Stanley T. Greenspan and T. Berry Brazelton said in their book The Irreducible Needs of Children that “Emotions are the internal architects, conductors, or organizers of our mind.  We “know” things through our emotional interactions and then apply that knowledge to the cognitive world.”

Infants: Holding infants close and often reading nursery rhymes like “Little Miss Muffet” helps to build a warm, trusting, and nurturing emotional relationship.  This begins to lay the basic foundation for a strong sense of self-esteem in the future.  These relationships allow children to learn to think and are a motivation for later learning.

In reality, emotional thinking becomes the bases for all future thinking.

Toddlers: Pretend play involving emotional dramas found in nursery rhymes like “Little Miss Muffet” help children connect to an image and then use that image to think of solutions.   This ability to act out and create mental pictures of relationships leads to more advance thinking.  In a study by UCLA 93% of communication effectiveness was determined by nonverbal clues and only 7% by spoken words.  So for toddlers in particular, responding to gestures and emotions as they begin to link smiles and accepting looks with feelings of trust and safety, and menacing unfamiliar looks and gestures with danger, emotional thinking becomes the support for learning prior to developing formal language.

Preschoolers: In my book Teaching with Heart I have a recipe for making cheese from the curds and whey found in the “Little Miss Muffet” rhyme.   Heat one quart of whole milk until it is scalding (forms a thin skin on top). Remove milk from heat and add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar while stirring constantly.  The milk will form lumps (curds) in the liquid (whey).  Continue stirring until the curdling stops (about 1 to 2 minutes).  Pour the contents into a strainer which has been lined with cheese cloth or a coffee filter to separate the curds from the whey.  The cheese should resemble a soft Farmers Cheese.  At snack time encourage the children to spread the cheese on a saltine cracker with their own plastic knife.  This activity helps to build a bridge between ideas on an emotional level and the more abstract logic of cause and effect.  It also teaches cooperation and helps to reinforce children’s self-esteem.

Stanley T. Greenspan stated in his “Floor Time” video that “Through play, children … are learning how to think logically and may use this new skill to figure things out…. Knowing how to reason about cause and effect, fantasy and reality, and a whole rage of emotional experiences is vital for relating to peers and family, and success in school.