This toolkit is specific enough for new teachers and flexible enough for experienced teachers."
EGG works by helping children to develop executive function and self-regulation skills during the critical years of early childhood, the stage when brain development is at its fastest and most foundational.
EGG was hatched in 2017 by John Everett Till of The Family Partnership and Christine Wing, CCC, SLP, PhD, in collaboration with early childhood educators and leading experts in brain science, child development, and curriculum design.
Designed for children ages 3 to 5, EGG contains fun, flexible, and science backed lessons that work in a little as 30 minutes per day.
Each toolkit includes a half day of professional development for teachers and all the materials needed to implement EGG across the school year.
Through activities focused on language, storytelling, and mindfulness, EGG helps children build focus and resilience: key capacities for success in school and life.
When children learn how to share their thoughts, reflect on their behavior, and regulate their bodies, they experience fewer meltdowns and bounce back faster when they are upset. As a result, preschool classrooms are more joyful and teachers feel successful.
At the same time, EGG helps children form a strong foundation for kindergarten readiness, addressing over half of preschool compentency standards across multiple domains.
Nurturing joy in the classroom begins with the brain. Why? Research shows children's brains develop the best when they have secure, responsive caregivers. Teachers use EGG to encourage healthy brain development in two key areas: executive function and emotional regulation. These cognitive skills help children listen to instructions, follow through on activities, reflect on their behavior, and manage their emotions.
While every child is born with the ability to develop executive function and self-regulation skills, they need the opportunity to learn. EGG helps children build their skills for focus and resilience in the following ways:
Children learn and use words to describe how they feel and what they think, also known as "internal state language."
Example: "I'm feeling sad."
Children use storytelling to talk about what they experience, called "narrative." Narratives help children to think about what to do next time.
Example: "First I shared my toy. Next, my friend smiled."
Children use mindfulness skills to "re-set" and focus during stressful situations.
Example: When a child feels stressed, they take a deep breath instead of throwing a toy.
Evaluation of our pilot programs show that EGG increases executive function skills.
These results are especially significant for children who have experienced household or systemic trauma.
Brain science research shows that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) disrupt the development of executive function and self-regulation skills. Children with higher rates of ACEs may experience worse outcomes in school and face greater risks as adults that include heart disease, depression, and substance abuse.
EGG helps to buffer children against the harmful impacts of ACEs, closing opportunity gaps in childhood and supporting a lifetime of better outcomes for physical, mental, and behavioral health.
The Center for Early Education and Development at the University of Minnesota found that EGG demonstrated a significant impact on emotional descriptive language, positive age-appropriate behavior, and personal narration—all highly correlated with executive function skills.
Language sample analysis by Salt Software determined the complexity of children’s narratives increased after using the EGG toolkit.
Results from the Minnesota Executive Functioning Scale app from Reflection Sciences showed that children who started below the age-adjusted median for executive function scored above the age-adjusted national median after using EGG.
“I heard the kids using more vocabulary and being more in-tune with how they felt.”
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For more information on EGG, contact John Everett Till, EGG Enterprise Manager and Senior Vice President of Strategy and Innovation at The Family Partnership.
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