Essential Life Skills for Children

Children need more than just academic skills to succeed and thrive in school and in life. They also need essential life skills based on executive functioning. Executive functioning refers to the set of skills that allow us to control our behavior rather than acting on impulse. Following multi-part directions or working toward a goal are examples of such skills. Yet such skills don’t just happen–children need support and practice to develop them.

In partnership with Mind in the Making, a project of the Families and Work Institute, CEED is offering a new 8-module training series: Essential Life Skills for Children. This series is suitable for both professionals and families with children birth through eight years old.

Seven essential skills

The Essential Life Skills for Children modules will prepare you to support children’s executive functioning using the lens of seven essential skills.

The seven essential skills are:

  • Focus and Self-Control
  • Perspective Taking
  • Communicating
  • Making Connections
  • Critical Thinking
  • Taking on Challenges
  • Self-Directed, Engaged Learning

Transformational learning

  • Learn from leading child development researchers and neuroscientists and take virtual field trips to their labs
  • Mind in the Making author Ellen Galinsky, motivational speaker Erin Ramsey, and nonprofit leader Jacquelyn Santiago Nazario are your guides
  • Turn research into action in your work and in your life
  • Build an ongoing community of learners to support you
  • Deal with challenges and conflict with children in new ways
  • Learn at your own pace with a convenient online format
  • $130 for 8 research-backed modules
  • 16 clock hours awarded by CEED

Embark on a journey of self-reflection and discovery that participants have called “life-changing”

A colorful graphic lists the seven essential skills which are also bulleted below

Learn more

The Essential Life Skills for Children modules curate the science of child development and translate it into accessible tools and strategies that you can apply immediately at work and at home. They include interactive exercises and activities as well as editable PDFs and downloadable workbooks for each module.

The seven essential skills are described in greater detail in this downloadable infographic.

The modules include virtual field trips into leading research labs and feature the following experts so you can see their studies in action:

Lauren B. Adamson, PhD
Georgia State University

Patricia J. Bauer, PhD
Emory University

T. Berry Brazelton, MD Founder, Brazelton Touchpoints Center

Joseph J. Campos, PhD University of California, Berkeley

Stephanie Carlson, PhD
University of Minnesota

Judy S. DeLoache, PhD
University of Virginia

Adele Diamond, PhD
University of British Columbia

Carol S. Dweck, PhD
Stanford University

Anne Fernald, PhD
Stanford University

Roberta M. Golinkoff, PhD
Professor of Psychology

Alison Gopnik, DPhil
University of California, Berkeley

Wendy Grolnick, PhD
Clark University

Megan R. Gunnar, PhD
University of Minnesota

J. Kiley Hamlin, PhD
University of British Columbia

Kathryn A. Hirsh-Pasek, PhD
Temple University

Patricia K. Kuhl, PhD
University of Washington

Megan McClelland, PhD
Oregon State University

Walter Mischel, PhD
Columbia University

Charles A. Nelson III, PhD
Harvard Medical School

Gabriele Oettingen, PhD
New York University

Geetha B. Ramani, PhD
University of Maryland

Laura Schulz, PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Robert S. Siegler, PhD
Carnegie Mellon University

Catherine Elizabeth Snow, PhD
Harvard University

Sharon A. Ritchie, PhD University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Bethany Rittle-Johnson, PhD
Vanderbilt University

Jenny R. Saffran, PhD Professor of Psychology University of Wisconsin, Madison

Rebecca Saxe, PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Edward Z. Tronick, PhD University of Massachusetts, Boston

Samuel S.-H Wang, PhD
Princeton University

Karen Wynn, PhD
Yale University

Philip David Zelazo, PhD
University of Minnesota

The Mind in the Making team also interviewed and filmed the following researchers whose studies have inspired and informed our work:

J. Lawrence Aber, PhD
New York University

Nameera Akhtar, PhD University of California, Santa Cruz

Heidelise Als, PhD
Harvard Medical School

Daniel R. Anderson, PhD
University of Massachusetts

Clancy Blair, PhD
New York University

Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, PhD Columbia University Institute

Laurie Brotman, PhD
New York University

Maureen A. Callanan, PhD University of California, Santa Cruz

Geoffrey Canada
Harlem Children’s Zone

Mary (Maya) Carlson, PhD
Harvard Medical School

Stanislas Dehaene, PhD
College of France

Felton J. Earls, MD
Harvard Medical School

Maurice J. Elias, PhD
Rutgers University

Kurt Fischer, PhD
Harvard University

Kelly Fisher, PhD
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Nathan A. Fox, PhD
University of Maryland

Martin F. Gardiner, PhD
Brown University

Michael S. Gazzaniga, PhD University of California, Santa Barbara

Rochel Gelman, PhD
Rutgers University

Lisa Gennetian, PhD
Duke University

Herbert P. Ginsburg, PhD
Columbia University

Susan Goldin-Meadow, PhD
University of Chicago

John Gottman, PhD University of Washington

Elena Hoicka, PhD
University of California, Santa Cruz

Carollee Howes, PhD University of California, Los Angeles

Janellen Huttenlocher, PhD
University of Chicago

Jerome Kagan, PhD
Harvard University

Frank C. Keil, PhD
Yale University

David Klahr, PhD
Carnegie Mellon University

J. Ronald Lally, EdD
Center for Child & Family Studies WestEd

Susan Levine, PhD
University of Chicago

Alicia F. Lieberman, PhD University of California, San Francisco

Kristi Lockhart, PhD
Yale University

Karen L. Mapp, Ed.D. Harvard Graduate School of Education

Andrew N. Meltzoff, PhD
University of Washington

Rochelle Newman, PhD
University of Maryland

Robert C. Pianta, PhD
University of Virginia

Michael Posner, PhD
University of Oregon

Craig T. Ramey, PhD
Carillon School of Medicine and Research

Mitchel Resnick, PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Georgene L. Troseth, PhD
Vanderbilt University

Sharon A. Ritchie, PhD University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Bethany Rittle-Johnson, PhD
Vanderbilt University

Jenny R. Saffran, PhDUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison

Rebecca Saxe, PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Lawrence J. Schweinhart, PhD HighScope Educational Research Foundation

Jack P. Shonkoff, MD
Harvard University

Daniel J. Siegel, MD University of California, Los Angeles

Elizabeth S. Spelke, PhD
Harvard University

Daniel N. Stern, MD University of Geneva Cornell University

Dorothy Strickland, PhD
Rutgers University

Ross A. Thompson, PhD
University of California, Davis

Whitney Weikum, PhD
University of British Columbia

Janet F. Werker, PhD
University of British Columbia

Amanda L. Woodward, PhD
University of Maryland

Questions? Email us.