Executive function Curriculum

EGG: The proven toolkit for building lifelong resilience and focus

Designed for children ages 3 to 5, EGG Toolkit contains fun, flexible, and science backed lessons that work in as little as 30 minutes per day.

For information on piloting or to schedule a presentation, contact us today!

Hatched by Experts, Piloted by Teachers

EGG Toolkit, also called EGG or “Empowering Generational Greatness,” was developed 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.

EGG works by helping children 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.

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Research and Pilot Partners

The Readiness Recipe for Kindergarten (and Life!)

We are creating a world in which every child has the opportunity to learn the skills they need to thrive in school and life. In this world, children know how to share their thoughts, reflect on their behavior and regulate their bodies. Preschool classrooms are more joyful and teachers feel successful.

That world doesn’t yet exist for many children. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) are extremely common and disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous, and families of color in the U.S., including Minnesota where:

American Indian and African American adults have three times the ACEs scores of their white peers

Black, Indigenous, and children of color experience some of the worst opportunity gaps in the U.S.

Research shows that ACEs disrupt the development of executive function (EF) skills, and these effects can be observed in children as young as 3 to 5 years old—more than 20 years before other impacts including depression, heart disease, and substance abuse.

EGG Toolkit 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.

Source: Center on the Developing Child – Harvard University

Key Ingredients for Joyful Learning

Through activities focused on language, storytelling, and mindfulness, EGG Toolkit helps children build focus and resilience: key capacities for success in school and life.

Most importantly, EGG helps children form a strong foundation for kindergarten readiness, addressing over half of preschool competency standards across multiple domains.

Educators and caregivers 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.

EGG helps children build their skills for focus and resilience in the following ways:

INTERNAL STATE LANGUAGE

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.”

STORYTELLING

Children use storytelling to talk about what they experience, called “narrative.” Narratives give children context for positive and negative experiences so they can think about what to do next time.

Example: “First I shared my toy. Next, my friend smiled.”

MINDFULNESS

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.

A parent told us that when she feels stressed, her daughter reminds her to do belly breathing. It is great when what a child learns in the classroom transfers to the parent.
John Everett Till, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Innovation

Proven Results Backed by Science

From 2017-2019, The Family Partnership developed and piloted three rounds of the curriculum with preschool children and their caregivers in Minneapolis.

Evaluation of our pilot programs show that EGG Toolkit increases executive function skills. These results are especially significant for children who have experienced household or systemic trauma.

CHILDREN USE THEIR WORDS

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.

CHILDREN TELL THEIR STORIES

Language sample analysis by Salt Software determined the complexity of children’s narratives increased after using the EGG toolkit.

CHILDREN MAKE HEALTHY CHOICES

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.

PARENTS DEVELOP TRUSTING RELATIONSHIPS

Parents living in high stress environments who were engaged in the pilots showed great interest in brain science and the curriculum. They quickly developed warm, trusting relationships with each other and with the facilitators.

PRESCHOOL TEACHERS FEEL SUCCESSFUL

Preschool and Head Start teachers participating in the pilots reported benefits to classroom management. Children developed greater vocabulary to describe their experiences and became more in tune with their feelings. As a result, children acted out less, learned how to work well with their peers and support each other.