## North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

#### Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Cognitive Development (CD)

#### Subdomain: Construction of Knowledge: Thinking and Reasoning

#### Goal: Children demonstrate the ability to think about their own thinking: reasoning, taking perspectives, and making decisions

#### Skill Progression: Making decisions

#### Age: 48-54 Months

You may choose a different domain, go back, or click on a skill below for more information.

### Selects a variety of materials to create play scenarios

Situations for Observation of Skill

Children love scraps, junk, and left over toy parts. Provide a box or two of such materials for two or more children.

Elicitation Strategy

Tell the children they can use the materials to create whatever they want. If children are hesitant provide prompts by lifting something out of the box and saying, “What could you use this for?” When something is named you may have a theme started. Say, “Oh! Pirates patch great! Let’s see if there are other things we could use to be pirates!”

Behavior Observed

Once children have an idea to build upon, they can use their imaginations. The child will come up with costumes, props, action sequences, and dialogue as the materials are combined and the imagination is sparked.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Imagination and creativity are important to the child at this level. Encourage early childhood educators and parents to provide an outlet for creative expression in various areas: music, dance, drama, physical expression, etc. This does not need to be in structured lessons or classes, but through opportunities at home with family and at school with friends.

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015

©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.