Getting Started in Your Setting
Developing self-regulation is all about developing children’ s agency and capacity to regulate themselves. To put these practices into action in their own settings, educators can begin by looking at their learning environments and activities through a self-regulation lens:
› Observe children as they demonstrate self-regulated behaviors. Are these behaviors a result of children’ s own agency or of compliance?
› Does their regulation-related behavior change over the course of the day or during certain activities?
› What teaching strategies and materials do I already use to foster children’ s self-regulation? How can I use these to increase child agency?
› What are some new strategies and materials I would like to try?
About the Authors
Barbara Wilder-Smith, EdM, has spent over 30 years in early childhood education as a teacher, coach, administrator, and researcher and is the executive director and co-developer of Tools of the Mind.
Elena Bodrova, PhD, is co-founder and knowledge advisor, Tools of the Mind.
Deborah J. Leong, PhD, is president and co-founder of Tools of the Mind and professor emerita of psychology at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
Photographs: © Getty Images. Copyright © 2026 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. See permissions and reprints online at NAEYC. org / resources / permissions.
NAEYC Accreditation
This article supports the following NAEYC Early Learning Programs standards and topics:
Standard 1: Relationships Creating a Caring and Equitable Community of Learners
Standard 4: Teaching Teaching to Enhance Each Child’ s Development and Learning
Standard 6: Health Promoting Health and Well-Being in Early Childhood Programs
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