Who are your Thinking Friends?
Thinking was never SO MUCH FUN!
Thinking Friends® are eight farm animals having all sorts of fun learning and figuring things out. Just like our children who are always thinking! Each animal has its own unique personality based on of a fundamental thinking skill and style. For example, you can see above that Snakey Sequences, Kitty Categorizes, and Cowsie thinks about causes and effects. Doggie Definer just keeps “digging around” for more information!
Why Animate Thinking?
And, Thinking Friends are never alone! A ninth character, Farmer Framer, is always there to help, like a teacher or family member gently leading the way. She helps the Friends “think about their thinking” or what educators call the important process of “meta-cognition.” Farmer Framer is the executive of the farm, making sure that everyone is thinking and working together.
The Thinking Friends program is designed for early childhood centers and Pre-schools, Pre-K to 1st grade classrooms and, of course, for home use!
By animating cognitive processes, young learners of any age actively begin controlling and improving their own thinking, behavior, learning and problem solving skills.
The Outcome?
Over time, young learners own Thinking Friends and begin independently using each character to help them think and learn.
How can you bring Thinking Friends to your young learners?
Supporting Thinking Maps® If you are implementing Thinking Maps® in your schools, you are in the right place! Thinking Friends© was developed to match the eight thinking processes of the Thinking Maps model.
Ordering Thinking Friends Resources We have developed a simple to follow Teacher and Parent Guide and Poster Set for introducing children to each Thinking Friend using the children’s Story Book. There is a story for introducing each of the eight Thinking Friends and three longer stories that include all of the Thinking Friends and Farmer Framer learning together.
How much fun?
Once Thinking Friends are introduced . . . teachers, parents, and young learners have fun creating their own stories related to learning at home and schools, and begin applying these skills to any problem that needs to be solved!
