Play Planning
This daily activity helps children develop self-regulation by drawing or writing what they plan to do during center time.
What is "Play Planning"
This is the ability to control one's thoughts, emotions and behaviors.
What is "self-regulation"
Children take on these during dramatic play.
What are "roles"
Pairs of children take turns in "listener" and "reader" roles while looking at books, using reminder cards to help them control impulses and actively listen to their peer.
What is "buddy reading"
Teachers encourage children to include these three components in a play plan.
What are "Who, Where, and What"
Structured, rhythm-based movement activity that requires children to start, stop, and change actions on cue, training inhibitory control.
What is "freeze dance or pattern movements"
Role cards help children remember this aspect of play.
What character they are pretending to be.
This visual tool features a row of boxes or a specific chart used by children to map out phonemes and match letters to the corresponding sounds they hear.
What is "a sound map"
This skill is strengthened when children follow through on their play plans.
What is "Self-Regulation"
This activity happens when the teacher gives the children a topic, two children (one having the ear) (the other having the lips) take turns talking.
What is "share the news"
This term describes using a simple object, like a wooden block, to represent a completely different object, like a cell phone.
What is "a prop"
During Graphics Practice, teachers use this auditory trigger to tell children when to start drawing their shapes and when to completely freeze, practicing inhibitory control.
What is "music"
During Play Planning, teachers often use this support to help children communicate their ideas.
What are "scaffolding questions"
Name games such as "I have-Who has" are community building activities that can be used in large group time blocks such as...
Instead of taking over the play, teachers do this action to provide temporary support and elevate the play to a mature level.
What is "scaffolding"
When creating a Play Plan, pre-writing children draw these physical indicators to represent each spoken word in their message before trying to write letters.
What are "estimated word lines"
The goal of Play Planning is not artistic quality but development of this executive function skill.
What is "intentional/behavior planning"
Children use specialized tools (like cue cards) to scaffold attention, practice fine motor skills, and regulate their movements during handwriting.
What is "graphics practice"
To ensure play skills reach a mature level, this is how often Make-Believe Play Practice must explicitly happen in a Tools of the Mind classroom.
What is "daily"
Vygotsky’s term for when a child talks aloud to themselves during a literacy task—such as repeating a letter shape rule—to self-regulate and guide their own behavior.
What is "private speech"