more, or get in touch with us.
Yes
No
Many of the programs we’re working with now were interested before they had access to funding–so don’t give up!
Some programs write grants to cover the training and materials costs, so this is an option. Other programs do a tiered rollout of Tools, beginning with Tools in a few classrooms with teachers who are invested and interested, building in more classrooms over the course of several years. This can be a good way to launch Tools in a program.
We also have an annual scholarship, the Carolyn Boyles Scholarship, awarded to one classroom each year, covering the cost of training, and encourage you to apply! We’re working on other options too––virtual training models, to reduce the cost of training and make it accessible to remote sites unable to access our Regional Training Workshops.
In the meantime, you can still get started! We encourage you to start a Tools of the Mind Study group with your teachers, and read our book, Tools of the Mind: The Vygotskian Approach to Early Childhood Education. Come see us and introduce yourself at one of our presentations at state and national conferences and reach out and contact us if you want to hear more about how other administrators put together funding to launch Tools in their program.
Which of these resources would be most helpful to you at this time?
Yes
No
Tools of the Mind is a model that combines intensive professional development with a comprehensive curriculum in PreK and K.
Of course we’d like to encourage you to consider what we have to offer–-we’ve been refining our model for over 20 years, and have the ‘right’ recipe for sustainable capacity building in programs, with strong impact on teachers and children. We encourage you to learn more about our model, and see if it might be something you’d consider in the future.
Sometimes people come to us looking for an ‘add on’ self-regulation focused curriculum or a single-day professional development opportunity. While we don’t have a separate curriculum, because we’ve learned that integrating pedagogy across all areas of the curriculum and classroom practices is the most powerful way to influence the development of self-regulation and executive functions, we may expand our professional development opportunities for programs that want to learn more in the future.If this is what interests you, please let us know.
Which of these resources would be helpful?
I’m ready to sign up!
I’d like more information to share with my team and program leadership.
Yes we can! Please refer to these links:
That’s great – we look forward to partnering with you! Click below for registration. If we don’t have a Regional Training Workshop in your area, contact us with the link below, and we can explore options together!
Great! The resources below may be helpful. lick to get to the resource you think would be most helpful to you. If you’d like to talk with someone at Tools to learn more, or arrange for a Tools staff member to meet with your team to provide a curriculum overview, click contact link below.
Research Articles
Case Studies
Overview of Tools Program
Contact Us
Many of the programs we work with were interested before they had funding, so don’t give up! Some programs wrote grants to cover training and materials costs. We also have an annual Carolyn Boyles scholarship covering the cost of training and encourage you to apply. We’re working on other options, too, virtual training models, to make our training more accessible.
In the meantime, you can still get started. We encourage you to start a Tools of the Mind study group with interested colleagues and read our book, Tools of the Mind: The Vygotskian Approach to Early Childhood Education. And please, come see us and introduce yourself at one our presentations at state and national conferences, or reach out if you want to hear more about how other teachers and administrators put together funding to launch Tools in their program. Which of these resources wold be most helpful to you at this time?
Some programs that really wanted to implement Tools added staffing to make it possible. Do you think this could happen in your program?
Don’t give up! We’ve had teachers who worked with their program administrators to apply for grants to fund more staffing and Tools training!
We encourage you to being a conversation with your colleagues and administrator, start a Tools of the Mind study group and explore funding and grant options.
We also have an annual Carolyn Boyles Scholarship which you can apply for, covering the cost of training for one classroom.
Choose from one of these resources to learn more or get in touch with us.
Research Articles
Case Studies
Overview of Tools Program
Contact Page
Our curriculum is comprehensive, with a unifying approach to teaching and learning woven across all activities. It includes literacy, math and science — but with a Tools twist; we embed self-regulation and executive functions practice in the design of our activities. In Tools Kindergarten program, we do have an option to integrate district math curricula into our approach, but our research to date has been on the complete Tools program implemented across all activities and teaching practices. If you’re committed to a core literacy program, we recommend waiting until the timing is right in your program to integrate the Tools approach to teaching and learning across more of the day to get the strong impact on both executive functions and academic skills (read results of our K study in PLOS ONE). This doesn’t mean you can’t get started, though, if you’re interested! You can read our book, Tools of the mind: the Vygotskian approach to early childhood education, or get to know us by coming to one of our state or national conference presentations. Many schools we work with, began with teacher initiated study groups, reading our book and integrating their learning into classroom practices. We’d also love to learn more about your program and interest in Tools, too–-contact us if you want to be in touch!