Animating Thinking Maps® with our New Program Thinking Friends©
Thinking Foundation funded the early piloting and production of the early childhood Thinking Friends program. We are very proud to share the Friends with you—teachers and parents—for your Pre-K through 1st grade students! Supporting Thinking Maps® If you are implementing Thinking Maps® in yourschools, you are in the right place! Thinking Friends© was developed to match the eight thinking processes of the Thinking Maps model. 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 8 fundamental thinking skills.
Snakey Sequencer, Kitty Categorizes, and Cowsie “Cows and Effect” thinks about causes and effects. Doggie Definer just keeps“digging around” for more information!
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. By animating cognitive processes, young learners of any age playfully and explicitly begin controlling and improving their own thinking, behavior, learning and problem solving skills. The Thinking Friends program is designed for early childhoodcenters and Pre-schools, Pre-K to 1st grade classrooms and, of course, for home use.