An educational consultant with experience in teaching graduate courses for teacher certification in gifted education implemented a practicum designed to develop selected thinking skills in approximately 40 nursery school 3-year-olds. The practicum was also intended to inform parents of practical techniques for fostering important thinking skills in their children. Curriculum materials were developed to teach the thinking skills of comparison, classification, ordering, analogy, fluency, flexibility, elaboration, and originality. Techniques which were field-tested with the children were used in the designing of a practical parent handbook for fostering critical thinking skills in the home. The guide focuses on the process of learning to think, the issue of what critical thinking is, the role of the brain in thinking, techniques that foster thinking skills, and recommendations. Practicum evaluation data indicated that standards of performance were met for each of the general goals. Children grew in thinking ability as reported by a group observation log. A critical thinking checklist assessment showed global mean score growth. Parents evaluating the handbook reacted positively. Many related materials, including the critical thinking skills curriculum and the parent guide to preschool children's thinking, are appended. (RH)